Biden VP news megathread (pg 286 - been selected, announcement could be today)

[Mr. Morden]

This is from last week, but Duckworth was on The View, and asked both if she’s interested in the vice presidency, and if she’s being vetted, and she just dodged on both counts (skip to the 3 minute mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDP9z3YYX1I

Duckworth: “I will do whatever I need to do to get Joe Biden elected.”

[Mr. Morden]

CBS News on the VP vetting:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-running-mate-women-potential-short-list/

While he has also said that at least a dozen women are under consideration, sources have told CBS News Biden is seriously considering five to eight of these potential picks. Beyond contact with the vetting committee, top Biden staff like campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon and other senior advisers are in frequent contact — sometimes every day — with aides to these women.

[Mr. Morden]

She isn't a bad choice, but I've never really cared for Governors being removed from their position just to take a mostly ceremonial one like Vice President instead.

My worry is that if a governor has not had previous federal experience he or she will not be able to get up to speed fast enough when they are thrown onto a national ticket as a running mate.  There's almost no time to prepare.  And then they start making terrible mistakes when asked questions on federal issues.

Grisham does have previous federal experience though, so this doesn't apply to her like it does to Whitmer.

[Mr. Morden]

Another Grisham non-denial:

https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2020/05/20/lujan-grisham-flattered-by-biden-vp-speculation/

Later in the press conference, Lujan Grisham was asked if she would accept the position if offered by the Biden campaign.

Lujan Grisham did not directly answer either way.

“Being governor today in New Mexico is the job I want and it’s the job I’m completely dedicated to,” Lujan Grisham said. “So those are speculations that I’m not paying any attention to in that regard.”

Harris doing a fundraiser with Biden:

https://deadline.com/2020/05/joe-biden-kamala-harris-1202940227/

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), viewed as a top tier contender as Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate, will headline a virtual fundraiser with the former Vice President.

California’s lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis, also will be among the special guests at the June 9 event. Tickets start at $500 per person, with those who write and raise $100,000 listed as co chairs. Kounalakis endorsed Biden this week.

The event raises for the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee of the Biden campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties.

[Mr. Morden]

Hassan is being vetted.  Time for the return of the "Climbing Maggie" meme:

https://www.wmur.com/article/both-nh-senators-invited-to-initial-interviews-for-biden-vp-slot-hassan-agrees-shaheen-declines/32630813

Both of New Hampshire’s U.S. senators in recent weeks were asked by presumptive nominee Joe Biden’s team to participate in the initial vetting process to be considered as his running mate, WMUR has learned.

Sen. Maggie Hassan agreed and has participated in initial interviews, according to a source familiar with the process.
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Hassan, 62, a former two-term governor who was elected to the Senate in 2016, has had a small number of initial interviews, according to a separate source familiar with the process.

(Update:) After this report initially was published, Hassan told WMUR in a statement:

“I'm flattered that Vice President Biden publicly mentioned my name as someone whom he would consider. I am not going to comment about his process, whatever that may be. My focus each and every day continues to be serving the people of New Hampshire in the United States Senate.”

[Mr. Morden]

Biden is asked about Klobuchar on Colbert's show:

https://time.com/5841324/biden-vice-president-questions-amy-klobuchar/

Asked about reporting that Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had agreed to be vetted, Biden said “no one’s been vetted yet by the team.”

Biden said the lawyers working on the search are wrapping up a process of reaching out to a “preliminary list of people” to “ask them general questions” including “what are they interested in, why would they be interested in the job or not interested in the job.”

Pressed by Colbert on whether Klobuchar is on his short list, Biden responded that she’s “first rate” but said he wasn’t “getting into” where she stands in the process.

He described vetting, which he underwent in 2008 to become Barack Obama’s running mate, as “a very invasive process” of looking at past votes, financial statements and health records. He suggested that one reason why he wouldn’t volunteer a list of names under consideration is “because if someone’s not chosen the presumption is not necessarily true that there must be something wrong.”

[Mr. Morden]

Duckworth (along with Whoopi Goldberg) will host a Biden fundraiser on May 28th:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/498997-abcs-whoopi-goldberg-to-headline-biden-fundraiser-with-sen-tammy-duckworth

[Mr. Morden]

Biden says multiple black women being considered:

https://www.mediaite.com/news/joe-biden-not-so-subtly-shoots-down-klobuchar-running-mate-buzz-strongly-hints-at-black-vp/

“Well what I say to them is that I’m not acknowledging anybody who is being considered, but I guarantee you there are multiple black women being considered,” Biden replied, then repeated “Multiple.”

Biden also gave an extensive interview on Friday morning’s edition of Squawk Box...

When  anchor Becky Quick made mention of Senator Elizabeth Warren, “who’s been mentioned as a frequent potential running mate for you,” Biden let out a laugh at the reference,

Quick went on to ask an unrelated question about Klobuchar, and said as an aside that the Minnesota senator has “actually been asked to undergo the vetting process to be a potential running mate for you.”

Biden made a point of interrupting to say Yeah, I don’t know that, by the way.”

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1264557261021753344

[Mr. Morden]

This is not new, but in his interview with Dana Bash Biden reiterated the qualities he is looking for:

"I think the two most important things are you got to pick someone who's compatible with you, both in terms of your style -- and my style and Barack's (were) very different, but they were compatible, they work with one another -- and someone who in fact, you would want to be the last person in the room when you're making a tough decision," he said.

He also said he wanted to select someone "who will be loyal in the sense that whatever disagreements you have are between you and the president at that moment."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/politics/joe-biden-vice-presidential-search/index.html

Also from that interview, he says that the search committee has already interviewed "a lot" of the prospective candidates, and that they come from "every part of the country":

"There are women of color under consideration, and they're women from every part of the country -- so a lot of really qualified women that are ready to be president," the former vice president told CNN's Dana Bash, his first in-person sit-down interview since being sidelined from campaigning in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the four-person group he appointed to vet potential running-mates -- former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and longtime Biden aide Cynthia C. Hogan -- has "interviewed a lot of these people already." He did not say who had been interviewed.

[Mr. Morden]

I’m not sure how credible this is, but apparently Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is also under consideration and is moving up on the list.

https://twitter.com/biden_brigade/status/1265742238740549632?s=21

I call malarkey on that!  No way Raimondo is under consideration.

I did a search in Fox Business and couldn’t find anything related to It. Anyone else having any luck? I find fake news on the left

That "Biden_Brigade" account just reposted info from another tweet.  Here's the original tweet that this comes from:

https://twitter.com/CGasparino/status/1265724758169174016

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/tylerpager/status/1265780628299096067

More from the story linked there:

“They’ve asked a lot of questions,” he said during the fundraiser co-hosted by Pete Buttigieg, one of his former rivals for the Democratic nomination. “Next is for me to have that conversation.”

Biden said the list would then be narrowed and the remaining candidates would be vetted, a process he said would take between six to eight weeks. He has promised to select a female nominee, but he declined on Wednesday to name any of the women under consideration.

[Mr. Morden]

I mean technically CCM could still become VP. I remember in 08 I read Biden had to tell Obama camp to rule him out for VP numerous times.

But he still participated in the vetting process.  If CCM is actually not participating in the vetting process, then she's out.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1266410445403029504

[Mr. Morden]

This Daily Beast report on Klobuchar's plummeting standing in Biden world is pretty yikes for her:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/team-biden-on-klobuchar-we-need-to-avoid-her?ref=scroll

“Vertiginous,” a campaign adviser said in a one-word text, describing Klobuchar’s fall in the rankings of potential running mates.

The three-term senator’s drop has been so swift that a planned Minnesota digital event with Dr. Jill Biden and coronavirus first-responders scheduled for Friday was pulled, according to a source familiar with the campaign’s deliberations, “partly because we need to avoid her.”

According to a Biden campaign official, all of Dr. Biden’s virtual events on Friday were canceled “because of George Floyd’s tragic killing and the events that followed” and the “decision had nothing to do with the fundraiser Dr. Biden was scheduled to participate in with Sen. Klobuchar.”

[Mr. Morden]

The Unexpected Case for a Susan Rice Vice Presidency

Joe Biden’s concern about the national-security impact of the coronavirus has led him to weigh picking the Obama-administration national security adviser Susan Rice as his running mate, according to several people who’ve spoken privately with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in recent weeks.

Rice is well known in Washington, but has a much lower national profile than most of the other women being considered, and comes with few conventional political upsides. She isn’t particularly likely to be selected, people inside the campaign say (some who have spoken about her with Biden see her as a more likely pick for secretary of defense or secretary of state), and Rice has told confidants that she knows that.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/05/biden-vice-president-susan-rice/612115/

Also, from that story, Rice’s comments on whether she’d take the job:

Rice told me that she’s ready to be picked, if that’s where this process lands.

“I am honored, honestly, and I’m humbled that I might be being considered,” she said, “and I really truly care only about doing all I can to get Joe Biden elected and Donald Trump retired, because I truly deeply believe that the fate of our country depends on it.” She added, “I’ll help in whatever way I can and if that’s licking envelopes and raising money, that’s fine, and if it’s serving in a much more senior capacity, if that’s what Vice President Biden thinks makes sense, that’s fine, too.”

[Mr. Morden]

The month of May will soon come to a close, so here’s a brief recap of what we’ve learned in May.  Recall that it was only in early May that the vetting (that is, the vetting that actually requires participation from the veep candidates themselves) actually began, and I feel like it’s only roughly since early May that we have useful hints as to who in the mix.

I’ll go over some of the reporting posted in this thread (and this is incomplete…feel free to supplement it with other sources if you like) about cases where either 1) Biden himself says someone is being considered, 2) a veep candidate herself either says she’s talked to the campaign about the vice presidency *or* refuses to answer the question about whether they’ve done so, or 3) some kind of purported “insider” report comments on who is being vetted.

First, various stories (not sure I need to list them all) have claimed that Harris, Klobuchar, and Warren are in the mix, though I think Harris is the only one of those who’s been asked if she’s being vetted within the last month:

Harris won’t talk about whether she’s being vetted: https://twitter.com/tperry518/status/1258503633693483010

As for others…

Biden publicly says that Demings is one of “close to a dozen” women who are “on the list”: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/496717-biden-says-ex-house-impeachment-manager-val-demings-among-potential-vp

Baldwin says she’s in “regular contact” with Biden, and won’t comment on whether she’s discussed being veep: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tammy-baldwin-joe-biden-vp-candidate-meat-industry/

Durbin says that Duckworth will soon be interviewed for the job: https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-tammy-duckworth-joe-biden-richard-durbin-20200515-gxj2pn6jnffrdncazxi4gon3ji-story.html

And then shortly thereafter, Duckworth is asked if she’s being vetted, and she dodges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDP9z3YYX1I

Whitmer has publicly said that she’s had the “opening conversation” with the Biden team about a vet: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/19/whitmer-says-shes-had-opening-conversation-vp-potential/5219350002/

WMUR says that sources in the know say that Hassan is being vetted, and she gives a no comment: https://www.wmur.com/article/both-nh-senators-invited-to-initial-interviews-for-biden-vp-slot-hassan-agrees-shaheen-declines/32630813

Susan Rice: Story in The Atlantic says Biden team is considering her:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/05/biden-vice-president-susan-rice/612115/

Charles Gasparino of Fox Business says Gina Raimondo is being considered:
https://twitter.com/CGasparino/status/1265724758169174016

CCM: Dropped out of the process:
https://twitter.com/edokeefe/status/1266128911949324288

Maybe the most prominent veep name I’ve not mentioned in this post yet is Abrams.  She’s definitely done her share of self promoting, but I don’t think there’s been any reporting in the past month suggesting that she’s being vetted.

[Mr. Morden]

While Klobuchar's stock seems to have taken a serious hit, Clyburn and "top Biden campaign officials" say that she's not out of the running yet:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/31/joe-biden-vice-president-george-floyd-291063

While Clyburn said he would prefer a black running mate, he and top Biden campaign officials stress that Klobuchar is still in the running, that she’s highly qualified and that no one has been ruled out due to their law enforcement backgrounds.

[Mr. Morden]

This story’s a week old, but I guess Klobuchar has also been asked straight up if she’s being vetted, and declined to answer:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/personal-ties-to-biden-could-be-an-advantage-in-running-mate-race/ar-BB14wtdB

Ms. Klobuchar, in a Friday interview with WCCO Radio in Minneapolis, declined to talk about Mr. Biden’s vetting process, saying, “in the end, he makes that decision and he knows what it takes to be a good vice president.”

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/emarvelous/status/1267255456948518918

[Mr. Morden]

But it's safe to say that Warren, Harris, Demings, KLB, and maybe Abrams are the most likely candidates at this point, right?

Do we even know for sure that Abrams and KLB are currently being vetted?  Biden flat out said that Demings was "on the list", and numerous "insider" accounts suggest that Harris is at or near the top of the list, but I'm not aware of similar reporting on the other two.  (Though maybe there has been such reporting, and I'm unaware of it.)

Btw, this isn't confirmation that she's being vetted, but Biden praised KLB today:

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/biden-praises-atlanta-mayor-bottoms-for-incredible-protest-response/ERUMMnmaMMF0UqHtD2Aw5L/

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden praised Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for her “incredible” response to days of civil unrest, singling her out during a Monday forum with other mayors for her passionate plea asking demonstrators to go home.

During a virtual discussion with Bottoms and the mayors of Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Paul, Biden stoked more talk that he could pick the first-term Atlanta mayor to be his running-mate, lauding her message to protesters over the weekend.

“You’ve been incredible. I’ve watched you like millions and millions of Americans have on television of late,” Biden said. “Your passion, your composure, your balance has been really incredible.”

[Mr. Morden]

MSNBC was going to host a Biden-Warren town hall on Thursday, but looks like it's being postponed:

https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1267897821786710016

[Mr. Morden]

Perez on Biden's timeline:

https://www.witn.com/content/news/DNC-Chair-Tom-Perez-discusses-Joe-Bidens-vice-presidential-pick-571018761.html

Perez said the former vice president plans to make a decision on his vice president in late July to early August.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/AprilDRyan/status/1268541259418931202?s=20

Welp, there's the answer to my post right above this. I think Rice, Whitmer, Klobuchar, and Abrams are unlikely at this point. So down to KLB, Demings, Harris, and Warren?

No, this doesn't prove anything about who else might be in contention.  On your earlier question about whether Duckworth was being vetted, as mentioned earlier in the thread, Durbin said that she was being interviewed: https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-tammy-duckworth-joe-biden-richard-durbin-20200515-gxj2pn6jnffrdncazxi4gon3ji-story.html
and then shortly thereafter, Duckworth was asked if she's being vetted and she dodged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDP9z3YYX1I

I'd caution people against jumping to the conclusion that every leak of several names is meant to be the complete list of everyone who's being vetted.  That's what people kept assuming four years ago, and it was like "Here's a list of 4 people being vetted.  Oh, now here's one with 5 names that has 2 new ones but one name dropped off.  I guess that means that person's out."  No, that's not how it works.  Not every list of names is going to be complete.

[Mr. Morden]

She's Mayor of Atlanta which is the biggest Airport Hub in America

Air hub theory returns!!!