Martin O'Malley

[Jim Lane]

108. The last four elections go against your theory.

The Democrats won twice with an Illinois-Delaware ticket. Before that, the Republicans won twice (won in the sense of gaining the White House) with a Texas-Texas ticket, masquerading as a Texas-Wyoming ticket to fraudulently circumvent the Constitution. In each case, the two candidates on the ticket were from states that party would almost certainly carry anyway.

In 2004, Kerry picked Edwards but still couldn't carry North Carolina (or any other Southern state).

I don't know how much geography is a factor. If Kerry had instead picked Congressmember Ted Strickland, would he thereby have carried Ohio and become President? Maybe. If Charlie Crist had won his election last year, he might be an appealing VP choice for any Democratic nominee because he could help deliver a swing state. With Crist out of the picture, maybe Tim Kaine or Mark Warner would be the "geography" choice, for help in Virginia (although probably not a good choice if O'Malley is the nominee). Julian Castro has been mentioned but his appeal would be in mobilizing Hispanics nationally, not in making Texas competitive

If you're negative about O'Malley as a Clinton running mate because of geography, are there any names that strike you as more plausible?