Obama's VP List: MSNBC Gathers Names

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro:

So you think you know who's on Obama's veep short list? Well, think again. According to sources on the Hill, Obama veep vetters -- specifically Jim Johnson and Eric Holder -- have been asking Dem members of Congress this week their input about potential running mates. The conversations are free-flowing but one name the vetters are inserting in the conversations is one that is not a household name... Ret. Gen. James Jones, the former Marine-turned-NATO Supreme Allied Commander. ...

Besides Jones, the other names on the list bandied about with congressional Dems include (and not in any order): Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, Evan Bayh, Kathleen Sebelius, Ted Strickland, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb, Bill Nelson, Jack Reed, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Tom Daschle, and Sam Nunn. You'll notice a few names NOT on this list (that's not my exclusion -- hint hint). Besides Jones, I'm told the two other names that invited extended discussion were Biden and Strickland.

* * *

The Huffington Post recently published profiles on two of the top names on the list: Jim Webb and Kathleen Sebelius. For more on Obama's veepstakes, check out HuffPost's rundown list of the pros and cons of the potential vice president candidates.

Comments

[riverhouse]

I wouldn't be surprised if none of the above became the VP candidate.

[NaiveOkie]

I think you're right.

This reminds me of the NFL Draft. A team will invite a dozen or more prospects in for visits, fueling speculation about what player or position the team will draft first.

But then it makes a pick that no one predicted.

I have a hunch that's what's going on here...

[ProgressiveinBerlin]

Obama Dream Cabinet:

VP: Gen. Wesley Clark

Atty General: John Edwards

Sec. of State: Gov. Bill Richardson

Health and Human Services: Sen. Hillary Clinton

Sec. of Defense: Sen. Jim Webb (or Sen. Chuck Hagel if you want to go across party lines for one or two posts)

Homeland Security: Rep. Adam Smith

Then throw in some names like Biden, Daschle, Sebelius, Clyburn, and Wexler and Conyers and the country"s on the right track already!

Obama/Clark 08/12

[MontanaMaven]

Elizabeth Edwards for Health and Human Services.
Clinton for majority leader and then Supreme Court.

[pdxjcc]

I like it! I have been very impressed with Sen. Jim Webb though, and would make him the Veep and Gen. Wesley Clark the Secretary of Defense. Hillary Health and Human Services; those feminists who mean well but are kind of knee-jerk reactionaries, would shout "sexist" at that but I think it's totally appropriate given her longtime focus on universal health care.

[bigfro]

BIDEN, 'nuff said'

[gnostic19]

i actually like biden, but what does he give you, geography wise?

[Oilygarch]

Well, geography-wise, unlike the current Admin, it surely ain't: ''Aaaa little piece of Kabul, a little piece of Baghdad, a little piece of Islamabad, and Kurdistan per fad''? ''Ooooooh'' *LOL*

[JFyfe]

Well....doesnt it boil down to one thing or the other? He will be looking at the polls as decision time nears. then he will decide if he needs a state, or a voting block, or gravitas of some kind (foreign policy or military). I guess Virginia might be the only place he can get a two for one kind of thing. I personlly feel he needs an old white guy with lots of experience......Nunn, Biden, Dodd, or a General. I like Zinni.

[HawkOnTheLeft]

Nobody can say "b*lls**t "to McCain's national security assertions like Joe Biden. Nobody but Joe is as aggressive a defender of America's safety, while making it clear that force can, but usually doesn't, make us safer. And he has an Iraq withdrawal plan that 73 Senators voted for,

That suits me great, but, then again, look at my user name.

Obama and Biden need more aggressive phrasing. The phrase isn't "failed policy." It isn't even "has not made us safer." The right phrase is "Invading Iraq HAS MADE OUR ENEMIES STRONGER."

McCain asserts that Obama doesn't understand who our enemies are. The correct response: :I understand who our enemies are. What I don't understand, John, is why you continue to support policies that make them stronger."

[ProgressiveinBerlin]

One guy can:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/11/gen-clark-mccain-is-untes_n_106457.html

[curly2]

Agreed. Joe Biden for VP.

[ccpostman]

I saw Webb on a talk show hawking his new book.
I think he is very smart and would be a good pick for VP. He would basically neutralize the hawk issues about war that the Hanoi Hilton Boy brings up. Also, Webb is more main stream than the other spoon banging liberal VP candidates.

Just look at Kerry. He has been running around in Harry Potter's invisible shroud for the last four years. Totally worthless! He would be a horrible pick! Bidden is also a horrid pick. He is classified as the super look-at-me whiner. Two seconds of him whining is all I can stand! The lady from Kansas looks to much like the lady on the PBS new hour. Just to liberal of a subliminal message. Tom Daschle...What can I say. This guy is a olympic spoon banging liberal that just screams surrender!

The bottom line is Obama should pick someone with balls that will fight back! He should pick Webb or Hillary. He can always fire them once he is in office. The key is picking someone that will get you there!

[NaiveOkie]

Webb has a lot going for him.

But the opposition will portray him as a Confederate-loving pornographer. Don't think he'll be the pick.

No female and/or Jewish running mates, either. Unfortunately, the country isn't ready yet...

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

it's interesting to note that Sebelius is one of about 130 participants invited to this year's Bilderberg Conference, a highly secretive yearly gathering of the planet's powerbrokers in business and politics --

the inclusion of an "up-and-coming/rising star" american politician on this ultra-exclusive guest list has, in the past, often been an early indicator of a much greater future political prominence --

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bilderberg Meeting Attracts Prominent Politicians, Businessmen rawstory.comm - june 6, 2008)
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bilderberg_meeting_attracts_prominent_politicians_businessmen_0606.html
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.infowars.com/?p=2564
(complete list of 2008 attendees)

[wayoutleft]

also interesting that james johnson, who recently resigned as obama VP consultant, will be attending. i wonder which entree he will choose... this really shores things up professionally for him. nobody likes their loans publicly discussed while they're trying to pick the VP. caroline kennedy can't even take attention off this guy. the selection committee gains nothing by drawing things out.
barack obama should pick a distinguished guy to go to funerals and run things himself. he doesn't want a VP that attracts attention. he needs to keep the focus on himself since his personal identity is so bound up with his message.

[Oilygarch]

sound like a spokes-person, are you?

[Teritt]

Biden! Biden! Biden!

[Speakchic]

Um all of those ppl are unknown with the exception of Dashcell...so he needs to pick HRC!

[tds1273]

No, rather you should put in a little effort, you don't even need to leave this site, and actually learn on your own about these "ppl".
Of course you obviously don't have the time, or just can't be arsed to even type three more letters into your post, so I don't know what else to tell you...

[peskyliberal]

Obama was unknown before the campaign.

Lets vette HRC and see what comes up, ok?

[larazon]

If Warner was not going for the Senate seate, he would be my pick. Daschle does not belong on the list. H does not belong on that list. She blew apart the bridge to the VP position on her way to the Presidency, and as a matter of fact she still has her eye on first prize.

[nectanebus]

Sebelius!!
Hillary? Ambassador to Farawayastan.

[rbloom]

My first choice would be Gov. Richardson, for many reasons.
But -- and I've posted this before -- why isn't Sen. Carl Levin being talked about anywhere, even as a dark horse? He's chair of Armed Services so he has national security credentials, is blue-collar to the bone and brings Michigan with him. Seems like an attractive package. I know he's getting kind of up there in age, but so are Sens. Biden, Dodd and (*shudder*) Nunn and those names are all over the place.
Also, it seems to me that Rep. Wexler is worth a look. He's the Russ Feingold of the House, and being from Florida could be a big help there.

[tds1273]

The more I read about Lincoln Chafee, the more I like.

A former Republican Senator who is more liberal and progressive then most Dems.

He was the only Repub to vote against the invasion of Iraq...again, a Republican Senator who voted AGAINST going into Iraq!

He is pro-choice, pro same-sex marriage, pro stem cell research.

Pro federal funding of Healthcare.

He is incredibly stong on environmental issues.

Opposed all of Bush's tax policies.

Opposed the nomination of John Bolton.

Supports Pro-Israeli, Pro-Peace PAC of JStreet, as well as an independant Palestinian State.

This guy is the perfect Democrat; the fact that he was a Republican and would represent bipartisanship is just gravy.

He is the anti-Lieberman!


Also, just imagine the OBAMA/LINCOLN signs and stickers!

[tds1273]

Also need to add...

He opposed the nomination of Alito.

In '04, in protest of Dubya, he wrote in Bush Sr.

and he openly supports Barack Obama.


Sebelius is my favorite, but Chafee is my dark horse.

[NaiveOkie]

Chafee sounds pretty bright, progressive, etc.

And just the kind of pick to help Obama lose.

Remember, this is the country that elected the Bushmeister twice...

[Belisarius]

Tom Daschle sucks. He won't even help with South Dakota where he lost his Senate seat even though he was Senate Majority leader. He was also a major Clinton apologist and half the country hates him for it.

[tds1273]

Obama/Sebelius

or

Barack/Lincoln

[MamaBird62]

Do you mean Blanche? Love her! We went to college together.

[hu.man]

How about Harold Ford Jr.?

[Belisarius]

I like Harold too but I think a black + black ticket may be pushing things.

[antaeus]

We're either post-racial or we're not. Which is it?

[gnostic19]

ford is a schmuck.

[riverhouse]

The problem with Ford is women. And, of course, he loses. He bring nothing but trouble to the ticket.

[daddydamon]

Ford is an opportunist idiot.

[Vern58]

The search committee needs to consider the appropriateness of Sam Nunn as a possible.
His role as architect of the Don't ask Don't tell travesty will sour many disaffected LGBT voters, and this is a group that Barack needs to do well in. His role in this disastrous policy is incomputable with the politics of inclusion and support that Barack believes in.

[tds1273]

P: Barack Obama
VP: Kathleen Sebelius (L.Chaffee)

AG: John Edwards (J.Napolitano)

FP Adv: Sam Nunn
State: Bill Richardson
Defense: Chuck Hagel (W.Clark)
Homeland Security: Thad Allen
Veterans Affairs: Paul Rieckhoff (C.Powell*)

Labor: Dennis Kucinich (Sec.Peace)
Commerce: Olympia Snowe
Treasury: Michael Bloomberg

Interior: Lincoln Chafee
EPA: Al Gore(at least ask him)
Energy: Arnold Schwarzeneger (Al Gore)

Education: Caroline Kennedy
Healthcare: Elizabeth Edwards
Press: Rachel Maddow

Speaker House: Eleanore Holmes Norton (Barney Frank)
Sen Maj. Lead: Russ Feingold (Chris Dodd)

McCain's Sen. Seat: Janet Napolitano
Remain Sens.: Biden, Dodd, Clinton, Webb
*make Powell redeem himself by facing and fixing daily what he did to his fellow soldiers

[mngeorge]

I am dismayed that many aren't touting Wesley Clark for V.P. The GOP is going to hammer every minute on making America safe. Wesley's handling of the Bosnian conflict qualifies him in my opinion.

[engineer68]

Wesley Clark for sure! best VP chioce. Tammy Duckworth from Illinois for Veterans affairs. She has been involved back in Illinois so she has experience.

[larazon]

I too like Wesley Clark.

[Larry of Corrales]

I am surprised that Bill Richardson is not on that list. Very surprised.

[mergina]

This is MSNBC'S short list it looks like, not Obama's.

[pleeezzze]

....after all that was his purpose when he ditched H for O !