Politico is reporting that California Sen. Kamala Harris has emerged as an early front-runner to be Joe Biden’s running mate.
Of course, Politico is known more for its Democrats in disarray stories than Democrats in array stories. And it does not have the best track record when it comes to predictions regarding the Democratic Party.
But Politico reporters Christopher Cadelaco and Natasha Korecki wrote:
“Kamala Harris was written off as a possible vice presidential pick for Joe Biden last year after a cutting debate performance where she seemed to suggest he was racially insensitive.
“Now, Harris is not only in top contention, but Biden aides, surrogates and major donors see her as the best fit at the onset of the process — at least on paper — to join him atop the Democratic ticket.”
Biden has pledged to pick a woman as his running mate, and his campaign has begun vetting about a dozen women for the vice presidential nomination.
The Politico report said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren “was also seen as rising above the pack.” You really can’t go wrong with either Harris or Warren — either of whom would make mincemeat of the Hoosier mortician in the VP debate.
But the Politico story said that a growing contingent of operatives inside and around Biden’s campaign and influential donors are seeing “the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica as the most logical choice to balance a ticket led by a white man in his late ‘70s.”
The Politico story said Warren’s supporters are pitching her inside Biden’s camp “as a governing choice who could unite the party by exciting liberals and younger voters,” while Harris’ supporters point to “her comparative youth, her ability to energize voters of color in key states” and what they believe would be her “seamless rapport” with Biden from an ideological perspective.
I personally believe Warren is best suited for another role — “Lioness of the Senate” — than serving as vice president or as a department secretary in a Biden Cabinet. She represents the Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy, who lost the 1980 primary to Jimmy Carter. In a Democratic-held Senate, she could lead the way in championing progressive policies.
And an open Massachusetts Senate seat is more at risk than an open California seat. Remember Scott Brown, who won a special election in 2010 after Kennedy’s death.
Some have argued that Biden should pick a running mate that might help him pick up a key swing state. But that is old-school political thinking. Delaware was safely in the Democratic column, but Barack Obama picked Biden as his running mate because as a relative newcomer he needed to balance the ticket with someone with widespread foreign and domestic policy experience.
The Politico report said the Biden camp, particularly former second lady Dr. Jill Biden, have put in the rear view mirror any bitterness over Harris tough debate exchange with Biden over his record on school busing.
The insufferable Steve Kornacki made a big point of that debate exchange on MSNBC in discussing the Politico story. But sharp primary debate exchanges have not been a bar in the past to forming a winning presidential ticket.
George H. W. Bush mocked Ronald Reagan’s supply-side economic policies as “voodoo economics” during the 1980 Republican presidential primary. But Reagan tapped Bush to be his running mate, and Bush went on to serve two terms as vice president and one term as president.
Biden-Harris might just be the winning ticket for November 2020, and Kamala Harris could be our first woman president.