Hillary Clinton has been looking for a chance to turn the page on the Democratic nomination for a couple of months now. So far Bernie Sanders hasn’t let that happen because he keeps winning states and delegates. But now, after her big win in New York, Hillary seems ready to drag the conversation toward the general election. And so the New York Times has a front page story obviously leaked by the Clinton campaign about possible VP picks. The Times reports:
While the nomination fight is still fluid, Mrs. Clinton is confident enough of victory that she has described a vision of a running mate and objectives for the search, according to campaign advisers and more than a dozen Democrats close to the campaign or the Clintons.
She has described “a vision” of a running mate? Could it be any clearer that this was carefully leaked by her army of PR flacks? Still, you can’t really blame the NY Times for taking the spoon-fed pablum in this case because this really is newsworthy.
Among the names under discussion by Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Clinton and campaign advisers: Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, former governors from the key state of Virginia; Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who represents both a more liberal wing of the party and a swing state; former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, a prominent African-American Democrat; and Thomas E. Perez, President Obama’s labor secretary and a Hispanic civil rights lawyer.
The other possibility, which her camp is said to be weighing, is whether America is ready for an all-female ticket. If so, the obvious choice is Elizabeth Warren. Warren has not endorsed Clinton so far, which would make her an unusual choice. On the other hand, Warren already acts like Clinton’s VP pick, e.g. randomly appearing on social media to attack Clinton’s GOP rivals.
The entire left of the Democratic party, including many of Bernie Sanders’ supporters, would probably be thrilled with Warren as the pick. Still, two women on the ticket might sound too risky to somebody. No doubt some Clinton camp poll testing is taking place to find out.
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