Methinks somebody left the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman off of a memo someplace. Senator Jon Tester (D – Montana) got a little free with his inner monologue during a recent interview when asked about possible running mates for Hillary Clinton. Turns out that he’s quite the fan of his colleague Sherrod Brown of Ohio, but when asked about Elizabeth Warren he had some reservations. You know… about the whole estrogen thing. (America Rising)
Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has a shocking objection to presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton’s potential choice of a female vice presidential candidate.
In audio posted by WNYC/PRI reporter Todd Zwillich, Tester offered effusive praise for his “good friend” Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown as a potential VP, but he was less enthusiastic about another rumored contender, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, saying:
“Well, I don’t know. Is the country ready for two women? I don’t know. You know? I don’t know.”
Take a listen for yourself.
The sad part of all this for Tester is that he isn’t saying anything that a lot of other people in his party aren’t already thinking. And it’s not that much different from related questions which crop up every election cycle among political strategists in both parties if everyone were being totally honest. Politicos love to talk and do so endlessly, but there are certain things which don’t get spoken of in the open.
When Barack Obama ran for president, do you honestly think there weren’t Democratic strategists examining polling data and trying to figure out if America was “ready” for a black president in large enough numbers to win? He was also quite young, and that was taken into account as well, I can assure you. When it came time to pick his running mate, who was pushed to the front of the line? It wasn’t a coincidence that it was a noticeably older, more experienced, and decidedly whiter guy named Joe Biden. Both parties want the voters to be ready to embrace whatever comes down the line, but there are absolutely still folks out there who will (privately) be nervous about the first ever Fill In The Demographic Blank president. Strategists know this and will absolutely be thinking about structuring a ticket that will alleviate as much of the sticker shock as possible.
That’s not to say that Clinton won’t run with another woman on the ticket. She might. But to pretend that Tester is the only person in the party thinking about that question right now is absurd.
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