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

[Mr. Morden]

Please try to focus this thread on actual news about the Biden veepstakes, not just wild speculation or your own thoughts about who he should pick.  (The news can include both news about who Biden is considering/how his process will work, as well as what the potential veep candidates are saying about whether they would be interested in the job, etc.)

To begin, Biden says he has a shortlist of "more than six women", and the vetting process will begin "in a matter of weeks":

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/22/biden-running-mates-143124

Joe Biden has a shortlist of more than six women to be his running mate and will start the vetting process “in a matter of weeks,” he said Sunday during a call with donors.
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“Background checks matter. They have to be prepared,” Biden said, adding that he wants to ensure that “there’s not going to be any snafu” with his selection.

“The most important thing, and I've actually talked to Barack about this — the most important thing is that there has to be someone who, the day after they’re picked, is prepared to be president of the United States of America if something happened,” said Biden, who is 77.

Biden said he needs “someone who is comfortable with where I am” on policy. He doesn’t want someone with “a restricted view of the United States and its required influence in the world” and wants to make sure his pick is not “at odds, in any fundamental way, with my attitude toward healthcare or education.”

[Mr. Morden]

More:

https://twitter.com/AlxThomp/status/1241864733780840449

[Mr. Morden]

Warren is out. Not that a 70 year old woman who would have a GOP replacement would be particularly appealing in the first place. We also forget that she constantly butted heads with the Obama administration. It’s not going to be her.

I think the 6 are all Senators/Governors: Amy/Kamala/Duckworth/Baldwin/CCM/Lujan Grisham

no Whitmer?

I don’t think she wants it.

https://twitter.com/chrislongview/status/1239559194849751040?s=20

That seems more like a prediction than a denial.  I wouldn't rule out anyone based on their public statements unless and until they refuse to be vetted.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/jeffzeleny/status/1242532280184307718

[Mr. Morden]

Biden says his current short list actually has about 12-15 names on it, but he wants to narrow it down to "about 11":

https://twitter.com/TheView/status/1242487204586442754

[Mr. Morden]

Various business leaders who back Biden are pushing their own ideas for VP to Team Biden:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/24/joe-biden-narrows-vice-president-list-with-help-from-business-allies.html

The names being floated and pushed to Biden by this group include Sens. Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, two of his former rivals in the primary; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; and Florida Rep. Val Demings, these people added.
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Notably absent from the names mentioned to CNBC is Stacey Abrams, who was the Democratic nominee in Georgia’s 2018 gubernatorial race. She has publicly kept the door open to being a nominee for vice president. 
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Many who have spoken with campaign officials believe Harris is the front-runner, but these people also cautioned that it is still too early to tell whom Biden will choose. 

[Mr. Morden]

Vetting will begin “some time in April”: https://twitter.com/KThomasDC/status/1242533236678541312

And while he hasn’t talked to any of the VP candidates about being vice president, he did talk to Klobuchar about her husband’s coronavirus diagnosis:

https://twitter.com/mikememoli/status/1242532947342831617

[Mr. Morden]

Here's what Demings said a few weeks ago when asked about her openness to being Biden's running mate:

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/03/08/congresswoman-val-demings-addresses-presidential-running-mate-rumors/

“It is particularly an honor for me that my name would be mentioned for such an important position,” she said. “Is it a job that I want? I’m not seeking out any position. I love being a member of Congress, but if asked, I would consider it an honor to serve my country in such a special way.”

[Mr. Morden]

Here’s a story that cites sources from people in Biden’s orbit about the current thinking about the search for a running mate:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/in-the-coronavirus-bunker-biden-thinking-a-lot-about-his-vp.html

A few highlights:

-Biden told donors on a recent conference call that he’ll soon “look closely at six or seven options”.

-Biden is highly rating his choice’s competence to serve as president, since he’s old and he may be picking his own replacement.  But for that same reason, he’s also highly rating picking someone who’s ideologically aligned with him.

Still, “I would put ‘someone who he’s comfortable with ideologically’ as number two [in importance],” said the congressman close to his team. The coronavirus crisis has elevated the main concern: “Number one is finding someone who is absolutely, undeniably ready to do the job if the unimaginable happens.” According to a handful of Biden’s close allies, this may render the case for some potential candidates who’ve never held statewide elected office — like former Georgia house minority leader Stacey Abrams, former acting attorney general Sally Yates, or Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms — harder to make.

-Schumer is urging Biden to pick someone who wouldn’t put a Senate seat at risk.  So he favors Harris (in the Senate, but her seat is safe D), Whitmer, or Demings.

-There’s division within Team Biden about whether to wait until the convention (or close to it) to name the running mate, or to make the announcement somewhat earlier, like May or June.

-Harris is friendly with Team Biden, despite her debate attack from last year, and the story notes that she was friends with Biden’s late son, Beau.

-In terms of other names:

A wide array of strategists, elected officials, and donors in frequent contact with Biden and his top advisers indeed told me without exception, and independently, that individual members of the former VP’s brain trust appeared to be more focused — informally — on Harris, Warren, and Klobuchar, with Whitmer, Demings, and Cortez Masto also likely to be in the mix.

One congressman “close to the Biden inner circle” predicted that Harris, Klobuchar, and Warren would all be in the final five for consideration.

Doesn’t Warren seem like an odd fit, given the premium put on ideological alignment?  I would think so, but the story notes that Biden has been moving closer to Warren on the issues:

Then there’s Warren, the candidate with whom Biden has had the most complicated relationship, dating back nearly two decades to Capitol Hill clashes. If any leading contender has obvious differences with Biden’s vision, it’s the Massachusetts progressive, but he told her in 2015 that if he ran the next year he would make her his running mate then. Since she exited the 2020 race, he has moved toward her on policy, and they have spoken twice on the phone, according to Democrats close to both. Perhaps the biggest question looming over Warren’s chances is how much work Biden thinks needs to be done to win over Sanders’s voters, and how useful Warren would be to achieving that goal.

[Mr. Morden]

CCM is asked about being Biden’s running mate, and she gives a non-denial, just saying that she’s “focused” on her current job:

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/indy-qa-cortez-masto-wants-government-to-take-greater-charge-of-mask-glove-supply-chain

Q: Sen. Harry Reid has asked Joe Biden if he could have you as his running mate. Would you consider being a potential running mate for Joe Biden?

CCM: I am so honored to have my name even out there and thought of in that way. But I will tell you right now, I am focused on my job here in the United States Senate. I am honored every single day that I get to work on behalf of the state that I was born and raised in and all the people and businesses that live there.

And really, my focus now is just getting us through this crisis and doing what I can at a federal level to make sure that we have the resources we need in our state and individuals have the health care that they need. 

[Mr. Morden]

Biden says Whitmer is on his short list, and that the plan is to vet “between 6 and 10” candidates:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/490570-biden-confirms-hes-considering-whitmer-for-vp

Biden, who has already vowed to tap a woman as his vice presidential pick, said Tuesday night he’s been considering Whitmer for the role for months, but that he is eyeing as many as 10 potential candidates.

“She made the list in my mind two months ago. There’s probably going to be a list, I’m in the process of, Brian, we’ll have it by mid-April, putting together an organization that will run the background checks…by the second or third week in April,” Biden told MSNBC host Brian Williams.

“I’ve thought about some of the women who I believe are ready to be president and I think I can work with and would be willing to work with me. It’s going to be somewhere between six and 10 of them.”

[Mr. Morden]

Abrams says she'd be happy to serve as VP:

https://abc14news.com/2020/04/01/i-would-be-happy-to-serve-as-bidens-running-mate/

Wednesday on “MSNBC Live,” former Ga Democratic gubernatorial applicant Stacey Abrams addressed speculation she could be previous Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate.

Abrams explained she has not been in discussion with the Biden marketing campaign, but she is “very honored to be considered” and would be “happy to serve” with Biden. She also touted her working experience and how she has been an “effective leader.”

[Mr. Morden]

NYT has a new story on the VP search, mentioning that Harris and Klobuchar are the two most frequently mentioned names among Biden associates:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/politics/joe-biden-vice-president-choice.html

There is not yet a consensus choice or a sense of who would deliver a surefire boost to the potential ticket, according to those interviewed, many of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, though the two names most frequently mentioned were Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar. And his supporters are divided over whether Mr. Biden should prioritize selecting a woman of color as his running mate or whether regional considerations, like ties to the industrial Midwest, should hold greater weight.

In addition to Harris and Klobuchar, the story notes that he’s already mentioned Whitmer as an option and that Warren has been floated, and:

Other names often mentioned by allies include Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, two Latina leaders from the West; Representative Val Demings of Florida; and Stacey Abrams, the 2018 candidate for governor in Georgia.

Mr. Clyburn has also publicly floated others including Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, an early and loyal supporter of Mr. Biden.

There may also be a premium put on diversity within the search committee:

Several Biden allies suggested it would be important for the search panel itself to reflect the diversity of the party, so that any disappointed constituencies feel at least that they were listened to in the process.

[Mr. Morden]

So from what we've heard so far, Abrams isn't under consideration and the shortlist appears to be: Harris, CCM, Klobuchar, Whitmer, and Warren.

There's no evidence to suggest that it's limited to just those five at this point.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/tylerpager/status/1246237290797637633

[Mr. Morden]

More on this:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/03/joe-biden-name-vp-vetting-team-thinking-cabinet-makeup/2946459001/

Joe Biden said Friday that he will announce a committee to oversee his vice presidential selection process and is already thinking about whom he’d choose to join his Cabinet.
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He did, however, suggest he’s been thinking deeply about the makeup of his potential Cabinet. There are a number of “younger, really qualified people” Biden said he believes could be future leaders of the party if given more prominent roles. He also suggested he’d prioritize diversity in choosing his Cabinet secretaries, and he wants the lineup to “look like the country.”

“Men, women, gay, straight, across the board, black, white, Asian, it really matters that it look like the country because everyone brings a slightly different perspective,” he said.

But in a hint of how deeply he’s considered his options, Biden said: “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘You’re president tomorrow. Write down in the next 15 minutes your Cabinet,’ I think I could do it. ”

[Mr. Morden]

Whitmer is asked if she'd accept an offer to be Biden's running mate, and she dodges the question:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/gretchen-whitmer-woman-from-michigan-trump/609406/

Dovere: Joe Biden has been talking with a lot of people about what’s going on. One of the things that puts you into the conversation is, of course, you get talked about as a potential running mate for him. He said he’s going to pick a woman. You’re from a swing state. Even aside from that, you’ve generated a lot of national political interest. If he called and asked you to do it, what would your answer be?

Whitmer: Well, I’ll just say this: I am 15 months into my job as governor. I worked for two years to earn the opportunity to have this job. And no one could ever have anticipated that we would be here in this moment. I didn’t go out looking for the national spotlight. I know that the most important thing, where I’m spending all my energy right now, is trying to help my frontline health-care providers and trying to educate Michiganders so that we can slow the spread of COVID-19. I don’t like being attacked in national news. I didn’t go out of my way looking for all of this conversation. I just know that I need assistance and I need to use my voice at every opportunity to try to highlight what’s happening in Michigan so that I can help my nurses and doctors and respiratory therapists who are doing superhero work.

[Mr. Morden]

The Hill on Whitmer: “There’s been a lot of talk about her internally [in the Biden campaign]”.  Also mentions Harris, Warren, and Klobuchar:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/491049-why-gretchen-whitmers-stock-is-rising-with-team-biden

“There’s been a lot of talk about her internally,” said one source close to the campaign. “She has impressed a lot of people the past few weeks.”
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Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) are among the names that come up the most in conversations, along more recently with Whitmer, according to sources who have spoken with the former vice president and his team.

Stacy Abrams, a rising Democratic star who lost the Georgia governor’s race in 2018, has also come up in conversations, the sources say, though not as much as some of the others.

[Mr. Morden]

When does a candidate who basically is the nominee usually announces their VP? April? May? No clear pattern?

Kerry announced Edwards about three weeks before the convention, while Romney announced Ryan about two weeks before the convention.  Every other recent nominee announced their choices less than a week before the convention.

Every cycle sees some speculation about an early announcement, but usually the campaign isn't done vetting all the choices until July, so going earlier than that doesn't make sense.

[Mr. Morden]

A common approach for presumptive presidential nominees is to "test out" prospective VP candidates by doing campaign events with them during the spring/summer.  Traditional campaign events aren't happening right now for obvious reasons, but Biden has just done a virtual event with Whitmer, by having her as the guest on the second episode of his podcast:

https://joebiden.com/Heres-The-Deal/

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1247915442502545410

[Mr. Morden]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/campaign-update?srnd=politics-vp

Joe Biden could announce his vice-presidential pick well before the Democratic National Convention in mid-August, he told supporters Wednesday just hours after opponent Bernie Sanders dropped out of the presidential race.

“There has been some discussion from my team about maybe this should be announced before the usual time,” Biden said during a video fundraiser after a donor suggested a June announcement.

“But it’s going to take a while just to get through the vetting and get down to making a determination,” he said, adding that a team is preparing to begin vetting potential candidates. That process could take weeks or months as lawyers examine public and private records and Biden interviews the finalists.

[Mr. Morden]

Abrams reiterates that she's up for being on the ticket:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/492117-stacey-abrams-i-would-be-honored-to-be-bidens-running-mate

“I would be honored to be on the campaign trail as a running mate,” she said. “But that is a process that you can’t campaign for, and I’m not campaigning for. I’m just being straight-forward.”

“But no matter what, my intention is to ensure that Joseph Biden becomes the next president of the United States,” she continued.

[Mr. Morden]

CCM gives a non-denial, saying she’s “focused” on her current job:

https://www.ktnv.com/news/senator-cortez-masto-addresses-vp-rumors

“I can honestly say, right now, my focus is Nevada and what is going on in the state, in addressing this pandemic.”

[Mr. Morden]

Grisham asked about whether she’d be interested in being vice president, and she gives a word salad non-denial about how she wants to remain governor, yet she describes the ideal vice president as someone like her:

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/politics/nm-gov-on-vp-spot-whatever-it-takes-to-support-biden/video_0655f1dc-8521-5770-8eff-c16e6da42011.html

”Well, I will do this: I think that you want a vice president that was much like Vice President Biden.  He knew how to govern.  He had done a ton of work as a Senator, and in local government as well, and I think that those were incredible attributes.

I want to be the governor of New Mexico.  I will do whatever it takes to support a Biden administration, and I’m looking forward to a federal administration that can do a national strategy in good times and in bad times both.”