Apparently the VP buzz today is that Obama’s VP shortlist is down to Gov. Kaine of Virginia, Sen. Biden of Delaware and Sen. Bayh of Indiana.
I should start by saying, having Biden as the VP choice would be a dream for me. He was my favorite in the primary, having seen him talk live last Spring. He is good on policy details, especially foreign policy, making him a good reference for a President Obama. He has a long history in the Senate, which I consider a big plus in a VP as he acts as President of the Senate and will need to do a lot to make sure progressive policies make it through the Senate, which would be the bottleneck for new legislation.
Gov. Kaine seems to be the favorite at this point. He doesn’t add much directly, but I don’t consider VPs so important that this is problematic. What he does offer is a close friendship with Obama, so he will be on the same page and be able to work well with him. I don’t know how much he really adds electorally (perhaps he secures Virginia, but it may well go Obama anyway and Obama would probably win anyway) and though he does have (a little) executive experience, I don’t know that he adds any practical expertise. He is young and if he impresses enough as VP could be a reasonable future Presidential candidate.
Sen. Bayh is perhaps the most cynical. He is Clinton’s man, and may well look like a concession to her and to the working class whites aspect, but this doesn’t mean much to me since I don’t consider VPs to matter much. He might be able to flip Indiana, but again, I don’t know that Indiana is electorally decisive. In terms of experience, he offers less than Biden. Like Kaine, he is fairly young and could stand to be a future Presidential prospect.
I haven’t been mentioning it, because I think the tabloids are despicable and unreliable to the point that they deserve to be ignored, even when they might be right, but the John Edwards affair/bastard child gossip certainly seems to have taken him out of consideration. This is sad as he would have offered a few good things. I still hope he would be considered as an Attorney General in an Obama administration if he would accept it, no matter the nature of the scuttlebutt. Even if the gossip is true, I’m not sure infidelity should really be considered disqualifying for AG, it isn’t a crime.
