In a matter of weeks or months, Barack Obama will select a vice presidential candidate to run with him this fall.
In order to get my head around the complexities of the Vice Presidential Selection Process and potential/desired outcomes, I scoured sites from HuffPost, to DKos/MyDD, Open Left, RCP, electoral college, and others to identify all of the candidates being bandied about as either front-runners or reasonable dark horse contenders. I stuck them all in a spreadsheet.
Next, I went through the same process to identify criteria by which a candidate might be selected. These criteria fall into two broad categories, which may be represented using the following principles:
1) ELECTORAL STRENGTH OF TICKET: VP should help Obama win electoral votes, or at least not hurt his chances to win them
2) CAPABILITY / FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL POTENTIAL: VP should make a good president someday, next election or if Obama leaves office
I added a variety of criteria which affect these principles to the spreadsheet.
Below the fold, I include the Top 20 VP candidates being discussed, and a personal ranking with analysis and arguments for why I've placed them where I have. This includes a set of strengths and weaknesses that I've identified for each, using this brainstormed list of criteria that draw upon the 2 principles above.
It is with a number of emotions-among them regret, sorrow, confusion, ennui, schadenfreude, and hunger-that I find myself writing to all of you. As members in good standing of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, you of all people surely recognize the remarkable position of strength we find ourselves in. And it is my sad duty to inform you that it's all your fault.
In today's America, liberals outnumber conservatives; the Democratic Party controls both houses of Congress and is overwhelmingly favored to take the White House; public opinion is calling for greater tolerance, stronger environmental protections, universal health care, and an end to war. Today's left is ascendant in every imaginable field, while the right is on the verge of moral, intellectual, political, and financial bankruptcy. One of the great realignments in American political history is within our grasp. This is completely unacceptable.
I must admit that the seven-year reign of Bush & Company makes me yearn for the years of Ronald Reagan, when the term "conservative" merely meant right wing, rather than full-tilt, bull-goose loopy.
The Barry A. Welsh For Congress campaign today unveiled the new official blog on their website, located at http://blog.barrywel.... The new blog will feature posts from the candidate himself as well as blog team members, communications staff and the occasional guest post from friends and allies of the campaign. The blog will be used to make regular posts with items of interest relating to the campaign, recent podcasts, interviews online and more.
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