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Opinion: Not all Hillary Clinton backers buy “dream ticket” idea

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As has been frequently noted, Sen. Ted Kennedy’s much-publicized endorsement of Barack Obama paid little or no direct dividend a few days later in the Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary; Hillary Clinton easily carried the state on Super Tuesday back in February. One advantage she enjoyed -- mostly overlooked in the hoopla over Kennedy’s nod -- was backing from longtime Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

What Menino lacked as a national political figure he more than made up for by galvanizing a well-oiled political machine on Clinton’s behalf, much as Govs. Ted Strickland of Ohio and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania did on her behalf in primaries that followed.

Menino, though, has strayed from the party line pushed by Strickland, Rendell and other staunch Clinton supporters that, on a ticket headed by Obama, she is the obvious choice as a running mate.

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In a recent comment to the Bloomberg News Service, Menino said, ‘If she got back into the White House, she’d bring along Big Daddy, and he would overshadow the president.’

Big Daddy, of course, would be the ex-president, Bill Clinton. And we have to give Menino credit for colorfully encapsulating ...

... the reservations some have about the Democratic ‘dream ticket’ (as well as evoking the patriarch of the Tennessee Williams play, ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ memorably portrayed in the film version by Burl Ives).

In his Bloomberg interview, Menino offered his two cents on an Obama running mate -- Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, who since ending his presidential quest after failing to make a dent in the Iowa caucuses has remained uncommitted in the race.

‘He’s smart, he’s got the foreign policy experience, and he can help win Pennsylvania’ because of his home state’s proximity to the Philadelphia area, Menino said.

-- Don Frederick

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