Inevitable question: Joe Biden's running mate

[Vosem]

Baldwin, Duckworth, and Klobuchar all seem like incredibly logical picks, to the point that it's hard to make a list without them. Duckworth seems like the best all-around, with a very compelling personal story and origin (and given America's history having FDR as a beloved leader I can't say that being wheelchair-bound would be a horrible stop), but her campaigning history is sort of spotty (though getting better -- she significantly under-performed expectations in 2006 and 2012, but did better in 2014 and 2016) and she has very young children, so she may not want to commit to a grueling national campaign. Baldwin makes a lot of sense on paper as someone who over-performs in Wisconsin, a state that Democrats are desperate to win; Klobuchar seems like a version of Baldwin who is more motivated (and over-performs harder) but also has more personal issues and is from a neighboring state.

Beyond that it's hard to say. Whitmer might be the favorite if she'd been in office just a little longer, but Biden remembers the Palin debacle and I don't think anyone from the 2018 class is going to be chosen. He's a conventional enough thinker not to go to the House, either. Among other possibilities, if the election is strongly foreign-policy-oriented someone who's stayed very active in protesting Trump's foreign-policy is Obama's former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson; Johnson also checks enough boxes that I think if he's interested he'd be able to be one of the finalists.

[Vosem]

Biden has zero reason to pick Harris, who has attacked him repeatedly, probably isn't someone who he'd trust with the Presidency, and probably isn't someone who helps him with any conceivable swing or base demographic given her lack of appeal to African-Americans. (But if he wants to pick someone who hasn't launched weird attacks on him, has had some appeal to African-Americans in the past, and is obviously running for VP, why not Booker? He has all of Harris's advantages and none of her disadvantages).

I'd be surprised if Biden were to pick Abrams, given her lack of experience and the fact that I'd imagine he remembers Palin. If Biden really, really feels that he absolutely has to pick a black woman (but I don't know why he'd think this, since some of the candidates who've most successfully turned out black voters in recent years have been, well, white: consider the Jones '17 and Edwards '19 campaigns), then the only person who even sort of makes sense is Terri Sewell.

But I think he'll go with one of the swing-state/Midwestern Senators (Duckworth, Klobuchar, Baldwin, or CCM). Any of them makes much more than Abrams.