Had we nominated any of the women in our amazing field, we wouldn’t be sitting here waiting to see if the National Archives corroborate charges of sexual assault against Joe Biden. But here we are. And at least we won’t have to worry about our vice presidential (VP) candidate facing #metoo allegations.
As I’ve noted time and time again, a vice presidential nominee has one job: to help the ticket get elected. The end. Anything beyond that is gravy. But all of Tim Kaine’s competence was utterly useless, as he failed to help Hillary Clinton earn a single extra vote. So who is Biden’s top potential VP pick? A new poll says it’s not even close: Elizabeth Warren.
The Data for Progress poll asked: “Which of the following Democrats would you like to see selected as the Vice-Presidential candidate?”
|
Topline |
Female |
Male |
Under 45 |
Black |
White |
Sanders |
Biden |
Warren |
31 |
31 |
30 |
32 |
22 |
34 |
39 |
30 |
Harris |
18 |
17 |
21 |
19 |
22 |
17 |
17 |
22 |
Abrams |
10 |
10 |
9 |
8 |
17 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
Klobuchar |
10 |
10 |
11 |
8 |
11 |
11 |
10 |
11 |
WhitMER |
3 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
The numbers that stand out: the under-45 crowd, which remains a weak spot for Biden, and former supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Obviously there’s a great deal of overlap between those two groups.
Former Georgia House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams has been getting some flack lately for “trying too hard,” which is utter bullshit. I’m not sure what’s so wrong with saying, “I’d be great at the job”—she would be! She ties Warren in my estimation as one of the two best choices Biden could make.
Abrams nearly won a governor’s race marred with voting irregularities. (The Republican candidate and current governor was the state’s secretary of state at the time, and used that power to suppress Democratic votes.) Georgia is a swing state at the presidential level and has a bonus TWO Senate seats in play. An Abrams pick would be smart. And her selling herself as a smart pick seems smart to me!
In fact, Abrams might be the safest pick of the lot—she rewards Biden’s Black support while remaining palatable to the party’s left flank. The poll above doesn't reflect it, mostly having to do with name recognition (which is why Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer does so poorly). But she’d emerge as a popular figure if chosen.
But undisputedly, no one unites the party better than Warren. Now, Biden’s big-dollar donors aren’t happy that she’s even in the mix: “I think a lot of the donor base, on board and coming, would prefer almost anyone but Elizabeth. I don’t see him choosing her for veep,” CNBC reported a “longtime fundraiser for Biden who is regularly in touch with him” as saying. But if Biden chose Warren, he wouldn’t need those asshole big-dollar donors. She handily outraised him during the primary, and it wasn’t even close: she raised $126 million, an amount that Biden just reached despite being the presumptive nominee for several months.
”She would be horrible. He would lose the election,” a “Wall Street executive” is further quoted as saying in that piece.
But don’t despair at the quote above. Further down in that same story, CNBC reports that “Biden is shrugging off anyone vocalizing discontent with Warren. He is plowing ahead with appeasing progressives who backed her campaign while possibly looking to bring her into the fold.” He has hired two Warren staffers for his fundraising team, and more importantly is putting anti-Wall Street former staffer Ted Kaufman—the guy who replaced him in the Senate for a short stint when he was promoted to vice president—in charge of his presidential transition team.
California Sen. Kamala Harris would be a fine veep choice. She would do less to bring the party’s young and leftist holdouts back into the fold than Warren, but Biden could certainly do worse. Like Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Please God, let her be off any shortlist (no matter how much those Wall Street donors might love her).
I still think that Biden’s best bet would be to roll out a full cabinet with the VP. Get a whole mass of surrogates countering Republican bullshit, getting airtime, and locking down key constituencies. Imagine Warren as veep nominee, but also Stacey Abrams or Kamala Harris as attorney general designee, able to provide counterbalance to Trump Attorney General William Barr whenever he spews his bullshit. If not veep, then Warren at Treasury, a media counterbalance to Steven Mnuchin.
You get the idea. A shadow cabinet. What better way to unite the party than to show your work early? Show exactly the kind of administration you’d run. If liberals are worried that the same old Wall Street assholes will be put in charge of the economy, then prove that you won’t let that happen by telling us who you’d pick if elected. Make sure the party’s broad coalition is represented: Asian, Latino, Black, young, and very, very female.
Why have just one popular surrogate campaigning and doing the media rounds when you can have that entire shadow cabinet at your disposal?