Minotaur029 wrote:

Foldyourarmsandsaynah wrote:

connor wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote:So, Mark Warner is supposedly on the "short list" of Obama's VP preferences.

How did I not think of that guy before? (<-don't answer that).

It's a good idea except that Warner is currently running for senate. And winning.

Could he be Obama's running-mate while still running for Senate? And if Obama wins the general and Warner wins the senate race, does someone appoint someone to take his senate seat? Or is there another election?

If that highly unlikely event were to happen, and Warner still won despite having already been crowned VP, the governor would appoint an interim senator for a full term.

While tearing Warner away from a Senate seat he would surely win would be irritating, I don't think this scenario is necessarily so unlikely.

First of all, Warner wanted to run for President. He wisely chose to sit this election out around the time that speculation about who would run was at its highest. He was a high-profile contender, too.

Second of all, the guy is only 53. If Obama were to win eight years in office, Warner would be in an ideal position to replace him. He's very popular in Virginia (13 electoral votes).

He looks like way less of a loose cannon than Jim Webb, too.

Biggest bonus: in addition to being popular across the battleground of Virginia, Mark Warner is originally from Indianapolis, IN...Obama continues to poll evenly with McCain in what Marsupialized dubbed "Illinois's retarded little sister". Warner makes the possibility of an electoral win in Virginia very real in addition to being attractive to people from Indiana.

Is an Obama victory in Indiana realistic? I don't know, but I don't think that it's out of the question by a longshot.

Oh believe me, I agree with you on all those points except for it being highly unlikely. Mark Warner would be a fantastic VP choice what with his somewhere right around 80% approval rating when he left the governors office. He would make VA a slam dunk for Obama. The only problem is that Warner has no intentions of taking the VP position. Warner has let it be known to all his buddies up at the Capitol in Richmond that his wife will have no part in it, so that's why he ran for the Senate. It's also why he didn't run for the presidency this year. He knew out of all the choices he'd be suited best for VP out of all of them, his family just doesn't want him to do it. From what I've heard, Tim Kaine is almost definitely not going to go for the VP spot because he wants to finish out his term as governor and eventually get into Obama's cabinet once his term is up. I know this sounds like a total, "HAI LOOK AT ME I R INSIDER!" post, but I'm not. I'm related to someone who is though, and he's kind enough to let me pick his brain on VA politics because it fascinates me.

flailyrarmsandyell"hamburgers!" wrote:He would make VA a slam dunk for Obama. The only problem is that Warner has no intentions of taking the VP position. Warner has let it be known to all his buddies up at the Capitol in Richmond that his wife will have no part in it, so that's why he ran for the Senate. It's also why he didn't run for the presidency this year.

If what you say in bold is true, then the general election is already over...that is, if Warner were to say yes to Obama. He did cite family as his reason for not running in 2006, so you are in that sense right on the money.

THE FUCK (Robert Novak) wrote:Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a strong favorite to be elected to the Senate this year, has told associates that he is being considered as Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate. He did not indicate whether he would be receptive to such an offer.

Removing Warner from the campaign for the seat now held by retiring Republican Sen. John Warner (no relation) would turn a sure Democratic takeover to a question mark.

Mark Warner is heavily favored against the Republican nominee, former Gov. Jim Gilmore, but no substitute Democratic candidate is at hand.

Although no Democratic presidential nominee has carried Virginia since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Democrats see the state as being in play for the 2008 election and would like to see a Virginian on the national ticket. Both current Gov. Tim Kaine and freshman Sen. Jim Webb have been mentioned, but neither possesses Warner's prestige.

Minotaur029 wrote:

flailyrarmsandyell"hamburgers!" wrote:He would make VA a slam dunk for Obama. The only problem is that Warner has no intentions of taking the VP position. Warner has let it be known to all his buddies up at the Capitol in Richmond that his wife will have no part in it, so that's why he ran for the Senate. It's also why he didn't run for the presidency this year.

If what you say in bold is true, then the general election is already over...that is, if Warner were to say yes to Obama. He did cite family as his reason for not running in 2006, so you are in that sense right on the money.

THE FUCK (Robert Novak) wrote:Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a strong favorite to be elected to the Senate this year, has told associates that he is being considered as Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate. He did not indicate whether he would be receptive to such an offer.

Removing Warner from the campaign for the seat now held by retiring Republican Sen. John Warner (no relation) would turn a sure Democratic takeover to a question mark.

Mark Warner is heavily favored against the Republican nominee, former Gov. Jim Gilmore, but no substitute Democratic candidate is at hand.

Although no Democratic presidential nominee has carried Virginia since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Democrats see the state as being in play for the 2008 election and would like to see a Virginian on the national ticket. Both current Gov. Tim Kaine and freshman Sen. Jim Webb have been mentioned, but neither possesses Warner's prestige.

That's cool and all, but he said it directly to people at the Capitol as of yesterday that he still wasn't interested. Half of being a politician is giving non commital answers to the media.

Flaneur wrote:Schweitzer?

Read this yesterday, but it's doubtful. Obama can likely do whatever he wants, though.

Sibelius is probably the best choice overall, I'm thinking. A strong pro-choice woman on the ticket will help shut down the rabid Hillary types and help make the reproductive-rights differences between Dems and Repubs more stark and effective -- especially if McCain picks Jindal. Unlike some other options (especially Webb and Schweitzer), picking her wouldn't threaten a shaky governorship or Senate seat.

I'm cooling off to Webb (he's a dick to women and has supported way too much of the Bush "security" agenda e.g. warrantless wiretaps) and warming up to Schweitzer. The poor track record of right-wing Virginia "moderates" on the national stage (remember Robb and Wilder?) makes me a bit wary of Warner and Kaine too. And fuck picking a Clinton surrogate to "unite the party", Obama's in charge now.

Why the fuck are people talking about Sam Nunn all of a sudden? Fuck Sam Nunn.

DNA Concept wrote:Sibelius is probably the best choice overall, I'm thinking. A strong pro-choice woman on the ticket will help shut down the rabid Hillary types and help make the reproductive-rights differences between Dems and Repubs more stark and effective -- especially if McCain picks Jindal.

Sibelius is not the best choice (in my opinion). Any other woman who is in line to be president in front of Hillary is going to cause problems.

Rahm Emanuel wrote:How the loser loses determines who wins in November.

Obama has to appease the Clintons somehow...stealing Hillary's thunder does not seem like a wise way to go about it.

McCain will never pick Jindal.

I'm hearing a lot of good things about this inanimate carbon rod....

Rick Reuben wrote:

DNA Concept wrote:Why the fuck are people talking about Sam Nunn all of a sudden? Fuck Sam Nunn.

Because he's CFR, just like Obama and his handlers. Sam Nunn is very pro-North American Union and pro- Security and Prosperity Partnership.

Webb spoke to the CFR the other night.

Creepy.

Bob Moser wrote:Webb calls for ending the drug war in his new book, A Time to Fight, in which he furiously denounces the race-based injustice of US drug laws and the American incarceration industry. In it he imagines the lives led by an African-American youngster selling drugs and the white suburban teenager who buys them from him to sell at his school. "By the time the white kid reaches fifty years of age," Webb writes, "he may well be a judge. By the time the black kid reaches fifty, he will likely be permanently unemployable, will be ineligible for many government assistance programs, and will not even be able to vote."

Pick Webb.