Clinton VP news LATEST: Podesta now calling the losers to tell them its not them

[Mr. Morden]

As expected, Sanders not being vetted. Usual names are on Hillary's list, though Garcetti & Tim Ryan's names are on the long list for some reason. Warren is being considered. Search is in its early stages, only using publicly available info so far.

Yeah, according to “people familiar with the process”, Sanders isn’t being vetted.  The list of people being vetted includes (but may not be limited to):

Becerra
Booker
Brown
Castro
Eric Garcetti
Kaine
Perez
Tim Ryan
Warren

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Reading the story again, it's a little ambiguous as to whether those names being listed come from the same insiders who are confidently saying that Warren is on the list and Sanders is off it.  Here's the exact quote:

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So in the first paragraph, "people familiar with the process" sounds like it means people actually in and around the campaign who know what's going on with the VP vetting.  However, the names given in that third paragraph by "several Democrats"...are those "several Democrats" the same insider sources from the first paragraph?  I think so, but it's a little unclear.

[Mr. Morden]

Scott Brown at a Trump event:



What is that guy in the background doing with his hair?  Camouflage?

[Mr. Morden]

Is that a guy though?

Oh...maybe not.

[Mr. Morden]

Does anyone other than Christie even want to be Trump's running mate at this point?

Some do.  E.g., Jeff Sessions, Mary Fallin, Scott Brown.

[Mr. Morden]

Ernst says she hasn’t been contacted by Team Trump about vetting, and that she doesn’t expect to be.  Also dodged the question of whether she’d take the job if offered:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/16/joni-ernst-donald-trump-must-have-his-eyes-set-somebody-else-for-vice-president/85987422/

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Meanwhile, Huckabee hasn’t gotten all that much veep buzz, but he has been one of the few Republicans who’s pretty consistently defended Trump for the past few months, so I don’t think he can be ruled out.  He’s now defending Trump’s Muslim ban as no big deal:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/huckabee-likens-trumps-muslim-ban-to-israels-immigration-policies-224458

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[Mr. Morden]

Garcetti says he hasn't been contacted by the Clinton campaign about vetting, and he gives the standard "I'm happy in my current job and not looking for a new one" non-denial when asked about his level of interest:

http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20160616/possible-vp-candidate-eric-garcetti-says-hes-not-looking-for-a-new-job

[Mr. Morden]

A producer from The Apprentice dishes on Trump behind the scenes of the show, putting Christie's position in the veepstakes in context:

link

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[Mr. Morden]

Warner says he’s not being vetted, and he hopes that Clinton picks Kaine:

http://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/sen-warner-said-he-s-not-in-the-running-to/article_979b3b25-2dee-5240-8af9-1b47b050fddb.html

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Of course, there’s no indication that any short listers have been contacted yet, so Warner wouldn’t actually know if he was in consideration.

[Mr. Morden]

Politico says that "multiple high-level Republican sources" claim that the top names in consideration on the Trump short list are Christie, Gingrich, Sessions, and Fallin, with Christie and Gingrich the most likely:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-vice-president-224488

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I hate it when they phrase things like this, though.  What is a "high-level Republican source"?  It's not clear to me if those are people who are directly involved in the veep search or not.

EDIT: That story also has another quote from Thune which has him throwing some shade on Trump:

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And Corker also doesn't sound like he's someone seriously in contention anymore:

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[Mr. Morden]

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/julian-castro-im-not-being-vetted-for-vice-president/
Julian Castro says he isn't being vetted

Right.  But again, the level of vetting going on right now, as far as we know, is vetting within the Clinton campaign, using publicly available documents.  We don't know if they've contacted the people on the short list yet for the next stage of vetting, so it's unclear that Castro would know if he's under consideration or not.

[Mr. Morden]

While Rick Scott seems to have publicly ruled out any interest in being vice president, The New Republic muses that he still might be angling for it, given that in response to the Orlando shooting, Scott started talking about the threat from Syrian refugees:

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/134414/sure-rick-scott-doesnt-want-trumps-veep

Granted, it’s something of a reach to call that “VP news”, but I decided to post just so I’d have an excuse to post this picture of Scott staring off into space:

[Mr. Morden]

Whatever happened to Gingrich being out of the running? Not that I'm complaining, of course.

We assumed that he was out of the running because he started getting critical of Trump.  He stopped talking about that stuff though, and maybe Trump has a short memory.  I don't know.

[Mr. Morden]

Becerra on whether he's being vetted:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/19/politics/xavier-becerra-hillary-clinton-vice-president/

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[Mr. Morden]

Clinton team to start meeting short listers this week?:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/us/politics/hillary-clinton-vice-president.html

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Also sounds like Michael Bennet’s name may still be in the mix.  His name was floated over a year ago, but I hadn’t heard any indications that he was in the running until now:

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The story also talks about the importance of “chemistry” between Clinton and her running mate.  Sounds like the chemistry may not be there with Booker in the way that it is with some of the others.

[Mr. Morden]

Anyway, if they're meeting with short listers starting this week, then I guess it's time to start paying more attention to how people answer (or dodge the question) when asked if they're being vetted.  Up until now, it was unclear whether the short listers even knew if they were on the list or not.

And someone should put a tail on James Hamilton, and see where he's traveling this week.

[Mr. Morden]

For those who missed it, it looks like the dream of Trump picking Oprah as his running mate is dead:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/oprah-winfrey-endorses-clinton-224408

[Mr. Morden]

Ugh, why not Becerra?!

There's a good chance that Becerra's on the short list too.  It's just that these are the only three whose names were confirmed by the AP:

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[Mr. Morden]

Sessions is on board with restricting movement into the US from at least certain majority Muslim countries:

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/06/19/trump-ally-senator-sessions-ban-immigration-from-countries-like-egypt-yemen-afghanistan-iraq-syria/

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[Mr. Morden]

Looks like the Clinton VP short list might just be Castro, Kaine, and Warren, plus a couple of mystery choices, with speculation that some subset of Becerra, Brown, and Perez may be among the mystery choices.  And Clinton herself has already spent “hours” studying the records of the short listers:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/21/politics/hillary-clinton-vice-president-search/index.html

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[Mr. Morden]

Guys, can you please take this dumb debate somewhere else?  Trying to keep up with the VP news here.  

Booker, Brown, Kaine, and Perez not responding to questions about whether they’re being vetted:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-is-vetting-three-for-vice-president--and-is-still-studying-a-longer-list/2016/06/21/548fedc0-37cb-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html

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That story also mentions something which hadn’t really occurred to me before, and I now feel like an idiot for not thinking of it earlier: It’s not just Massachusetts that provides for a special election within a few months if there’s a Senate vacancy.  New Jersey does too.  Booker himself was elected in a special election after Lautenberg’s death.  So if Warren being picked is on the table because her seat could be filled by special election within a few months, I guess the same applies to Booker.

[Mr. Morden]

Latest example of Corker criticizing Trump, which again suggests that he’s now probably on the outs with respect to the VP race, despite having been considered one of the favorites a few weeks ago:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/21/corker-warns-trump-to-stop-slurs-and-innuendo-deflects-vp-speculation.html

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[Mr. Morden]

Becerra says he hasn’t been notified by the Clinton people that he’s under consideration:

http://www.wbrc.com/story/32278936/the-latest-becerra-says-hes-not-being-vetted-for-vp

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[Mr. Morden]

Thought: People are bullish on Kaine because McAuliffe can appoint. McAuliffe is toxic now, and whoever he appoints could easily go down '18

I'm pretty sure the special election would be in 2017, not 2018.

[Mr. Morden]

Politico says that “Democratic allies and operatives close to the [Clinton] campaign” are calling Kaine the frontrunner:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/kaine-rises-to-top-of-clintons-veep-list-224702

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[Mr. Morden]

Lewandowski says there are no more than four names left on Trump's veep list:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/lewandowski-trump-vp-list-down-to-no-more-than-four-224748

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