Between the lines: The message Biden's team took from the primary is that Democrats just want to win. (Don't forget Biden's pledge to "beat him like a drum" in the election.)
The Biden campaign's internal polling shows voters aren't hyper-enthusiastic about Biden as a candidate, but they are highly motivated to vote Trump out of office, per a source who was briefed on the results.
If the base is as motivated as the campaign assumes it is, it relieves pressure to pick a darling of the progressive movement, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to several Democratic strategists.
Instead, the thinking goes, Biden could pick someone who's lesser-known but could help him win and isn't easily branded by the Trump campaign.
This lesser-known sure sounds like Tammy Duckworth to me. Anyone disagree?
The
last thing Democrats should concern themselves with is how Trump could brand their choice of VP. Trump and the GOP will spew negative bs about whomever the pick is and invent controversies out of thin air. Dems in 2016 went out of their way to pick an inoffensive, boring VP in Tim Kaine, and that was a major misstep.
They should concentrate on fixing that enthusiasm problem and go for someone that actually excites people to vote for Biden instead of solely against Trump. I'm not sure if Harris or Duckworth can do that.
