My gut says Harris will be (and should be) the VP pick, but she's not without a couple flaws. [View all]

[Music Man]

Biden's number one priority is that the person can be president on day one. To me, that's likely either Harris or Warren. In my humble opinion, it rules out Abrams or Demings. Sorry, Abrams and Demings fans. Tammy Duckworth is a dark horse too, I think.

Harris has experience with national media. Her best moments in the campaign came during the debate, and the VP will have one shot against Pence.

Harris will also excite turnout, being (relatively) young, black, and progressive enough to excite our base but not threatening enough to scare independents. Biden is currently crushing the national polls and leading in the swing states. Turnout will be the difference between a landslide Biden victory and a narrow Biden loss. Warren will encourage turnout as well, but I'm afraid there will be an equal effect in energizing the Trump base to get out and defeat her.

Current events are also revealing popular support for a woman of color. I think Warren is best poised to be president, but I can honestly see a sense of deflation among many Democrats right now if she is the pick. I want the breaking news about Biden's pick to elicit a "Hell, yeah!" response, and I sense a Warren selection would bring, "Alright! That's... fine!" Fair or not, I believe that's the zeitgeist.

Finally, this campaign began with Harris and Biden having a disagreement about racial policies of the '70s ("That little girl was me".) A Biden-Harris ticket would show that Biden is about reconciliation and that they can have debates without taking things personally and that Biden welcomes criticism. Harris would also be a buffer to critiques of Biden as having a problematic history on race. In fact, I think Biden would like to have someone like Harris in his administration to check him on his blindspots to racial equity.

Anyway, as to her flaws, I think it's important to remember that Harris' presidential campaign was quite mediocre. Criticism of her record as California Attorney General really hurt her, and she was among the first to drop out. It's easy to think, "Oh! She's young and a woman of color! She's a transformational politician." But I think she has had a problem connecting with voters. She is a former prosecutor who comes across as... a prosecutor. Warren connected to working class struggles. She has some warmth. Harris is not warm, at least not in campaign mode. And if she is possibly to be the standard bearer after Biden, she will have to work on this. Whether sexism plays a role or not, I foresee Harris having a similar problem as Hillary Clinton, and that is a perception by voters that she is talking at them instead of with them (or listening to them).

To me, Biden-Harris makes the most sense. It also has a hell of a ring to it