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Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
Seriously? The most qualified candidate is the person who is best suited to becoming president in the case that the top of the ticket dies. It isn't a job you give out for symbolic reasons. Particularly where you have an older candidate, if the public doesn't think your VP pick is capable to do your job if you die, that can backfire spectacularly. Ask John McCain.
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The most qualified candidate rarely gets selected and the VP position on the ticket is a tactical selection about activating the base. Many times the VP candidate is forced on the man leading the ticket. Has been this way for a hundred plus years.
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Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
You guys are kind of missing the point. I don't have an issue with a strategic VP choice (although I don't think prioritizing a woman of colour should be the priority, as opposed to regional appeal, althoughmaybe Stacey Abrams provides both). The problem is going on TV and announcing that's what you're doing in a self-congratulatory gesture that is transparently a matter of saving face. You're handing the other side a free ad about how smug and out of touch you are. It's an unsaid reality that VP candidates are chosen for electoral math reasons, and the public tends not to love it when you make it really obvious that your pick was made to help you win, not help run the country. Same goes for campaign promises - "he'll say anything to win the election" is not a compliment.
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This is the right thing to do. Klobuchar had a big following and support, so it best to give her an honorable out and allow her to push her supporters to accept the outcome and get behind the party, you know, like the way Clinton didn't do that with Bernie supporters. Politics is all about saving face and keeping power through alliances. Klobuchar will see her reward further down the line, likely through some cabinet position, or remaining in the senate as a major player in forwarding the party agenda. Giving her the opportunity to bow out gracefully ensures her ability to fight another day.
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As I say, this is sort of a double whammy, because I don't think Klobuchar did this to help Biden win, so much as to make herself look better to the base when she realized she wasn't going to be picked.
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Yes Klobucher did this to help Biden win. She has way too many problems involved with the current events to pick her. Her track record and selection would be a massive slap in the face to the very electorate that Biden needs to push Trump out of office. If he selects a candidate that does not activate the segments of the electorate his campaign is trying to reach (young voters and black voters) then his selection is a failure. The VP pick is about generating excitement in populations and driving them to the polls. I'm disappointed to see her drop out of contention, but felt this was inevitable after the first week of protests in Minnesota. Her usefulness as a running mate was destroyed by that one event.