concordtom said:
ducky23 said:
So are we allowed to claim Kamala Harris as our own (or at least as an honorary member)?
Both of her parents met at Cal, both earning their PhD degrees at Berkeley. While her dad went on to teach at Stanford, her mom worked at both Berkeley's Zoology Department and at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
While I've never been a huge fan, she's starting to grow on me (especially after her campaign launch speech).
And if she teamed up with the furdy from Jersey, that would be a very formidable ticket.
No matter how much I hate furd, I think it would be pretty cool to have the white house run by two people with heavy furd and Cal ties.
She's steeped in Cal culture, just like me. Of course you can claim her.
The party would want to combine two people who attract as many people from differing social groups as possible.
West - Midwest - South - East
White - Black - Latino - other
Male - Female
To combine two blacks with two West Coast roots of Cal/Stanford is not enough potpourri. Labeled and assailed by the right as SF Libtards the same as that evil SF-based Nancy Pelosi. Middle America would continue to run toward Trump, because as evil as he is, at least he's deemed as one of them.
The Democratic Party needs to get the right demographic mix on the ticket, per gender, race, and geographic diversity.
You know, come to think of it, that statement everyone makes about: "we do not discriminate in our hiring process by race, gender, or sexual orientation" is total bullshtt.
Let me say that I think Harris is going to win the nomination (polls show Harris as the frontrunner of the candidates who have announced - though its obviously very very early and Biden/Bernie have yet to announce. Even if they do run, I think America wants change and not old guys who have already had their chance)
The biggest reason I think Harris is the one is because of how the primary schedule is laid out. She will be weak in NH/Iowa, but should be very competitive in S. Carolina/Nevada. If she can get a respectable 3rd/4th in Iowa and then come in 1st/2nd in Nev/S.Car, then Super Tuesday sets up extremely well for her (California/North Carolina). And if she happens to win big in California, she could potentially take all the CA delegates, since a very crowded field could mean she may be the only one to get the required 15% to take delegates (though O'rourke, Bernie, Biden could all be strong in CA as well, but that's assuming any of them run).
Strengths: She could stitch back together the Obama coalition. She's also a woman, a black woman (which is the core democratic voting bloc) and she's mixed-race. So she's going to be competitive on the coasts and in the south. She's also smart, a dynamic speaker, a former prosecutor and attorney general and she may be able to unite the party (very progressive on social issues, moderate on economic issues).
Weakness: Probably going to struggle with white working class votes and she will also be attacked from the Left for her prosecuting past history
Potential running mates
Booker: I understand strategically its not that best match, since you are pairing two african american coastal elites, but, to me, he's the brightest and most dynamic of the other candidates. And I really think it insures bringing back the Obama coalition
Biden: don't think he wants to be anyone's running mate again, and I also don't think he pairs well with Harris, but he is from Penn and he's gonna get you the white working class vote
Brown: kind of a midwestern, younger Bernie that gets you Ohio. May not be a bad fit with Harris, if he can get her the Bernie vote, but I just don't know if they'd get along. Brown though could be an ideal VP candidate for others in the field.
Klobuchar: Minnesota is a key state, and she'd be popular with the working midwest. However, I think she's a bit low wattage for a running mate, and I'm not sure America is ready to vote for two women atop the ticket. She's also not a great pairing with Harris since she's a moderate as well.
O'rourke: Ok, if you're thinking in purely strategic terms, this is the ideal running mate for both Harris and pretty much everyone else (though I have doubts whether he has the experience). Very charismatic, will be great on the campaign trail. He's going to raise a huge amount of money and he's also from Texas (you win CA and Texas, you are almost unbeatable). But the big thing (especially for Harris) is that he's going to get the Bernie voters out to vote (something that didn't happen for Clinton). A Harris/O'Rourke ticket could win the coasts, Texas and key southern states (FLA, Georgia, NC/SC), that would be more than enough to win even without the midwest.
