Obama Has Picked His Vice Presidential Running Mate

Update - 8/23/08 -I am not right all the time (just ask my wife!)... but I got this one. I will take my guess at John McCain's picks on Monday. And yes, I realize that it did not take a rocket scientist to make this guess. But in politics, it is fun to speculate. More fun when you get it right. Having fun with this election circus is the only way to go.

CNN is reporting this afternoon that the democratic presidential nominee, Barak Obama, has selected the person for the number two spot on the ticket. But he is not saying with whom he will be spending the next three months (and maybe then next 4-8 years).

Apparently the news will be made public in the next two days.

I thought I would make some predictions. I am an undecided voter (it is fun to not be behind either candidate at this point, as it makes everything they say interesting). Since I have not figured out whom would make the best leader of the free world, their VP choices are important to me.

If Mr. Obama chooses Hillary Clinton it is proof that his recent slippage in the polls has his party chiefs worried. A selection of Mrs. Clinton would not be in President Obama's best interest because he needs to be THE leader. Having Bill and Hillary living next door will make him appear like the kid brother who accidentally ended up with the keys to the castle. If he wins, he will forever be over-shadowed by his VP and her husband.

If he selects Joe Biden, he is smart (I think this is the best choice). Biden is a fighter. He has good experience where Obama might fall short in the opinions of some. He is also grumpy and not lovable.... but Obama is not in need of a lovable VP. He is the lovable one. Biden brings balance to the ticket and will go out and fight like hell to win.

If Obama is worried about his own slip in the polls, Al Gore would be a smart choice. People now love him (they did not 8 years ago, but they do now), and he is an experienced 2nd banana....always the bridesmaid and never the bride... thus he knows his place as VP. It would certainly get a lot of attention in the press, and leave McCain without much of a chance of making a VP splash.

The rest of the short list is not going to make a difference. Evan Bayh is boring. Snore. Tim Kaine is too young, and makes the contrast to McCain's claim of experience even stronger. Sam Nunn is an interesting choice, but I doubt he will go that direction.

The choice of Bill Richardson could be a strong one, but we have not heard much from him since the Clintons got mad that he endorsed Obama in the primaries.

My guess.....Obama selects Joe Biden. Let's see on Saturday if I am right.

As for John McCain.... we have a week until he will announce. He has the advantage of watching how Obama picks. This probably has an influence. If Obama goes with Biden, then McCain has an opportunity to make a historic choice that will level some of the ground on Obama's historic candidacy.

If McCain picks another old white guy I can see the Saturday Night Live cast having a field day with slogans like: "The GOP, bringing you old white men for 160 years".

Will he pick a woman, a minority or Joe Lieberman? Hmmmm... I think I will try my hand at guessing his pick next week. First I want to see if my Obama logic holds up from now until Saturday.

PS- The Obama team had better make sure whomever is the VP only owns one house and that the value of that property is less than $400,000. If Biden has money they had better change their pick.

Ummmm, I think the whole thing about how many houses a wealthy family owns is sort of a dumb thing to go after in a campaign. It sets up all your colleagues. John Kerry is currently calling Teresa's accountant to find out how many homes she owns, cuz he knows that question will come up on Meet The Press.

There are lots of wealthy democrats who will be speaking stage at the convention who are praying to God that no news network pops up the statistics of their wealth under their name. "Hillary Clinton. Senator from New York (D). One house in NY and one townhouse in Georgetown. Two book deals. One filandering husband". Not what anyone wants being discussed.

I think these politicians need to get back to congress and determine the number of pieces a property a politician should own so that this is not an issue in the future campaigns. What do you think? Three homes? Maybe plus two condos, one apartment building, three strip malls and one McDonald's franchise. More than that and they should not be allowed to run for public office.

Have A Great Day.

thom