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

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Wow, so many people are FURIOUS at the fact that Amy is being vetted. I don't want Amy to be Biden's VP pick but the outrage online especially by Bernie Bros and other progressives is ridiculous

I don't believe that there is a large contingent of bernard brothers who are furious that Biden might choose Klobuchar over Keisha Lance Bottoms or whoever. Nobody cares

Silence, Republican!

[Senator Spark]

Nice Amy about to be picked! Lol

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Veepstakes is no big deal, the Veep does is breaks ties in the Senate and works with their own party on legislation if their party holds the WH and the Congress.  If party is in the minority in the Senate, they travel mostly abroad or works in the WH. It's not a big deal

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

If Biden goes with a high-ranking Latina (a House member is not good enough in my view) are there any reasons to favor Lujan Grisham over Cortez Masto?

House members don't get no respect, no respect at all

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Nice Amy about to be picked! Lol

No, she isn't.

[Orwell]

Y'all c'mon...Biden's selective leaks about Klobuchar are just to make it so #woke progressives can breathe a collectives sigh of relief when he invariably picks Harris.  It's the same thing Clinton did in Vilsack and Stavridis.

Veepstakes is all about managing expectations.

Clinton should have picked Stavridis tho

[Mr. Morden]

Hassan is being vetted.  Time for the return of the "Climbing Maggie" meme:

https://www.wmur.com/article/both-nh-senators-invited-to-initial-interviews-for-biden-vp-slot-hassan-agrees-shaheen-declines/32630813

Both of New Hampshire’s U.S. senators in recent weeks were asked by presumptive nominee Joe Biden’s team to participate in the initial vetting process to be considered as his running mate, WMUR has learned.

Sen. Maggie Hassan agreed and has participated in initial interviews, according to a source familiar with the process.
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Hassan, 62, a former two-term governor who was elected to the Senate in 2016, has had a small number of initial interviews, according to a separate source familiar with the process.

(Update:) After this report initially was published, Hassan told WMUR in a statement:

“I'm flattered that Vice President Biden publicly mentioned my name as someone whom he would consider. I am not going to comment about his process, whatever that may be. My focus each and every day continues to be serving the people of New Hampshire in the United States Senate.”

[soundchaser]

I’ve liked Hassan ever since she tore DeVos to pieces during her confirmation hearing. I know she’s not exactly a progressive stalwart, but I wouldn’t be mad if she were picked. (Not that I think it’ll be her.)

[kelestian]

Amy didn't remember AMLO. HP

[RogueBeaver]

NYT on Warren: Biden admires her qualities but some Dems worry about her ideological differences , whether she'd be 100% loyal, and her age. For her part she's moved closer to him on healthcare and would drop her opposition to high-$ fundraisers.

[Devils30]

Warren just makes no sense as VP for a guy who is already winning. For a cabinet spot, sure but a younger person like Whitmer or even Harris also has option value in case Biden wants to run again in 2024. Warren would be 77 in 2028.

[Mr. Morden]

Biden is asked about Klobuchar on Colbert's show:

https://time.com/5841324/biden-vice-president-questions-amy-klobuchar/

Asked about reporting that Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had agreed to be vetted, Biden said “no one’s been vetted yet by the team.”

Biden said the lawyers working on the search are wrapping up a process of reaching out to a “preliminary list of people” to “ask them general questions” including “what are they interested in, why would they be interested in the job or not interested in the job.”

Pressed by Colbert on whether Klobuchar is on his short list, Biden responded that she’s “first rate” but said he wasn’t “getting into” where she stands in the process.

He described vetting, which he underwent in 2008 to become Barack Obama’s running mate, as “a very invasive process” of looking at past votes, financial statements and health records. He suggested that one reason why he wouldn’t volunteer a list of names under consideration is “because if someone’s not chosen the presumption is not necessarily true that there must be something wrong.”

[American2020]

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1263562668838879232

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1263562668838879232

Given Klobuchar's history managing her Senate office, I'm not sure she'd be the best choice. Then again, she didn't face a lot of damaging attacks during the campaign, and she's definitely more ready to be President if something happened to Biden than say...Stacey Abrams (who apparently is openly campaigning to be VP). 

[Mr. Morden]

Duckworth (along with Whoopi Goldberg) will host a Biden fundraiser on May 28th:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/498997-abcs-whoopi-goldberg-to-headline-biden-fundraiser-with-sen-tammy-duckworth

[American2020]

https://twitter.com/gelliottmorris/status/1263558716982464515

[Tender Branson]

Val Demings currently being interviewed by the Biden team:

Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., has formally begun interviewing with the Biden campaign for the vice presidential nomination and that the vetting process is underway, a source with direct knowledge told NBC News Thursday.

“We’re definitely on a list,” the source said.

Demings, D-Fla., in an interview with SiriusXM’s “The Dean Obeidallah Show,” said Wednesday night she was on “the shortlist” to be Biden’s vice presidential nominee, saying that she’d accept the job if offered.

“If Vice President Biden asked me to serve along with him, I would be honored to do just that,” she said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-s-vice-president-shortlist-emerges-demings-klobuchar-say-they-n1212481

[Ferguson97]

Come on Joe we know you're gonna pick Harris, quit blue-balling us

[Rookie Yinzer]

Just thinking how MI and WI both have Black Lietutenant Governors. Whitmer and Evers didn't already have the Black vote locked up by virtue of being the Dem nominee? Why didn't they need a white running mate? Biden is performing stronger with whites and older voters than Clinton, meanwhile he's running behind Clinton with Black voters from this point in 2016 and a pick to engage Black voters is dismissed as not being necessary. Things that make you go hmmm...

[woodley park]

I think Morris is spot on in his analysis. Biden is the moderate candidate, so it would be strategically better to pick someone who is going to either excite the progressive left, or juice part of the Democratic coalition to enhance excitement. If anyone dares suggest the Democrats are embracing extremism, just run videos of the Trump placard, Confederate flag, and assault rifle-toting white militias in the Midwest that are trying to intimidate local legislators. Extremism and the right wing are basically synonymous at this point. Enough said.

[brucejoel99]

Just thinking how MI and WI both have Black Lietutenant Governors. Whitmer and Evers didn't already have the Black vote locked up by virtue of being the Dem nominee? Why didn't they need a white running mate? Biden is performing stronger with whites and older voters than Clinton, meanwhile he's running behind Clinton with Black voters from this point in 2016 and a pick to engage Black voters is dismissed as not being necessary. Things that make you go hmmm...

Evers didn't pick his running mate, the nominee for WI's LG is chosen in a separate primary.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

I think Morris is spot on in his analysis. Biden is the moderate candidate, so it would be strategically better to pick someone who is going to either excite the progressive left, or juice part of the Democratic coalition to enhance excitement. If anyone dares suggest the Democrats are embracing extremism, just run videos of the Trump placard, Confederate flag, and assault rifle-toting white militias in the Midwest that are trying to intimidate local legislators. Extremism and the right wing are basically synonymous at this point. Enough said.

Is it that important though? Soft members of the 'progressive left' are most likely going to vote Biden regardless, and appeasing Bernie's more hardcore supporters will require more than a progressive Veep. Who would that even be? As far as I can tell, the #NeverBiden set of the left hates Warren too. Even those with mostly left-leaning records like Kirsten Gillibrand are considered centrists by this set. Ilhan Omar? Rashida Talib? Yeah, way to destroy your chances of winning moderate WASPs, chasing after the hardcore supporters of a candidate who got destroyed after Nevada.

What Biden needs, moderate or progressive, is someone competent. The guy is 77 and bordering on senility, people need confidence that the VP is ready to take over from him at a moment's notice.

[Donerail]

I would be excited to watch the trainwreck of whatever a Biden/Nina Turner ticket would look like, but we can all recognize that it'd be a catastrophe.

[woodley park]

I think Morris is spot on in his analysis. Biden is the moderate candidate, so it would be strategically better to pick someone who is going to either excite the progressive left, or juice part of the Democratic coalition to enhance excitement. If anyone dares suggest the Democrats are embracing extremism, just run videos of the Trump placard, Confederate flag, and assault rifle-toting white militias in the Midwest that are trying to intimidate local legislators. Extremism and the right wing are basically synonymous at this point. Enough said.

Is it that important though? Soft members of the 'progressive left' are most likely going to vote Biden regardless, and appeasing Bernie's more hardcore supporters will require more than a progressive Veep. Who would that even be? As far as I can tell, the #NeverBiden set of the left hates Warren too. Even those with mostly left-leaning records like Kirsten Gillibrand are considered centrists by this set. Ilhan Omar? Rashida Talib? Yeah, way to destroy your chances of winning moderate WASPs, chasing after the hardcore supporters of a candidate who got destroyed after Nevada.

What Biden needs, moderate or progressive, is someone competent. The guy is 77 and bordering on senility, people need confidence that the VP is ready to take over from him at a moment's notice.

What I'm trying to say is, just don't pick someone who is only famous for being a moderate, because you already have that. I'm not necessarily suggesting someone far left, and wouldn't support Omar or Tlaib as the choice. Ayanna Pressley, maybe. But something has to be done to shore up morale for the more progressively-minded wing of the coalition OR to fire up a slice of the Democratic coalition (young voters, black voters, female voters, etc.) Klobuchar will not do either of those things. I honestly don't understand why Klobuchar even bothered to run for president. Her platform was more about not doing things, and telling progressives why the things they wanted are impossible. She actively turns off progressive voters, she doesn't fire up female voters, especially not young female voters, and her polling with minority voters is weak. She appeals to white Midwesterners and thats about it. Coincidentally, thats one area where Biden is already strong. I don't think she does anything extra for the ticket that Biden already isn't doing.

[politics_king]

After Joe's comment today, you really have to think what Harris, Abrams, Lance Bottoms, Demings & Rice all think about this. You could see Harris & Abrams withdrawal there names, they have a future in this party. Lance Bottoms does too but she's been loyal to Joe, Demings could probably spin the gaffe and Susan Rice well they have a long standing relationship so I could see Joe going with familiar. But Joe is really going to shoot himself in the foot if he picks a white woman unless it's Elizabeth Warren, but even then, he just upset the black electorate.

If anyone knows Charlamagne tha God and his work on The Breakfast Club, for the past two years he's been preaching about making sure the Democratic candidate has a Black Agenda to help the community. That's been picked up by Angela Rye and other prominent media personalities pushing the narrative. If Joe really tanks it with the black communities voting bloc, he may need to go in the direction of picking a Latina for the VP slot. But he'd be committing political suicide picking Klobauchar or Whitmer, I have nothing against those two but that would be a mess if he does pick one of them.