Barack Obama begins his own quiet quest for a running mate

While Republican potentials are tromping out to the desert this weekend for chats with John McCain about the Republican No. 2 slot, Barack Obama has already begun a quieter search for his own running mate.

And Obama has reverted to something of a Democratic tradition -- asking former Fannie Mae head Jim Johnson to head up the efforts. Though he's got to be hoping the third time's the charm -- Johnson played similar roles for Walter Mondale and John Kerry.

The delicate issue for Obama, of course is Hillary Clinton. There's a lot of pressure from Democrats that, if the math holds and Obama becomes the nominee, he pick the former first lady (assuming she'd take it). But that could weaken Obama's carefully crafted image as the guy from outside Washington.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, who first ferreted out news of Obama's quiet efforts, offers a list of potential contenders, beyond Clinton. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.

Sens. Joe Biden, Bob Casey, Chris Dodd, Chuck Hagel and Jim Webb; former Sens. Tom Daschle, John Edwards and Sam Nunn; Govs.Tim Kaine, Janet Napolitano, Bill Richardson, Kathleen Sebelius and Ted Strickland; and former Rep. Tim Roemer.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[rashida]

I would like Kathleen Sebelius or Jim Webb

[JF]

I am a female over-40 Hillary supporter who still hopes Hillary gets the nomination but will happily support Obama over McCain if that is the matchup. Emotions are running high right now but despite the problems I have with Obama, I think an Obama presidency will be better for the country than a McCain one. I would love to see Obama reach out to the Hillary side by choosing Wesley Clark as his running mate, though or, even better, Secretary of State. He's smart, has loads of foreign policy and military experience and is a man of reason.

[Janice Heslop]

I now understand now why Dems have difficulty winning the Presidency. We all think we know best. Since we don't have a direct election of the vice-president, why not allow the person who is elected, make that choice. Then we should back his choice. Leave the petty bickering for your in-laws.

[Dennis Berry]

The only Clinton supporters still bothering to blog are all-or-nothing extremists. Rational Democrats (i.e., the vast majority of us) don't want McCain as president; either Clinton or Obama represent a far saner choice.

I'm comforted by knowing that the most extreme Clinton supporters, who won't vote for Obama, are more than offset by rational Democrats, a huge majority of Independents, and many dismayed Republicans, all of whom will help Obama become our next president.

Simply put: the United States simply cannot withstand four more years of right-wing jingoism and pandering to the rich.

But mostly, we're sick and tired of incompetence in the White House.

[David]

So, Hillary voters will NEVER vote for Obama? My, my, my--almost as racist as the rednecks in Kentucky.

[DenisR]

Obama didn't get this far by being a dummy. He will pick a VP. However, I don't think he would want the Clintons at his back if he picked Hillary.He could use her if the "costs" are not too high. Democrats (all) will beat the Republicans this November.

[Linda R. in Virginia]

Senator Webb is off limits.....in Virginia we like him just where his in the Senate.

I'm not a bitter Hillary supporter. I'm a Democrat who does not want another inexperienced, training wheel riding President in the White House.

So, this loud mouth broad is going to write in Hillary Clinton on Election Day.....if the two morons are on the ballot in VA.

GO HILLARY!!!!!

[BabsW]

It is is very comforting, after reading all of the preceeding comments, to note that NOT ONE comes to the defense of BJ. He/she could be a frusrated Republican who doesn't want a Democrat to become President of the United States.
Who knows?

[MH]

BJ....So if you do not get your way, that means we turn the nation back to another Republican President? 4 possibly 8 more years huh? Nice mentality.

"UNDERSTAND THIS... Hillary supporters WILL NEVER vote for OBAMA!

Neither will we support an Obama/Clinton ticket. WE KNOW he would only do this because he can never win in November without our votes!

Our votes are NOT up for bids! We will never settle for anything less than HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT!"

[James Green-Armytage]

"If she really concerned about the “rights”of Michigan and Florida democrats, it would have been appreciated if she had done it a year ago – before she lost the election."

Hear hear. Her hypocrisy in this case has always been entirely unconcealed. If she cared so much about the voting rights aspect of all this, she could have protested as soon as the decisions were made (in 2007), but she did no such thing. She went right along with it, until she lost in South Carolina. At that point she had ALREADY won the non-binding Michigan primary, she was ahead in the Florida polls, and she had suddenly realized that the nomination was going to be close. Her initial ploy in arguing for the reversal of the DNC's decision, I always thought, was just to draw attention away from Obama's unexpectedly big win in South Carolina. But now, it seems to have taken on a life of its own, and has gotten bound up in a convoluted argument about the popular vote. First of all, the popular vote totals in some caucus states are unknown (by design), and need to be estimated to get any kind of national total. Second, the fact that caucuses have generally lower turnout should not necessarily mean that they are less important; each state chooses whether to have a primary or caucus, and that choice should be respected. Caucuses, while they have some drawbacks, have the advantage that they involve more participation and discourse than the casting of secret ballots. Finally, I am almost entirely sure that if Obama was ahead in the popular vote while Clinton was ahead in pledged delegates, she would be completely uninterested in the popular vote totals. Her basic M.O. seems to involve a kind of naked cynicism. If it meant that she was guaranteed to win every election through sheer bare-knuckle politics, then a lot of Democrats may have been willing to hold their noses and give her the nomination. But now it's clear that she's not invincible, that her campaign can collapse, and that when it does, it's not pretty.

My main objection to Clinton being the nominee or president has always been that, as a person with pretty liberal political views, I don't want to be represented by her. As long as large segments of the American public associate liberalism with cynicism or amorality, I think that it will be really hard to make much political progress in this country.

[Scott]

BJ, you loon.

Clearly you're being a bit too emotional about this primary race. You'll have a few months to cool your jets before November, however, and I'm sure you'll see things differently by then.

If you actually care one bit about things like affordable health care, ending the war in Iraq, and protecting reproductive rights by not allowing another Republican president to load the Supreme Court with conservative justices, then I'm sure you will do the right thing in the fall and vote Obama.

Or are you a moron?

Democrat '08. Stop being children.

[Sharan]

I'm in the anyone-but-Hillary for VP corner. The reason I voted for Senator Obama in the first place is because I could not bear the thought of another Clinton in the White House (not to mention putting the first one back there). Senator Obama's primary platform is "change you can believe in." If he taps Mrs. Clinton, he won't have a change, and I could no longer believe him. Senator Obama is a fresh wind blowing through Washington - let him blow away the cobwebs - including the Clinton-era politics.

[wlbill]

You guys have got to understand, Most of the Hillary posts are actually Republicans and won't vote Democrat any old way, so chill out and if they want another 4 years of ignorance, let em' vote McCain in vain, what a pain, they if not Republicans are insane..

[LonghornMama]

Centrists desire an Obama/Clinton ticket. What he can't win, she can. Look Kennedy didn't like Johnson, Nixon didn't like Agnew, and Reagan and Bush 41 weren't kissing cousins either. If two candidates brought out 35 million people to vote in primaries and the thing is a tie in popular vote, then both candidates "had legs." Let's be smart and get those same 35 million and a whole bunch more back in the voting booth in November. People can be silly and argue all day long. At the end of the day, do you want to keep your home? What are you going to do when oil hits $200 a barrel? Is your retirement safe? When will Americans come home from Iraq? Will the planet sustain life in 100 years? C'mon get real!

[Jeff Belcher]

While it may be true that Barack Obama might not be able to win without Hillary's voters, no one has mentioned that she probably can't win without his, either.

If the first black man who stands a viable chance at becoming president is denied that chance because Hillary talked superdelegates into supporting her even though he won the elected delegates fair and square, she can count on exactly 0% of the black vote come November. Period.

Then, John McCain will win and the front page of the New York Times will read "Thanks a lot, Hillary Clinton" in big block letters.

I'm beginning to wonder if she cares if that happens.

[Sick of BS]

Since when does not sleeping with your husband make you qualified to do his job? As a psychiatric nurse, I am overwhelmed at the denial of Mrs. Clinton and her supporters. If Hillary actually gets the rules committee to count the unfair elections in Florida and Michigan, she will have overturned the honest vote (with BOTH candidates on the ballot.) This will show Democrats that their party doesn't give a D--n about what they want, and will shatter the party, just as Bush has shattered the Republican Party. WAKE UP AMERICA!

[Lee]

I was a bit disturbed when I read BJ's comment top on the list, but considering the vast number of responses it looks like this reaction will be transient. It always sucks to loose, but thankfully most people, even young children, get over it.

Sandwall - Today I would have to agree with your feelings on the Clintons. When Bill was in office I was blinded by the curtain separating the Reds and the Blues. They seemed like decent folk and I overlooked their faults. But now they seem as you say, like "not good" people.

At the same time back then, it seemed pretty obvious that the Republican party had been slowly hijacked by a bunch of fascist, religious zealots. And the "War on Terror" which conveniently replaced the "War on Communism" to complement the "War on Drugs" have all seemed but a delicate facade over a reenactment of the age-old Christian Crusade that flooded the Middle East with yahoos back in the Dark Ages. However, it does seem that the Republicans, like the Democrats, are starting to see the wisdom on the other side of the Red/Blue divide.

[J]

I'd love to see an Obama / Jeb Bush ticket.

[Dr Mike]

Hey folks, why do you assume that the supposed Clinton supporters who are bashing Obama in here really are Clinton supporters? Republicans would like nothing better than to sow dissent and hostility among Democrats and they have a long and distinguished history of using lies and dirty tricks to win elections. If you believe everything that's posted in these discussions, then I have some Nigerian lottery winnings for you.

[wlbill]

The "Hillary attitude" will break the Deocrat party and Bush will win another 4 years. probably 8, by proxy. For those of you in WVA and Kentucky, proxy means without being there.

[HillarysGirl]

I'm a Hillary Girl and more importantly, a Democrat. If Hillary should loose, I will still vote democrat regardless. The most important point in this whole election is changing the direction of this country. Both candidates are focused in the same direction with very little difference between them. I know it would be nice to have a woman there, but 'male/female', 'black/white', shouldn't be the only governing factor in who becomes president. I consider this decision to be important, because we have a lot at stake here. The Republicans have made so many wrong decisions and implimented so many laws that are agregious(sp?) to americans, it will need a democrat in office to reverse them. I get chills down my spine when I think of the 'Patriot Act' and the government having the power to arrest americans without due process. Also, using torture against other 'human being'. I know that everyone has a right to vote their own mind, but people, think before you vote. Do you really want to continue in the direction we are currently going? Or do you want your contry back.

Side note: Texas sold out one of their main highways to a Mexican conglomerate. Pennsylvania is selling out it's turnpike to a south american conglomerate. Both roads will be 'toll' roads. Meaning that americans will be paying south america and mexico for the roads that are on our soil. What's wrong with this picture.

[hoot]

Richardson PLEASE!

[Scott]

RON PAUL!!!!! I'd so love to see an Obama and Paul ticket! Paul's libertarianism would be a great counterbalance to Obama's support of entitlements and big government. It would help to shed our collectively insane bipartisan political system to have a DEM and a REP on the same ticket and perhaps Ron Paul can influence the abolishment of the truly criminal, privately-owned federal reserve system. I often find myself hoping and praying for the impossible. I live right down the street from McCain near Page Springs, AZ and I also like our governor, Janet Napolitano. Bill Richardson could also be a good choice? My vote is anyone BUT Hillary.

Hillary Clinton has used the exact same campaign strategy as Bush - dirty politics, blatant, flat out lies, changing the subject frequently to get the heat off her back, and spreading lies in the form of highly memorable sayings that get repeated and replayed until everyone knows them. For Bush some of them were, "Kerry's a flip-flopper" and "Never Change Horses in Midstream" Clinton's equally ridiculous tag line, "Obama could not be elected" has given her much of her momentum and for some reason has earned her the loyalty of people who prefer not to think for themselves.

I propose a more positive mantra for all of us: "OBAMA WILL WIN!" I believe the time is right. I'm encouraged by the many thoughtful posts on this forum and elsewhere. We're waking up!

[hoot]

Richardson PLEASE!

[Anthony]

We can not allow McBush to continue for four more years WE NEED CHANGE and Obama is a change. The voters who will not vote for Obama because Hillary is not nominated are just plain sore losers and don't care about our country.