Foxfyre wrote:I suspect the Veep's values are far less important to Obama than the votes the Veep can pull in that Obama might otherwise miss.
I dunno. I mean, this is just speculation, but I get the feeling that his biggest priority is to get a Veep who will fit in with the campaign he's run. The one thing his campaign has stood out for, especially compared with the ongoing psychodramas of Hillaryland and the volatile fortunes of McCain's campaign (from frontrunner to bankrupt back to frontrunner again) is how steady, consistent and disciplined it's been. That's the one thing that's impressed me most, anyhow, that's won me over even when I had my doubts both about the focus of his message and the limits of his demographic appeal.
This is one lean, mean, disciplined campaign, always on message, never word leaking out of internal rivalries, divisions, camps fighting each other. There's this consistent focus on planning things way in advance and keeping the course even in the face of media hypes that would tempt other campaigns into impulsive, ad hoc changes of strategy or message. He's adjusted his appeal over time, but gradually, and basically they've just been plugging away at their plan. The various reporting on his campaign suggests that this is their overriding priority too:
no drama.
I think that, more than anything else, would be a dealbreaker in selecting any Veep candidate, and I am guessing (and hoping) it would certainly be a dealbreaker when it comes to having Hillary as Veep candidate. Importing Hillaryland would at once undo their whole m.o.
