A vice presidential candidate should help the presidential candidate in several ways. The VPOTUS candidate should bump the odds of taking a swing state that could tip the Electoral College odds; he or she might bring some foreign policy experience to a presidential candidate whose experience is mostly domestic. A moderate VP candidate may smooth some of the edges of a presidential candidate who is closer to the edges, as well.
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There have been few presidential candidates in the history of the republic closer to the fringe than Kamala Harris. So it’s interesting to see her VP choice appearing to settle on three white dudes: Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and Governor Tim Walz (D-MN).
Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said she “directed her team to begin the process of vetting potential running mates” but declined to elaborate on the search.
Harris is expected to make a selection by Aug. 7, in order to align with the party’s plan to virtually nominate a ticket by that date.
Picking a vice presidential candidate will cement the Democratic standard-bearers to take on Republican nominee Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance in the November election. Harris’ sidekick can serve as a force multiplier who can campaign and raise money on her behalf, while ideally complimenting her strengths and covering any vulnerabilities.
Most on Harris’ list are White, male politicians with centrist leanings who could help Harris appeal to swing-state voters, as well as business leaders and donors.
Hint to Bloomberg: “White” isn’t a proper noun.
Aside from these three being white dudes, it’s a little odd that the Harris VP selection folks, supposedly headed by “Fast and Furious” mastermind Eric Holder, would settle on these three in particular. Two are governors and theoretically bring executive experience; that’s something with which Kamala Harris has, well, zero experience. So let’s look briefly at the three.
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Mark Kelly, being a former astronaut, may bring a little “Right Stuff” vibe to the campaign for the left, although his fondness for gun control makes him a no-go for anyone who cares about the Second Amendment. Kamala Harris may see that as an advantage, but there are plenty of fence-sitters who won’t. The main thing that would seem to recommend him is that he may be able to sway Arizona, which would be a must-have Electoral College pickup.
Josh Shapiro, while hailing from Pennsylvania and therefore theoretically bringing the possibility of picking up that essential Electoral College state, is also Jewish, which, to be perfectly honest, is going to alienate the vocal (and sometimes violent) pro-Palestine, pro-Hamas wing of the far left.
Tim Walz is a bit of a head-scratcher. The Democrats are near-certain to pick up Minnesota in any case; Walz is a little farther to the left than the other two and isn’t likely to bring in many fence-sitters. Granted Trump is running some events in the Land of 10,000 Lakes to make the Dems expend resources there and that’s certainly worth doing, but the last time Minnesota’s Electoral College votes went to Team Red was in Richard Nixon’s landslide reelection in 1972.
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Whoever Kamala Harris chooses, whether it be one of these three or someone else, won’t help her with her fundamental problem: Herself. She is abrasive and reportedly hard on her staff; all that combined with her incapability of speaking plainly unless reading from a teleprompter (and even then, only just) and her grating laugh, makes her the most unlikeable candidate since, well, Hillary Clinton. But at least one of the three named possibles seems to already be angling for the gig.
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Whoever she picks, whatever they bring to the table, the clock’s a-tickin’, and she’s going to have to decide soon. And it’s a safe bet that the Trump campaign is already compiling dossiers on these three and any other possibles.