Tag Archives: VP picks

national news, political news

Welcome to the circus, Sen. Kaine

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Hillary Rodham Clinton laid down an important marker just before announcing her vice-presidential pick.

The Democratic presidential candidate said the person she would select first and foremost needed to be able to step into the presidency immediately if something would prevent her from continuing in the office.

Fine. Fair enough, Mme. Secretary.

Then she selected U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Did politics have anything at all to do with the selection?

Let’s see. Clinton had several other names on her short list. They included Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. All of them would fit that qualification. Oh, except for this: They all come from states governed by Republicans, which means that the GOP governor would fill their Senate seats with Republicans, thus putting in jeopardy the Democrats’ hopes of reclaiming the Senate majority.

Virginia’s governor is a Democrat, good Clinton friend Terry McAuliffe. He poses no such dilemma for the Democrats if they win the election this fall.

There were others as well: Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, retired Admiral James Stavridis.

Indeed, Republican nominee Donald J. Trump surely needed someone to run with him who is capable of becoming president. He turned to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate. Pence clearly fills the presidential qualification need for the GOP, given his executive and legislative government experience.

Clinton and Kaine are going to make their first joint appearance today in Miami. Kaine, incidentally, is fluent in Spanish; gosh, do you think he’ll get to say a few words — in Spanish — to his south Florida audience that might include something like, “We won’t build a wall to keep others out!”?

So, the tickets are set. Democrats are getting ready to convene their four-day event in Philadelphia.

Compared to what transpired at the GOP convention in Cleveland, the nominating event coming up is going to look utterly boring.

But in this case — if you’re a dedicated Democrat — boring will be a good thing.

military news, national news, political news

Wait for the big announcement; it’s coming soon

080712-N-3285B-007 MAYPORT, Fla. (July 12, 2008) Adm. James Stavridis, commander, U.S. Southern Command, speaks at the 4th Fleet reestablishment ceremony held on board Naval Station Mayport. Fourth Fleet is the reassigned numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO, exercising operational control of assigned forces. Fourth Fleet conducts the full spectrum of Maritime Security Operations in support of U.S. objectives and security cooperation activities that promote coalition building and deter aggression in the maritime environment. U.S. Navy photo Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Regina L. Brown (Released)

The cat’s out of the bag.

No. Not that cat. Not the big one, which would involve the announcement of just who Hillary Rodham Clinton will choose as her running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

The cat to which I refer is the timing of the announcement.

It’s coming Saturday. Clinton will be in Florida — one of those crucial “swing states” — where she’s expected to declare the name of her vice-presidential pick.

Frankly, I had hoped she’d do it on Friday, a single day after the Republican National Convention had adjourned for the next four years.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/07/timing-could-be-everything-for-the-next-vp-selection/

Reports are flying that Clinton wants to stress “national security” in her pick. More reports are flying that such an emphasis has elevated a retired Navy admiral’s standing in her hunt for the perfect No. 2.

James Stavridis might get the call. Or it might go to Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Or it could be Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack of Iowa.

Admiral Stavridis has no political experience. He does have a boatload — yes, the pun is intended — of national security experience. He’s a strategic thinker and someone who has worked with Clinton at the State Department.

The last general-grade officer to serve on a national ticket was the late Admiral James Stockdale, who in 1992 ran with independent candidate  H. Ross Perot. You’ll remember Stockdale asking — rhetorically, I presume — “Why am I here?” during the VP debate that year. The question has endured as a punch line, sadly besmirching the reputation of a man who, like John McCain, served heroically as a prison of war in North Vietnam.

That was then. The here and now gives the Democratic presidential nominee a chance to steal a whole lot of thunder from the Republicans.

We appear to be ready to learn the name of the Democrats’ vice-presidential pick on Saturday.

If not sooner.

national news, political news

Timing could be everything for the next VP selection

1 Comment

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I really dislike getting ahead of myself.

After all, Republicans have just nominated Donald J. Trump to be the next president of the United States. The GOP convention delegates are happy — I guess — at the prospect of their party nominating someone who had launched what amounts a hostile takeover of the party.

So now we can call Trump the party’s nominee. No “presumptive,” or “presumed” or “pending” adjective is required.

Now he and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, his running mate, will get to march off arm-in-arm to wage political battle against the Democrats’ nominee-to-be, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

OK, why am I getting ahead of myself … maybe?

Republicans will adjourn their Cleveland convention on Thursday. The delegates will gather themselves up and go home.

Then the Democrats will convene their convention in Philadelphia.

How do you suppose the Democratic Party can suck the air out of the proverbial Republican room?

Here’s an idea: by allowing Clinton to announce her vice-presidential pick on Friday.

The two frontrunners for the Democrats’ VP slot now appear to be U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa.

Imagine the PR value of Clinton announcing her selection a single day after Republicans have pulled the curtain down on their own show in Cleveland.

They would expect to have the stage all to themselves over the weekend.

My gut tells me that Clinton and her team are quite close to deciding who she should select. They might have decided already. The only thing left is for Clinton to call the also-rans to give them the news that they ain’t the one.

If it’s Kaine, Vilsack, or Housing Secretary Julian Castro, or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker or — what the hey? — the current vice president, Joe Biden, it’s going to be big, huge, gigantic news that yanks the political world’s attention away immediately from Trump and Pence.

Timing is everything, man.

national news, political news

VP picks don’t matter … really

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Donald J. Trump is getting set to have the most important day of his presidential campaign.

He’s going to announce his selection as a vice-presidential running mate.

No need for a show of hands — if you get my drift. But does anyone out there in Blog World really think Trump’s selection is going to matter, that it’s going to sway anyone’s vote, that it’s going to be determinative of this election?

For that matter, do you think Hillary Rodham Clinton’s choice is going to matter, either?

The only way these picks might determine anything is if they select absolute dogs, losers, Fruit Loops. I don’t expect that to happen Friday or a week from Friday.

Recent political history is full of questionable VP picks. Richard Nixon selected Spiro Agnew in 1968; the Republicans won a squeaker that year and rolled to a historic landslide four years later. George H.W. Bush picked Dan Quayle in 1988 and then piled up a huge victory.

I guess you could make the case that John McCain’s hail-Mary selection of Sarah Palin in 2008 might have turned off some voters, but I believe McCain would have lost anyway.

One of the more interesting selections — to my way of thinking — was Lloyd Bentsen, the Texan who ran with presidential nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988. More than a few Democrats were grousing that year that Bentsen and Dukakis should have traded positions on the ticket.

But this year’s focus has been solely — and not entirely in a flattering way — focused on Republican Trump and Democrat Clinton.

These are two of the most polarizing figures ever to be nominated by the major parties. So, whoever they select will be relegated to the shadows.

I agree, though, that Trump’s selection is drawing the most attention, mostly because the pool of potential GOP stars is so shallow. The word is that he’s leaning toward former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

However, given Trump’s mercurial behavior, there’s a part of me that wonders if he’s going to stun us all with someone no one ever saw coming.

Sure, we’ll then chatter about it for a time.

Then it’ll be Trump being Trump … and the insults will fly.