“I am not sure she brings any electoral votes with her. As such, she wouldn’t be at the top of my list.”

Can you name a single vice presidential pick who DID? Can you name a single potentially VP candidate who is so wildly popular that you think they could single handedly swing a state?

They don’t exist.

There are five approaches to picking a VP.

1. The geographic approach: where the nominee is selected to help in a specific state or region
2. The demographic approach: where the nominee is selected to help with some demographic group
3. The weakness approach: where the nominee is selected to ameliorate some perceived weakness by the presidential nominee
4. The message approach: where the nominee is selected to help drive the campaign’s message
5. The loyalty approach: where the nominee is selected because of his/her loyalty to the presidential nominee

The first three have never done anything for the ticket or the administration. Wasn’t Lieberman going to give us such a huge percentage of the Jewish vote that we would win? Turns out that Clinton/Gore 92 won more Jewish votes. Wasn’t Ferraro going to win the women vote for Mondale? That sure turned out well as the Mondale/Ferraro ticket got crushed among women voters. Wasn’t Edwards going to carry North Carolina and the South for us? Turns out that only about one percentage of voters care that much about the VP and so Kerry/Edwards got crushed by 12 points in NC.

The two most important factors in the VP choice are picking someone who will reinforce your message and picking someone who is loyal and you can trust.

Sebelius fits Obama’s message perfectly. He trusts her. Outside of Gore or Edwards who don’t want it she would be the best pick.

Re a few concerns:

DLC:

Yes she has some DLC ties. But then again, so does John Edwards. Al Gore founded the freaking group. Gavin Newsom, the guy who made same-sex marriage a reality in California has some ties to the DLC. Ties don’t matter. Policy matters. Out of all the choices that have been mentioned as serious contenders for VP Kathleen Sebelius has by far the most progressive record.

Bad speaker:

Her SOTU message sucked and she’s no Obama or Edwards but she isn’t Even Bayh either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nHp90Z2NJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm8zzZuliB8 (one of the best tv reps for Obama, IMO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..re=related

She’s no Obama but we don’t need a VP to outshine Obama like Edwards did with Kerry. If anything having a not amazing speaker on the ticket will remind people just how damn good a speaker Obama is. She is very impressive in person.

Obama needs tough white male with natl security creditability:

Picking a Wes Clark or Jim Webb would just help McCain’s argument that Obama isn’t ready to be president. Obama studied forign policy in college. He was one of the most forign policy focused state legislators in Illinois. He is already a top member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Obama knows a ton about forign affairs. He’s going to focus on forign affairs as president. We don’t need to buy into the rights maucho manly forign policy argument.

Kathleen Sebelius is the progressive choice for VP and she fits what Obama needs perfectly.

I’m with Jane. Sebelius knows how to get shit done. Obama/Sebelius 08.

> > Obama wants to be President of the USA and control
our government. He also talks about unifying everyone.

Do the following quotes from his books sound like one who really wants to unify?

Pay close attention to the last comment.

From Dreams of My Father:
‘I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.’

‘I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.’

‘There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.’

‘It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.’

‘I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa , that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of
Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.’

From Audacity of Hope:
‘I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.’

If you ever forwarded an e-mail, now is the time to do it.

Of course all this stuff is taken completely out of context – but there it is. How do we counter this? And we must!

The choice of someone like Ms. Sibelius would poke a stick in the eye of those priorities – and respond instead to the priorities of Main Street, not Wall Street: jobs, education and healthcare. Making government work again. Cutting the role of lobbyists. Facing the need to raise taxes to pay for CheneyBush’s mountainous debts and wars. Rebuilding a sense of domestic and international community that CheneyBush felt compelled to dismantle so as to rule in fear. Ms. Sibelius and her Cabinet and Congressional peers would then be well-placed to succeed Obama in 2016.

How can we best channel Mrs. Clinton’s substantial talent and large following? She as earned a senior role in American government, whether in Obama’s Cabinet or in Congress. What does she want and what would she be best suited for? I do not think that would be as VP. I don’t think she would be able to submit to its discipline, not as traditionally defined or mildly expanded. Cheney’s version should be relegated to the trash heap: it’s a thin disguise for a usurper of a dullard king. Would head of DHHS be enough for Clinton? The next slot on the Supreme Court, or head of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

BigOil keeps shattering records for profits. At the exact same time, gas prices skyrocket.

Why is is it so hard for most of the public to realize that BigOil can basically do whatever they want. “Instability”…”supply/demand” have almost nothing to do with it. The Oil cartel can make up any prices they feel like. That’s the problem.

Oil producers whether they be companies or countries are profiting from high oil prices but it is the financial investment side that is driving the speculation. The first group makes its profits on what the absolute price is. The second group makes its money in the price changes.

60+ comments in a row on a thread about Sebilius, without a mention of the thread itself? That was masterful blog bending, whoever is doing this here is a real pro…

The speaker wasn’t “bad” per se. He held his own but a little wordy. The other speaker was just plain aggressive. Her Fox training showed through very clearly. She was talking louder and more forcefully and more slanderously having the nerve to imply that Obama’s policies will worsen the recession we’re in now which, of course, is not the fault of goopers.

So it’s Trust Us, We Know Money ergo We Know Economics.