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

[Mr. Morden]

Val Demings was Ellen's show yesterday. She didn't directly say yes, but hinted she'd be open to serve as vice president.

Well, she was asked again by Alexi McCammond, and there was no hinting this time.  She just straight up said she would take the job if offered:

“If he asks me, I will say yes.”

[Mr. Morden]

Politico says Bottoms is being vetted.  When asked about it, she “deferred to the Biden campaign on questions about her prospects as a Biden running mate”:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/08/biden-veep-search-304854

Bottoms is being vetted as a Biden running mate, two sources with knowledge of the discussions confirm to POLITICO. Demings, a former Orlando police chief, has previously confirmed she’s being vetted.
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In an interview, Bottoms deferred to the Biden campaign on questions about her prospects as a Biden running mate.

“I can tell you that obviously like so many mayors and governors across this country, my complete focus has been on our streets the last few days,” Bottoms said.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1270480612508524545

[Mr. Morden]

Biden just finished doing a fundraiser with Grisham:

https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1270838245073530882

[Mr. Morden]

Muriel Bowser was asked if she's heard from the Biden campaign re: VP vetting, and she said no:

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dc-mayor-bowser-addresses-speculation-that-shes-being-considered-as-potential-joe-biden-running-mate

"I haven't, Angie, but I know that we need a change," Bowser said. "We need to change the senate and we need to change the White House. That's what I'm going to be spending my time -- making sure that we get that word out in Washington, D.C. and I certainly will help in any way that I can."

[Mr. Morden]

Ouch.

https://twitter.com/CaraKorte/status/1270931463790383104?s=20

Well then, I guess this reporting was inaccurate:

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

[Mr. Morden]

Ouch.

https://twitter.com/CaraKorte/status/1270931463790383104?s=20

Well then, I guess this reporting was inaccurate:

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

Looks like April Ryan is not backing down on this.  She's saying that, despite what Abrams said on Colbert, her sources say Abrams "had the virtual meeting w/ Biden campaign co-chairs", which I guess is meant to say that she's participated in the vetting:

https://twitter.com/AprilDRyan/status/1271107542803009537

Unclear if Ryan's sources have given her bad info or if Abrams isn't being straight with Colbert or what.  I guess I'd lean more towards the former since I feel like, with Abrams being so public with her campaign for veep, she doesn't seem like the type to deny it when asked if she's in the running.

[Mr. Morden]

So Susan Rice made it into the top 6.

Along with Demings, Bottoms, Harris, Warren, and Grisham.

No Abrams, Whitmer, Duckworth, or... Klobuchar.

I don’t read the story that way, that Bottoms, Demings, and Grisham are necessarily on the latest version of the list.  The story starts out by talking about the choices being narrowed to “as few as six serious contenders”, and specifically singles out Harris, Rice, and Warren as being among them.  It doesn’t seem to definitively name anyone else as being on that particular list.  It *does* go on to mention that the campaign has looked at other candidates who are racial minorities besides Harris and Rice, at that point mentioning Bottoms, Demings, and Grisham:

The campaign’s short list includes several black women, including Harris and Rice. Advisers have also looked closely at Florida Rep. Val Demings and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, both of whom are black, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Latina.

Note “Have also look closely at”.  That doesn’t mean that these three names are part of the final six (or so), as I read it.

Also:

Biden’s vetting committee had conversations with a larger group of women earlier this spring; those continuing on in the process have been asked to turn over financial records, past writings and other documentation. Biden has had various public and private interactions with many of the women his vetting committee has considered thus far, but has not yet had any formal one-on-one interviews expressly to discuss the No. 2 spot on the ticket. Those aren’t expected for several weeks.

Finally, Klobuchar on the ropes, but not totally ruled out:

While the people with knowledge of Biden’s vetting process did not rule Klobuchar out, she is widely viewed among Democrats with close ties to the Biden campaign as less likely to be tapped given recent events.

[Mr. Morden]

So in brief, other than Harris, Warren, and Rice all being on the current version of the short list, I don't see that story as being very definitive with regard to who's still in contention.  Though I would note that, in surveying minority candidates who were vetted even in Phase 1, it doesn't mention Abrams.  That plus the fact that she told Colbert that she hasn't been contacted by the campaign (as opposed to at least giving an "I shouldn't talk about that") suggests that she's likely out, IMHO.

[Mr. Morden]

Biden’s Vice-Presidential Search: Who’s on the List and Where It Stands

Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s advisers have conducted several rounds of interviews with a select group of vice-presidential candidates and are beginning to gather private documents from some of them, as they attempt to winnow a field that features the most diverse set of vice-presidential contenders in history.

The search committee has been in touch with roughly a dozen women, and some eight or nine are already being vetted more intensively.

Among that group are two contenders who have recently grown in prominence, Representative Val Demings of Florida and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta. One well-known candidate, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, has lost her perch as a front-runner. And some lower-profile candidates, like Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, are advancing steadily in the search process.

The New York Times spoke to an array of people who are familiar with the vice-presidential search and the activities of the Biden team, and the interviews yielded the fullest picture yet of the list of candidates Mr. Biden is considering, who is advancing and who may be fading, and the dynamics at play.

[...]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/us/politics/joe-biden-vice-president.html

Yeah, to summarize, that NYT name checks 11 different VP candidates (and then there’s something of an asterisk for Abrams and Hassan, who are a 12th and 13th option, since it’s not clear if they’re really in the mix), using slightly different language to describe where they are in the process, though it’s not totally clear to me if the distinctions are meaningful, or just a flourish of how the story was written:

“Have been interviewed at length by Biden’s team”:
Baldwin, Harris, Warren

“Have also been interviewed and asked for documents”:
Duckworth, Rice

“Have been elevated” into contention by recent events, and have “spoken with the vetting team”:
Bottoms, Demings

“Have also had conversations with the members of the vetting team”:
Whitmer, Raimondo, Grisham

“Is also still under consideration” but her chances have receded:
Klobuchar

“Agreed to be vetted”, but “has not been actively pursuing the job and is not seen as a major candidate”:
Hassan

Unclear what her status is, since several people “insisted she was still in the mix”, though she denied that she’s been contacted:
Abrams

And then….were asked to be vetted and either declined, or else initially said yes but then dropped out:
CCM, Shaheen

[Mr. Morden]

Some tweets on the story:

https://twitter.com/alexburnsNYT/status/1271796934441926662

https://twitter.com/alexburnsNYT/status/1271807522740060160

[Mr. Morden]

A couple of other notes from the NYT story:

Ms. Harris, who was already a leading prospect, appears to have lifted herself further in recent weeks with her advocacy for policing reform. But three Democrats in regular contact with top Biden officials said they still frequently expressed unease about Ms. Harris because of her rocky turn as a presidential candidate and her blistering attack on Mr. Biden in the first debate last year.
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The fact that someone has been interviewed for vice president does not necessarily mean she is among the top candidates, and it is somewhat customary for presidential candidates to put a few close allies on their short list as a kind of reward for their support. People briefed on the search also said it would be premature to assume anyone has been eliminated as a candidate simply because she may not have moved as far in the process as others.

Jennifer Palmieri, who advised Hillary Clinton during her 2016 hunt for a running mate, said it made sense for the search committee to screen a large number of candidates to give Mr. Biden flexibility in his decision. The search, she said, should function “outside of the day-to-day political ecosystem” that thrives on fleeting conventional wisdom.

[Mr. Morden]

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/biden-narrows-vp-pick-six-women-look-not-list

Now its just down to a few...

That's a summary of the AP story that was posted here yesterday, and is contradicted by the NYT story from today, which gives a longer list:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=309337.msg7403311#msg7403311

[Mr. Morden]

In contrast to what she said a few days ago on Colbert, Abrams now deflects when asked if she's been contacted by the Biden campaign about VP vetting:

https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1272176242964467713

[Mr. Morden]

I think there should be tiers that people think about when looking at the candidates. They probably had 5-7 people send in financial stuff with another 5 or so that they called to talk to.

Here's what I think those tiers look like:

Frontrunners - Harris, Warren
Back-Ups - Susan Rice, Klobuchar, Demings, Lujan Grisham, Lance Bottoms
Called, but no - Abrams, CCM, Whitmer, Duckworth, Baldwin

Frontrunners will be the ones decided upon if both of their vets clear, and if they both have bad things pop up in the vets, they will turn to the back-ups.

This would make sense with the Abrams answer, Whitmer not talking about it, and CCM denial going public.

The NYT story says that Duckworth has been “interviewed” and Baldwin has been “interviewed at length”, so I don’t think that everyone below your top 7 has only been asked for documents and not interviewed.

[Mr. Morden]

Baldwin once again refuses to comment on whether she's being vetted, and also (I'm not sure if she's commented on this before) says she would say yes if offered the job:

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/baldwin-says-she-would-say-yes-to-being-vp-candidate-if-biden-asked

Baldwin says she has offered her insight to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee but would not say if she is being vetted when I asked.

"Were he to ask me to be his vice president, I would surely say yes," said Baldwin. "But I will keep my conversations in confidence - we just need to win."

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1272705804802699265

[Mr. Morden]

Raimondo dodges the question on whether she’s being vetted:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/17/metro/raimondo-vp-word-is-shes-bidens-list/

During a press conference on Monday, Raimondo declined to comment on whether she has spoken to Biden’s campaign, but said, “I am 150 percent focused on doing my job in Rhode Island, and spending no time on politics.”

“I have the job I want, which is being governor of Rhode Island,” she said.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/CapehartJ/status/1273801778467876870

Her exact wording:

https://twitter.com/mikememoli/status/1273801694787313664

[Mr. Morden]

So yes, she said that she told Biden this last night, which of course takes her out of the running.

Video:

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1273803046687047681

[Mr. Morden]

At about the 8 minute mark in this video, Abrams says of Biden’s VP search:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA6KrCPaqIM

“I am proud to be among the names that he’s considering.”

Which, again, seems like it’s in conflict with her telling Colbert that she hasn’t been contacted by the Biden campaign about the veepstakes, though maybe something’s happened just in the last week.

She also continues to claim that she has foreign policy experience:

”I am someone who has worked in foreign policy.”

[Mr. Morden]

Funny how everyone thought "Oh Biden/Harris makes sense"like 2 years ago and now here we are

Two years ago, there were more people on the forum who thought Harris would be at the top of the ticket than Biden:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=293714.0

[Mr. Morden]

NYT story on Duckworth here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/us/politics/tammy-duckworth-vice-president-joe-biden.html

Two people with knowledge of the vetting process say that Ms Duckworth’s early interviews with the Biden campaign were impressive enough to make her a contender.

It reiterates earlier NYT story that Duckworth is one of more than a dozen candidates to have been interviewed, and among a smaller group who were then asked to submit vetting documents.

[Mr. Morden]

To add to this, CNN released a new article this morning with "sources close to the campaign" saying there are four top contenders

It doesn't quite say that.  It says that those are four of the leading prospects, which doesn't preclude there being at least a few other "leading prospects".

Also from that story:

Separate teams of lawyers assigned to each of the contenders are nearing the closing stages of reviewing three distinct types of records -- written, financial and medical -- in their background checks, according to people involved in the process. Members of the search committee have done extensive interviews with several candidates, the sources tell CNN, but Biden is not likely to sit down with finalists until mid-to-late July, with an announcement expected in early August.

Also:

Former Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice is being thoroughly vetted, two people familiar with the matter say, as well as Rep. Karen Bass of California, who was strongly recommended to Biden by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Clyburn confirmed to CNN that Bass "is being vetted."

Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois are also among a broader tier under consideration, sources say.

[Mr. Morden]

At about the 6:40 mark here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px1UPY08vWg , Bass is asked if she's being vetted for veep, but she dodges, saying “Anything in that regard needs to be referred to the campaign."