Presidential nominees' VP picks?

Mr. O'Malley might make an interesting choice on the Dem side. He brings a medium-sized state in terms of the Electoral College (Maryland). Probably better for Hillary as Bernie would likely have the east better covered. Elizabeth Warren would be interesting for Hillary (two women! Sacre bleu!) but two New Englanders on the ticket is probably a poor choice for Bernie.

I'm thinking Jindal would work for Trump in terms of geography but not Cruz. Cruz needs someone northern, maybe Carly is the choice there.

I am mainly thinking in terms of electoral clout/geography, as those are the main reasons you choose a running mate. The rest of it comes later, e. g. working well together. It seems a lot of VP choices are strategic in order to win an election and then, later, they figure out if they can really work together.

If I were Bernie, I would ask Hillary.

A Sanders/Clinton ticket is a horrible idea. They pull too much in opposite directions. Bernie would never ask, and Hillary would never accept.

Many of us would love to see a Sanders/Warren ticket.

Clinton will pick one of any number of establishment, probably candidates from Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida. I think she plays it safe and standard.

Trump has already said he was considering Cruz for the job (although I don't think that would be to his advantage if he really wants to win in the general election... which I am not sure he does).

I think Cruz will choose Carly Fiorina for the obvious reason (assuming he will be facing Hillary). Fiorina is a good campaigner.

My prediction is that it will be

Cruz/Fiorina vs. Clinton/Someone boring

Hi Jes! Hope you and hubby are well and best of the season to you both.

This is precisely where my background political knowledge is seriously deficient. The experts will be writing on this and I'll attend to what they write as those pieces come up over the next few months. So I'll speak to some other considerations that seem likely to inform the decisions.

First, regarding Trump, god only knows who this guy would pick and why. His "campaign" is so out of the norm that his choice looks a total crapshoot. I seriously cannot even make a guess.

For Cruz (again, not considering electoral college ramifications) I think he'll feel he needs to pick a female for the obvious reasons. He'll need to maintain the relationship he has carefully built up with the evangelical/tea party base and he'll also need to try and rope in (or at least ameliorate present animosities with) the portions of the party who presently distrust or despise him. That would, if I have this right, point to a woman who can be the sort of fire-breathing radical his people respond to yet who satisfies the "establishment" concerns but who can pawn herself off as outside-of-DC. Also, as he will need to use this female to go after Hillary (so as to avoid appearances of sexism) and he will prefer one who has a good grasp of foreign affairs - to compete with Hillary. The prospect that terrifies me here is that he'll choose Liz Cheney.

For Sanders, Warren would probably be too similar to himself (even if she'd accept, which I doubt). But he may well find it necessary to choose a female after beating Hillary out of the nomination (recall the PUMA/Clintons4McCain phenomenon after the last election - though we'll note that much of this was actually GOP trolling). Klobuchar or Duckworth, perhaps.

For Hillary, I'd personally love to see Warren there on the ticket but two females might be dangerous given traditional sexist attitudes. She needs to motivate the folks who Obama could get out to the polls (minorities and younger voters) and that will be a trick. My personal hope is that she'll ask Al Franken though more expert voices might see this as inadequate.

I think Hillary Clinton would need some sex, trustworthiness, and charisma on her boring ass ticket. I also think the Dems need to think about the future and choose youth. Gavin Newsome or Cory Booker might be good choices if they are baggage free. I actually think Warren would bring some clean to dirty Hillary, but if Warren won't attend her luncheons, she likely won't hold hands at a convention.

I wish Bernie would choose Warren or Robert Reich. But, I think Bernie could use someone with wider administrative experience. Due to his age, his choice requires careful vetting, I think some will say.

Trump needs deep political experience and an even keel. Condi Rice, Colin Powell. I know the odds of the accepting, but maybe they'd feel a sense of duty...?

I'm already on record on this. but Kasich (governor of Ohio) on the Republican side and Sherwood Brown (Senator from Ohio) on the Democratic side. One note: if Trump is the GOP nominee, all bets are off. Trump will choose a man no one has ever heard of who has no on record political opinions (think James Stockdale, Ross Perot running mate) or a conspiracy nut.

Aw, c'mon. Let's all Vote for Ralph again. He looked honest.

I posted about this on another thread last week.

http://www.towleroad.com/2015/11/hillary-clintons-running-mate/

of the options in that article I liked Heinrich and Hickenlooper. Young and from the Rocky Mountain states. They bring something different to the table.

I like them for both main Democratic candidates.

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I like Kasich on the Republican side.

Julian Castro would be my choice if Hillary is nominated.

My god, girl. Duty to what?

Keeping the world from becoming a parking lot.

Far as I know I like Hickenlooper, even besides his wonderful name. Not remembering any negs but positive reactions from time to time. Haven't heard of Heinrich. Also have to look up Sherwood Brown, thanks for the name, Engineer.

I've got little tweaks against Cory Booker, a New Yorker article I think it was, but I forget the issue, maybe re schools. Have some neg memories re Gavin Newsom as covered in San Francisco newspapers over some stretch of time in the early oughts. Nothing to make me heavily against Booker or Newsom if I remember.
Am not up to date on Franken, might be refreshing. O'Malley, hard to get enthused.
There's a name at the tip of my tongue, a young hispanic guy from somewhere in the southwest, mentioned articles as a possibility for a Hillary v.p. choice.

Someone mentioned George Pataki as a Republican vp possibility and I've been intending to read up on him. I was interested in Kasich somewhat until I read more but that is sort of a given re an opposite party member. Similar with Rand Paul, some interest and then despair..

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I didn't pair any of these with a potential presidential nominee; I'm having enough trouble juggling what I think of all that is going on with those.

He'll probably ask Miss Argentina.

I don't think Brown would be a great help to Hillary electorally. What do you see that I don't?

Kasich is an odd one. Definitely not a moderate in most things. I might have it wrong, of course, but it is hard for me to imagine Cruz or Trump choosing him.

O'Malley was two-time governor of Maryland (where I live) and 2 time Mayor of Baltimore (city where I was born) and I don't know one single Marylander who wants to see him in the second chair at the White House. I never thought about Sen. Al Franken, but he would be great, he's wicked smart.

Thanks for that link, bethie!

Heinrich and Hickenlooper now on my radar. And I'd forgotten Castro.

Are you talking about the former Governor of South Carolina?

Oh, I think I see what you meant. OK. On the other hand though, having each had their experience of being close to a President who wanted to start a war and not being able to do anything about that...