Chidanand Rajghatta
WASHINGTON: Attention has quickly turned to who Kamala Harris and Democratic operatives will choose as her running mate after the party mainstream appeared to get behind her.
At least six governors of Democrat-run states, couple of lawmakers, and cabinet officials are on the shortlist being floated by party activists and supporters.
Among them are governors of Michigan (Gretchen Whitmer) and Pennsylvania (Josh Shapiro), and North Carolina, all battleground states which they could help deliver to Harris to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
Also in the mix are California governor Gavin Newsom, Harris’ political peer and contemporary, from that state, Illinois Governor JD Pritzker, and Andy Beshear, Democratic governor of Kentucky, a solidly Republican state.
But since Democrats are not expected to lose California and Illinois, or win Kentucky, they are considered outside possibilities, as also Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, since having two women on a ticket in a country that has never elected a woman to the White House sounds inconceivable.
For the similar reason, another name making the rounds, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is also an outlier: US is seen as not ready for a ticket with a Black-Asian woman for Presidency and a gay, midwestern man for vice-presidency — appears highly improbable.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, is another name making the rounds. Arizona is also a toss-up state.
Of course, some feminists and fantasists throw in Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey into the mix, but no serious political pundit entertains that prospect.
At least six governors of Democrat-run states, couple of lawmakers, and cabinet officials are on the shortlist being floated by party activists and supporters.
Among them are governors of Michigan (Gretchen Whitmer) and Pennsylvania (Josh Shapiro), and North Carolina, all battleground states which they could help deliver to Harris to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
Also in the mix are California governor Gavin Newsom, Harris’ political peer and contemporary, from that state, Illinois Governor JD Pritzker, and Andy Beshear, Democratic governor of Kentucky, a solidly Republican state.
But since Democrats are not expected to lose California and Illinois, or win Kentucky, they are considered outside possibilities, as also Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, since having two women on a ticket in a country that has never elected a woman to the White House sounds inconceivable.
For the similar reason, another name making the rounds, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is also an outlier: US is seen as not ready for a ticket with a Black-Asian woman for Presidency and a gay, midwestern man for vice-presidency — appears highly improbable.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, is another name making the rounds. Arizona is also a toss-up state.
Of course, some feminists and fantasists throw in Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey into the mix, but no serious political pundit entertains that prospect.