I like Richardson. He brings hispanics and westerners to the table, plus he's got quite possibly the broadest and most relevant resume of anyone who has run for President in my life time.
Governor Kathleen Sebelius
http://www.governor.ks.gov/about/bio.htm
Governor Kathleen Sebelius
http://www.governor.ks.gov/about/bio.htm
Governor Janet Napolitano
http://www.governor.state.az.us/
Governor Kathleen Sebelius
http://www.governor.ks.gov/about/bio.htm
Governor Janet Napolitano
http://www.governor.state.az.us/
Senator Claire McCaskill
http://mccaskill.senate.gov/claire/
OK, I'll stop now.
Admiral - Are you aware that she's DLC?
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ka.cfm?k...cfm?
kaid=450015
For my list that disqualifies her.
I like The Littlest Hussein Gator for this position..... for this post alone :D
I like Janet Napolitano. I can't think of the other lady I think is great at the moment.
I'd like Richardson as Education/Sec of State.
McCaskill! That's the other lady I think would be great.
Hmm. I never noticed this before--Janet N has no personal info on her bio page.
If she had a husband she'd be leading with that fact, methinks...
So she's out, because she's neither verifiably straight, nor out.
Smart lady, and I like her, and I think she can take McCain's current job in 2010, but the scrutiny of the VP slot under the first major-party non-white male? I think we're not quite that friggin' inclusive.
Not Richardson, he's fully trained and vetted and experienced in executive roles at the cabinet level, but again the personal scrutiny that is guaranteed to accompany the VP slot is a recipe for disaster.
I got nothin'. Who's beige enough for the job?
"Admiral - Are you aware that she's DLC?"
-I was not aware of that.
If Obama and Kathleen Sebelius are kindred spirts as far as policy is concerned, I would not have a problem with it if he picked her as VP, although I am not crazy about the DLC.
This is pointless don't you think? Obama in his infinitude neither seeks your input nor wants it cluttering up his really, really cool campaign.
How about Arnold? Helps keep CA and they can play all Unity Pony! all they want.
No?
How about Joe....yeah, he was good enough for Gore! And you git yer Unity Pony!
That's it. Joey the Liarmann for Veep.
.
There was a rich and fascinating thread on Talking Points Memo's Cafe section yesterday that sprang from a post about Donna Brazile's quietly outraged bitch-slap on a hysterical Paul Bergala -- but the post appears to have been removed and not archived.
Too bad, because the VP discussion included detailed pro's and con's of "should it be a woman" [majority: NO, it's an obvious pander, an obvious "replacement", like if HRC came up with a Black VP nom, and thus an insult]; Jim Webb [mixed -- good reasons to keep him in the Senate, his style might not mesh well with Obama's, he likes to go his own road]; Richardson; Wes Clark; why it should NOT be someone from the Midwest, why it SHOULD be a governor of a state that will bring in mucho electoral votes [VA Gov Tim Kaine was discussed, so was Evan Bayh], why it should be a White Male and not the Jewish Rendell or Hispanic Richardson.
Somebody had the temerity to toss out Sam Nunn's name, and the response was so priceless, I am HURT that TPM took that out of the blogosphere!
There was also input from another gal who says she will not be voting in the General because everyone at Daily Kos was so mean to Hillary.
Anybody at GNB have pull with TPM?
Phoenix - I say why not just go for it. No time to back down now and start over thinking this thing. If we cut the right dead weight from the party we're unstopable. We're ready "enough" to consider the "with two you get eggonyourfaceroll" team who apparently share resumes, then why not consider a woman who got it all on her own? I think we're ready. I mean she got 60% in red red red az with not ONE negative ad, dealt with a mondo deficit coming in and a pubbie state house, attorney general experience I think. Tells the likes of joe arpaio and the phoenix mayor she's "the governor, not a referee" in their squables. It doesn't matter here in red mccainland, why should it elsewhere.
At least I'm happy she's being considered and would like her to be on her merits....... not her marital status. (A new a novel approach) 
Gov. Howard Brush Dean, MD., whose 50-State Strategy, Trumanesqueosity, gigantic vats of personal/political and very male-branded courage, dorky-regular-guy-authenticity, ability to see into the future with great accuracy, effective money management (to the point of being kinda cheap, yo 
), rock-solid honesty & integrity in decades of trackable public service, & media unflappability are some of the reasons he'd make an excellent VP.
He has been an expanded Democratic Party's Chair with obvious success (enough so that Sen. Obama built his campaign on that foundation).
I see Barack & Howard as an amazing, game-changing choice of leaders for what lay ahead of us all. Howard said he wouldn't run for President this year, but if Barack drafts him, I believe he'll serve as VP. And with the DLC Wing out of favor and this new team at the WH, the Party will continue the transformation he & we began...and more importantly, bring the country with us.
I'd really dig Wes Clark for VP.
Yes I know he's in tight with the Clintons, but he seems to be the type that would go all out for whoever the dem nominee is.
Him and Richardson are my top two.
Holy Crap.
Napolitano is freakin' perfect.
Popular, progressive, well-respected, and - (bonus points!) she could contest McSame's home state.
I really think Obama needs to put one of the many, many, many highly-qualified Democratic women on as veep. There are a lot of pissed-off, Hillary-supporting feminists out there who need to be on-board in November, and a woman veep choice would go a long way toward healing some rifts, I think.
Can't be Ahh-nuld. The Constitution requires the VP to be qualified to be president. That means no Austrian accents.
tlg -
thanks for a fun thread!
You go, Teri in Hussein Tokyo!
In my ideal world, it's all Howie B. Dean. The neighborhoods I walked for that man in 2004 were the real thing - only to be crushed by the FL voting dysfunction.
He's got the cred to pounce on health care plus many other other goodies that will benefit us non-elites. Plus he's cute in an undescribeable way that is just fueled my his intelligence and qwik-thinkin'.
OK - whoa now, girl.
Gov. Napolitano is a keeper as well.
Napolitano's a goood choice.
And, if Obama wants a long list, he could start with the 21 democratic Senators who had the smarts and the moxie to vote against authorizing the fucking of the cluster, back in 2002.
Those are rock-solid credentials. :o)
Fresh! We gotta think fresh, guys.
:o)
I like Howard, but I dunno; have to think about that.
I could see Edwards as A.G. That would be a nice fit, if he hasn't waited too long to come off the "neutral" 4X4.
It's a wide open call...and thread. Thanks, TLG.
Russ Feingold.
........ or Stephanie Miller 
A.Citizen, bite me.
ooohhh Russ, hadn't thought of that...!
I like Chris Dodd, Wes Clark, or Napolitano.
Betty Castor
Gravitas, Florida, proven chief executive.
It won't be Napolitano, for reasons stated above.
Clark has the qualifications; the issue would be whether, as a former Clinton supporter, he could be sufficiently loyal to Obama. Webb is another possibility (both he and Clark would give the ticket defense/foreign policy experience).
Similarly to Arnold, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is not a possiblity (she is a naturalized American who was born in Canada).
Sebelius is intriguing -- she might want to go for the Senate in time. Another interesting thing is that her Lt. Gov. is the former head of the Kansas GOP -- he quit because they went completely batshit insane, and became a Democrat.
Matthew Santos
You know...the Jimmy Smitts character from the final season of the West Wing?
I was one of Betty's Buddies! go Castor! And I like fisa-fighting Dodd too!
How about the person with the bag over his or her head ? The bag guarantees the person won't outshine BHO.
me!
I am so kidding 'bout me - my genteel-yet-shady past would preclude...
yup, murfmom, you know ya right! Tanbark, my love, VP Dean makes sense, seriously.
what HoDe is is a servant-leader, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him serve as Barack's muscle and contrarian mind for 4 years (gonna be no picnic, you know?), then leave the field open for the next up and coming leaders, rather than feeling that 'entitled' trumps the national need...could be Obama/Dean stopping the slide, and showing how it's done, then stepping aside so the next team moves it on up a little bit higher...
allow another arizona voice to support janet napolitano. arizona has always been kind of frontier crazy. it's a state that is absolutely capable of producing barry goldwater and the udalls out of the same generation. it has not only produced some of the batshit crazier conservatives, it brought bruce babbitt to the national stage.
napolitano is a smart, tough, and fair minded governor. she'd be a great choice.
Clark is Not Happening. He chose that when he chose to back Hillary. That's a big no-no, and not likely to be forgiven.
Richardson would be awesome, but I suspect that when Bill and Hill sit down with Obama to negotiate the settlement, one of their demands (besides a Supreme Court nom for Bill and a cabinet post for Hill) will be to keep him off the ticket. If Obama holds insists, he won't get their whole-hearted support.
Edwards ran for VP once already. I doubt he'll get the nod again.
Dodd would be a good choice. I generally like the idea of an experienced white man, for two reasons. One, it will help placate the voters who are just racist enough to worry about. Two, Obama needs someone who can make up for his own inexperience -- his own (better) version of Cheney. He needs somebody who's been around a long time, and knows how the backrooms work and where the bodies are buried. He has the vision, but he needs someone who knows how to get it all done.
I wasn't impressed at all with Sebilius' rebuttal to the SOTU speech. I know she's well-regarded, but she was not the least bit inspiring. In fact, she sounded like someone who'd cave in to the GOP every chance she got.
Sara,
Sebelius has twice vetoed coal plants in Kansas because they are major polluters. The Republican legislature are now sending another bill up to try to force her to accept the coal plants. They have attached the issue to important funding that she wants passed. She stands strong against our Republican legislature here in Kansas. I thinks she is too quiet a speaker to be effective on the national stage, but she is no weakling!
About Wes Clark's support of Hillary: he has never attacked Obama, he has alwys been reasonable in his comments, and he has actively campaigned and fund-raised for a wide variety of Dems since 2004. The fact that he was a Hillary supporter is part of the value he would bring, since Hillary's die-hard supporters need a little bit of appeasment.
BTW, I can't help wondering why my carefully thought-out and written response in favor of Clark was deleted from this thread.
Sara makes a really strong case for Dodd -- Obama's (non evil) Cheney. Haven't heard this argument made before, but it's quite persuasive to me.
One of my greatest fears is that Obama will get elected but be swiftly battered/kneecapped a la Deval Patrick, a la Bill Clinton, a la Jimmy Carter -- as either illegitimate or as a traitor to the Village for being a reformer, etc, etc.
Having an uber-experienced and widely respected old bear like Dodd as VP would be a tremendous asset to Obama, especially as Dodd has proven via the FISA fight to be one tough cookie. Wouldn't bring geographic diversity to the plate -- altho maybe he could help in the one portion of New England that Obama might be vulnerable (NH) against McSame?
Also from what I saw in the primary, Dodd's a pretty effective attack dog on the stump, unlike many Senators. So I think he could nail that role in the campaign.
Seems like the only problem would be that his replacement in the US Senate would be a GOPer...as the Gov of CT is a Republican...
Another Arizonan weighing in for Janet Napolitano. While it is true that many question her sexuality (I think she once leaned L but made the choice to be A once her career in politics was decided - far as I know, NOBODY has any goods on her) her extreme intelligence, no-nonsense approach to everything and the fact that she is not only from McCain's state but a woman to help drag the Hillbots back into the fold... I think she's a winner.
But I also like Wes Clark and Bill Richardson. Don't know enough about Sebelius.
Didn't know anything about her, but she sounds pretty good...
do we need more name recog. though?
Chosen by Time Magazine as one of America’s Top Five Governors, Janet Napolitano’s hallmark is common sense – she does what makes sense and what works.
She continues to fight for quality schools, affordable health care, sensible and forward-thinking economic development, a safe homeland, and has taken extensive measures to create fiscal responsibility and to end bureaucratic waste.
Governor Napolitano championed voluntary full-day kindergarten, available for all Arizona children. She pushed for a historical teacher pay raise – an acknowledgement to those who have chosen the most valuable of professions. She also provided record financial support for Arizona’s universities and community colleges, recognizing the need for a well educated work force to ensure the success of Arizona’s future.
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