Meet Hillary Clinton's Potential Vice Presidents In 100 Words

[moonshaz]

OP: Now that Drumpf has announced his veep, let's talk about Hillary's veep possibles!Hillary Clinton will already make history with her nomination for president, becoming the first woman to lead a major presidential ticket. Now the question is whether she wants to do it again with her choice of running mate

Comments

[belleweather]

Not Tom Kaine. The only thing he brings to the ticket is a Y chromosome -- she does NOT need him to win Virginia against Trump.

[blackjedii]

o.O just a Y... chromosome..

Kaine...
- was a mayor
- governor (and generally well liked)
- Senateperson (also generally well liked)
- fluent in Spanish and is on good terms with Hispanic communities bc he outreaches
- can net some of the more religious vote bc of his Catholic faith
- has an A+ rating from Planned Parenthood so his faith doesn't necessarily indicate anti-abortion
- has a mostly clean closet
- has never lost a race he's run in in his whole career
- you underestimate the anti-Washington sentiment in VA; it's important to remember that the reason Dems have consistently won is because of the NoVa / Richmond area NOT the state as a whole. We still are gerrymandered and Warner almost LOST his last election to an upstart conservative which was supposed to be easy
- Kaine may not be exciting and I'll be the first to admit it but dude is also super-white bread so he is a safe choice

Simplifying it to "just a Y chromosome" is hella dismissive. To anyone.

[fishphile]

Yeah. Shit, I think Tim can be boring, but he's actually a good politician. He speaks fluent Spanish (well, by the way not like Ted Kennedy, Rest his soul) and is generally well received.

I got mildly offended as a Virginian, damn it! Mildly though.

[blackjedii]

Yep. I mean - obvs he's pretty corporate but idk. I think he cares which is more than many can say. (and I completely forgot that he also chaired the DNC before DWC so yeah. Just a Y chromosome is super-dismissive here. :/ )

W/e man it's Virginia. I can find new things to get offended about. Like Blacksburg's daily pain-in-the-butt rainstorm that's been happening all July.

[moonshaz]

Thanks for all this info. Living in the Midwest, I don't know much about him, so this is helpful. He's still not my personal first choice, but I'm definitely cool with him and can see how he might be a good choice from a strategic standpoint.

[blackjedii]

Np. Of course it really depends on the situation and it's not like Kaine would do her favors with the more liberal base or the diversity ticket.

That said I think the sole reason that Kaine stands out is the *~experience angle*~, which is one thing that most people think she's going for. You have Trump, who has failed businesses and Mike Pence who has an iffy record and the whole Religious LGBT bill to hang over his head. Clinton + Kaine is like, total srs political experience. But that could also be a hindrance with the anti-political sentiment right now.

There's no perfect Veep choice in this regard. Booker and Castro are both fairly inexperienced and both have some major mismanagement angles. Warren's got the liberal base but she's a valuable Senate player and one that would be hard to replace and she has significantly less power as Vice. They're kind of the only ones with name recognition and I can't see Sanders agreeing to VP nor Biden. So... we'll see.

[belleweather]

He's a perfectly lovely human being, I'm sure. But the only thing he brings along with him that is unique compared to the other folks in the running would (theoretically) be the State of Virginia. Looking at the demographics, though, NoVa has enough voters to pull the State for Hillary Clinton in the federal election -- sentiment in Government workers for the Democratic Party might not be all that strong, but it's powerfully strong against Trump. I reiterate my point -- she doesn't need him to win Virginia (and he's unlikely to have enough pull to turn smaller, more gerrymandered races given the strong anti-Government sentiment outside of NoVa). I don't think he's a strong pick for her as a VP (although he'd be way better than Stavridis, who makes her look like she doesn't have the courage of her convictions on nat'l security

[rainbows_]

From what I've heard about Kaine (feel free to dispute if you have differing info) was that his record wasn't that great on reproductive rights. From my earlier ONTD_P post:

"The case for picking him: Kaine is just about the safest pick Clinton could make. He’s a popular former governor turned current senator in a crucial swing state that has a close-to-the-Clintons Democratic governor ready to replace him should he and Clinton get elected.

He speaks fluent Spanish from his time as a missionary in Honduras in the 1980s. He was the second runner-up to Biden in President Obama’s VP selection process in 2008, so he's been through extensive vetting before. And his handling of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, while he was governor, won widespread plaudits and gives him some authority in speaking on gun violence.

The case against picking him: The biggest problem for Clinton would likely be Kaine’s record on abortion, which is, from a pro-choice vantage point, close to abysmal. While Kaine has become more vocally pro-choice as a

[blackjedii]

That's what I've heard / experienced. Which is to say...
He personally is against abortion and claims it's bc of his faith.

But in terms of legislative action... he's been mostly hands-off.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/tim-kaine-abortion-predicament-225053

Which if it's his personal view... eh. If he's using his personal view to enact legislation that is a problem.

[rainbows_]

Yea, if it's just his personal view, I agree. I am definitely concerned tho, it is a big issue for women across america. If he becomes VP, hopefully he quells those concerns in a interview/debate.

[fishphile]

Haha, no.

First, his name is Tim and he's more than that. Bye.