Why Elizabeth Warren should not be the VP pick.

[RBInMaine]

I love Warren. She is a firebrand progressive who charges up big crowds. She is a very smart attorney and consumer advocate.

However, Warren isn't as ready to be President as other VP candidates, and that must be the number one consideration. She is less experienced. She is from another blue northeastern state so brings no regional balance. And like it or not, this is Kentucky Fried America and gender balance is still important. We do need men in the Democratic Party, especially working class white men who have been royally screwed by the Republicans.

My two top picks are Sherrod Brown and Tim Kaine. Both help with working class men. Both are from key swing states that they can help deliver. However, if it was Brown he'd be replaced in the Senate by a Republican governor.

The one thing Kaine does need do to is gin up his act. He can be very compelling in committee hearings, but he needs to better learn how to fire up a crowd. But as a former Lt. Gov., Gov., and now a US Senator, he is well prepared for the VP job. He is a very strong candidate.

Warren is great, but she is better as a progressive leader in the Senate and a surrogate on the campaign trail who can be very free to bash Trump BIGTIME wherever she goes without the constraints of being more "presidential." As a surrogate she will be unleashed all over the country hammering away at Trump. Have her do that. Not VP.

[jcgoldie]

1. I like Tim Kaine

And he's boring as hell. Give me Warren. She is plenty qualified to be president and she brings excitement to the race. The stakes are too high to screw around.

Edit to add: Look at the clown the other side is running... "not qualified enough" will not be Hillary's issue in a million years.

[RBInMaine]

2. But all the other things I've said make her NOT a good choice. Kaine can learn to gin it up.

Yes, she excites the progressive base, but they will already vote for Hillary. She doesn't bring much else.

[jcgoldie]

7. What she brings is charisma

That may be the only thing HRC doesn't have in spades over Trump.

[RBInMaine]

9. In the end they vote for the Prez, not the VP pick. Charisma isn't enough.

[jcgoldie]

12. True but...

I think she can tear down Trump like no-one else. She's already shown that. And if she's on the ticket she owns it in a way just an advocate doesn't. In that sense I think being a woman is actually an advantage for her. She can call bullshit to his nonsense perpetually without it looking like a dick contest.

And btw have you watched Tim Kaine speak? He won't be "ginning up" anything, he's your mercurial uncle with a house that smells like lavender who wouldn't say shit if he had a mouthful.

[RBInMaine]

14. She can still tear down Trump as a very active surrogate all over TV and at rallies. She doesn't

bring a whole package to the VP spot. Kaine or Brown does.

[jcgoldie]

15. Tim Kaine's whole package

Is half Fred Rogers. The VP isn't going to do anything in truth except fire people up. He absolutely does not do that.

[floriduck]

19. And a Wall Street threat of cutting off Clinton campaign funds.

[jcgoldie]

21. after Brexit

I don't think wall street will be jumping ship on HRC. Donald Trump represents the economic abyss.

[Cosmocat]

28. Hillary v BHO are totally different dynamics

BHO had a MONSTER presence, youthful, charming and inspiring.

He also had captured the hearts of the left of the party.

As noted, JB was picked to balance it out with a guy who had good foreign policy and overall legislative chops.

Hillary is a different thing - a much more accomplished candidate for POTUS, but not as strong of a personal charm. AND, she got the left side of the party sucked out from her by Bernie running.

I have said all along she could not pick an uncle joe, and Kaine frankly is a watered down uncle joe.

He might help make sure they nail down VA, but otherwise he does little to help.

IMO, this election is too important to sell the ticket short. If it wasn't trump, this cycle was REALLY bad for the Ds, they caught a break, and they need to take advantage of it.

Warren fills in the gaps for Hillary, provides energy, charm, and should button up the left side of the party.

[Adrahil]

4. Seriously....

Nothing really wrong with Kaine, I guess, but he is a snooze fest. He'd be a let-down nominee at this point I think. Maddow said it last night. After Warren's bravura performance yesterday, it's hard to imagine them picking such a "safe and boring" nominee without some palpable disappointment.

[RBInMaine]

10. "Exciting" doesn't mean you're ready to be President. This is about running a nation, not being good

at pep rallies. Outside the pep rallies, look at just how "boring" Obama is.

[Adrahil]

22. That's true to a point.

I think Kaine is probably a little more qualified than Warren, but Warren seems plenty qualified to me. I'd feel comfortable with her in the White House if it came to that. And I think she makes a Clinton victory more likely.

[politicaljunkie41910]

36. John McCain picked Sarah Palin. GHWB picked Dan Quale.

The media is parroting this meme that maybe America is not ready for two women. I hope Dems don't fall into the trap of repeating that. I hate to say it but, we couldn't have two more qualified women running together as a team. I think (providing we pick up more seats in the House and Senate) that this is a team that will probable do great things because women who attain their level are usually driven. (Not to be taken as a putdown against men.) But these two women are beyond their childbearing age and they will focus all their energy on the task at hand and won't stop until the job is done.

[Cosmocat]

25. My first instinct is to protect the senate seat, but gut it telling me your right

I have said all along Hillary can't pick an uncle joe, she needs someone with some juice.

I think Warren is the best VP candidate, and while Hillary SHOULD beat Trump, it is too important to not get your A team out there.

And, while is jeopardizes the senate seat, she might create enough energy to positively impact down ticket races and equal that out or better.

[RDANGELO]

3. If you want more of the Sanders supporters and chance to win the house, then you need someone like

Warren.

[RBInMaine]

11. 81% of Bernie supporters are already aboard. More will come. Warren isn't ready for VP. And she

isn't the best choice for may other reasons too.

[jcgoldie]

17. Isn't ready?

That's baloney. She's quite capable. The argument that she would be a bigger loss in the senate is a lot better than yours.

[w4rma]

27. Pick someone who strongly supports the TPP, like Kaine, and many will drop their support.

I've lived in Virginia, my entire life. I'll consider dropping my support. Kaine needs to stay right where he is: In the Senate, protecting that Senate seat from the many Virginia Republicans who would immediately win that Senate seat.

[brooklynite]

5. Brown will not be picked; too much risk of Senate control

[mentalsolstice]

6. I like Al Franken!

He would offset some of Hillary's weaknesses.

[RBInMaine]

13. He is good, but doesn't bring enough geography to the table.MN will go blue. We need a swing stater.

[mentalsolstice]

16. Oh, I don't know....Biden didn't bring much in terms of geography.

For that matter, neither did Gore. However, I think Franken could energize younger voters. YMMV.

[Blue_Adept]

8. I'd actually like Warren to keep representing me in the Senate for a bit longer

It'd be nice to actually have a MA Senator serve out a term. The loss of Kerry and Kennedy has really thrown this all for a loop the last few years.

[jcgoldie]

20. Biden was chosen specifically to be the attack dog

Your argument is precisely why you choose someone like that. She can get dirty in a way the presidential candidate doesn't need to.

[Doodley]

23. I don't agree that there needs to be a "gender balance."

IMO Warren is one of the most formidable opponents of Donald Trump.

Clinton with Warren will firm up the female vote.

If true to form, Trump will make his attacks about them being women and alienate even more voters.

Warren is an academic of bankruptcy law and ideally qualified to tear down his business record and multiple bankruptcies.

Warren brings in the Bernie voters.

Warren's humble beginnings and populist message compete for some Trump voters.

Warren is energetic and is a natural on the stump and in media interviews.

[romana]

26. And I don't agree

And I don't agree that she's too inexperienced. If we trusted Obama, with his academic background and 4 years in the senate to be POTUS, we can trust Warren to be VP. I also don't think gender balance matters. Clinton isn't going to win whites. If there was ever a year to really go big in the face of expectations and convention, this is it.

[immoderate]

30. I agree with you. And historically, mixed gender tickets ALWAYS lose!

Single gender tickets have never failed!

My reservation would be the loss of Liz' voice into the abyss of Clintonian incrementalism.

--imm

[geek tragedy]

29. greatly prefer Warren, she's got 'it'--Kaine doesn't.

We need Brown in that Ohio Senate seat.

[Beacool]

31. I think that Warren would be a terrific VP, but I'm also hoping that she's not chosen.

She's far more valuable to Democrats in the Senate. Ditto for Sanders. There are other good choices for that spot.

[MFM008]

32. She brings one thing Kaine and Brown

Do not.
Excitement.
An Obama like " fired up and ready to go".
Kaine is flatline on the get out the vote.
He is anti abortion . You're so interested about things in the platform that's kind of a big one. Brown is better but Warren is best.

[mr_liberal]

33. She's too far let too and not likable to people other than

left wing Democrats. I predict she announces that she's not interested. That will be her way of letting Hillary off the hook.

[NHDEMFORLIFE]

34. Spot on

Sen. Warren has lots going for her, including an amazingly deft approach in promoting progressive issues in a way that so-called "moderate" voters can buy in on. Great senator with a great future.
But in purely political terms, she simply adds nothing to a Clinton ticket. Massachusetts will vote for Trump when hell freezes over. Democratic presidential nominees typically win the women's vote by a ton; this year, even more so.
As a liberal Democrat who voted for Bernie, there is not a chance in the world that I will not vote for Clinton. I know some of my fellow liberals have not reached that conclusion, which is fine. But if the only way to win them over includes putting Sen. Warren on the ticket, I would gently suggest that they re-think their position. A Trump presidency could absolutely ruin the lives of, potentially, millions of people.
Helping that happen, even passively, is not something I could live with. I hope fellow liberals end up feeling that way, too.

[bigwillq]

35. I'd rather she stay in the Senate (nt)

[DonCoquixote]

37. Tim "wobbly on Abortion" Kaine?

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/tim-kaine-the-evolution-of-pro-choice-politics.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1251&pid=2222883
http://www.politico.com/story/2009/03/dnc-chair-infuriates-abortion-backers-020686

Putting him in would be a slap in the face to women after they spent years defending abortion rights. Let us be blunt, putting in another anti abortion southern conservative democratic white male would be a slap in the face to many of the voters that put Hillary over Bernie. Yes, Kasich would pick someone against Brown, however, Brown could also weaken the GOP hold on Ohio. If we do not do something to soften that grip, we are toast.