VP Choices

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:35 pm

It is about to be made public any day? Who do you think Obama's Choice will be? I'm hoping for General Clark and some tea leaves indicate it may be him - but others are doubtbul.

See gambling odds:DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATEHillary Clinton 8/1 Bill Richardson 10/1 Ted Strickland 50/1 Kathleen Sebelius 7/1 Evan Bayh 7/5 Wesley Clark 15/1 Joseph Biden 13/2 Christopher Dodd 8/1 Jim Webb 40/1 Michael Bloomberg 45/1 Al Gore 25/1 Mark Warner 25/1 Janet Napolitano 35/1 Ed Rendell 25/1 Sam Nunn 18/1 Tim Kaine 7/5 Brian Schweitzer 30/1

http://www.gambling911.com/politics/hillary-clinton-now-81-odds-becoming-vp-evan-bayh-favorite-081208.html

For McCain, I'd love to see Hagel, but I think it will be Romney:

http://www.gambling911.com/politics/tom-ridge-john-mccain-vice-president-odds-slashed-half-081508.html

I didn't find as good as odds for the Republicans.

What do you think?

Phil Florian · Post by **Phil Florian** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:00 am

Hillary is still thinking she might get the actual presidential nod so I doubt she is on the table as a likely candidate.

I was hoping for Bill Richardson but that doesn't seem likely, sadly. He would be a good balance to what Obama is bringing to the ticket.

dl meckes · Post by **dl meckes** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:07 am

We've had 43 presidents. Eight have died while in office.

Let's hope this decision isn't made as part of a political beauty contest.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:13 am

I thought Richardson was a great choice for Obama too. He's popular in the southwest to rival McCain, is not a "Washington insider," and he has a ton of energy and foreign policy experience. But alas, Phil seems right.

The main rumors seem to indicate someone like Biden, which I don't get. It seems like he would detract from Obama's "young and new" appeal, but his campaign must feel they need that experience on the ticket to beat McCain.

Stephen Eisel · Post by **Stephen Eisel** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:10 pm

I think that McCain should pick Hillary. She won just about every major state and the popular vote in the Democratic Primary.. She is smarter than both McCain and Obama..

Brian Pedaci · Post by **Brian Pedaci** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:47 pm

There's been so much talk that any possible choice, short of Al Gore or Colin Powell, would elicit more than a 'meh'.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:51 pm

MSNBC reported today that Biden was the clear front-runner, then a few hours later they quoted Biden as saying "I'm not the guy." Evan Bayh appears to be the next most likely choice.

FWIW...

Brian Pedaci · Post by **Brian Pedaci** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:07 pm

Eh, not that I'm wild about the idea of Biden as VP, but his comment didn't exactly sound definitive. He could have simply been trying to get the reporters to stop camping out on his driveway.

Later on,

Biden returned from his outing to dial back his "its not me" statement from earlier.

He rolled down his passenger side window and said to reporters don't you have anything better to do?

The "It's not me" from earlier is now "I have not spoken with anyone" repeated several times to several different questions.

Have you spoken to the Obama campaign?

"I have not spoken to anyone."

So you're not ruling out you could be picked?

"I have not spoken to anyone."

"You guys know as well as I do,' he said as he drove down his driveway with admonitions that your staker outers should be careful on the treacherous road outside his house.

Dustin James · Post by **Dustin James** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:43 am

Brian Pedaci wrote:Eh, not that I'm wild about the idea of Biden as VP, but his comment didn't exactly sound definitive. He could have simply been trying to get the reporters to stop camping out on his driveway.

Later on,
Biden returned from his outing to dial back his "its not me" statement from earlier.

He rolled down his passenger side window and said to reporters don't you have anything better to do?

The "It's not me" from earlier is now "I have not spoken with anyone" repeated several times to several different questions.

Have you spoken to the Obama campaign?

"I have not spoken to anyone."

So you're not ruling out you could be picked?

"I have not spoken to anyone."

"You guys know as well as I do,' he said as he drove down his driveway with admonitions that your staker outers should be careful on the treacherous road outside his house.

It's interesting how lying has just become part of the deal. Democrats will swear that it's the sole domain of Republicans...hmmm. This ticket is already off to a classic (no "change"), highly political start. Not quite fitting the BHO anti-beltway diatribe as advertised.

.

Donald Farris · Post by **Donald Farris** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:58 am

Hi,
So, Mr. James do you think if someone lies, they should not be in the White House?

What if the person lies to God? Is that worse that to reporters?

Dustin James · Post by **Dustin James** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:04 am

Donald Farris wrote:Hi,
So, Mr. James do you think if someone lies, they should not be in the White House?

What if the person lies to God? Is that worse that to reporters?

~
My only point, albeit poorly defined, was that lying has been almost exclusively attributed to the Republicans, particularly the current POTUS. This simply felt ironic symbolically, to help even out the high moral ground. Of course those in the White House have to lie. Particularly to reporters when information affecting National Security would be spread around the world in seconds. Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton, Bush have all done it for different reasons. This is not one of those situations, but both sides will do it. It's just not an exclusive club.

Not sure about how God feels about things. She undoubtedly balances Karma accordingly.

.

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:23 pm

Biden is a strong choice for VP.

My mom had a grin from ear to ear because she likes Biden. She's very bitter about the fact that Hillary didn't win the candidacy but today she announced she will be voting for Obama because Biden is his running mate.

I've tried 17 months of persuasion to get my mom to consider voting for Obama, and I never thought Joe Biden would be the crucial deciding factor. In fact, I never even knew that my mom knew who Joe Biden was.

Goes to show how much I know. :lol:

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 5:55 pm

Ivor,

I think you are right. I wasn't excited about Biden, I really, really thought General Clark was the best choice. But I was blown away by Senator Biden's speech today. He really can pick up the people that wanted Hillary I think.

I'll never forget the number of people that told me they voted for Bush instead of Gore, because Bush seemed like a regular guy that you could have a beer with - well Biden struck me like that. He seemed to relate to the average person. I love Obama, but he seems from time to time like a professor to me - not bad mind you - I want an intelligent person to lead us, but General Clark as a Rhodes Scholar has a very similar personality to Obama. Biden will relate to a totally different group of voters.

Plus his biography was very touching.

The convention should be interesting.

Bret Callentine · Post by **Bret Callentine** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:31 pm

Frankly, If it had been Biden-Obama, instead of the other way around, you might even have my vote. Biden was my favorite of all the Dems during the first round of debates.

That said, I'm a little confused as to the pick. Hasn't the Obama campaign spent the last couple of months trying to convince the nation that his experience wasn't an issue, and that the problem with McCain was that he essentially had too much time in Washington, doing things the same old way?

Doesn't Biden's have more tenure in Washington than McCain? If anything Biden just draws MORE attention to the lack of time Obama has in a real leadership position, and poses more questions as to how he will do things differently.

Actually, given his focus on change and thinking outside the beltway, I was kind of expecting him to name a governor or at least some other fresh face with a similar demeanor.

This will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:31 pm

Bret,

You know it was a damned if you do damned if you don't kind of decision. You pick someone without experience and you are going to get hammered. Or you pick someone that can complement you with experience and you get hammered.

I kind of like having both. The thing about Biden that bothers me the most is he voted for the war in Iraq.

I really think the top of the ticket wanted change and believing things can be different and the bottom of the ticket having the experience at knowing how to enact change will be successful. They were trying to paint Biden as going home to Delaware every night and saying that he wasn't a real Washington insider. But the fact of the matter is that he is much more different from the current administration than McCain is.