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Has Hillary Found Her #2?
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Race
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| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Dec 28, 2007 11:37pm |
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| Category | Opinion |
| Media | Website - Yahoo News |
| News Date | Saturday, December 29, 2007 05:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | There has been much speculation that if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination for President (a less certain bet today than a few months back though still likely), she will choose a running mate with a military background. Virginia Senator Jim Webb and former General Wesley Clark are two former military men who have been prominently mentioned. But both have suffered from bouts of foot-in-mouth disease. A far more obvious and smarter choice, if this is the path that Clinton chooses to go, would be former Nebraska Governor and Senator Bob Kerrey.*
And there is at least some evidence that such a move may be in the works.
Earlier this year, Nebraska's maverick Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, announced that he would not seek re-election to the Senate (running as a VP with Michael Bloomberg on a third party ticket may have some appeal however). The Democrat most capable of winning this open seat would be Bob Kerrey, now the President of the New School in New York. But Kerrey flirted with running for the Senate for a few weeks, and then bowed out.
One possible explanation for his decision not to run was that Mike Johanns, the popular former Republican Governor, later appointed Agriculture Secretary by President Bush, had entered the race for the GOP nomination. In Presidential election years, Nebraska typically votes 60% or more for the GOP nominee. It would require a lot of ticket switching for a Democrat to win a Senate race. This has happened before: Democrat Ben Nelson won an open senate seat in 2000 by 51% to 49%, while George Bush won the state's 5 Electoral College votes by a 29% margin (62% to 33%) over Al Gore.
While Kerrey would have been an even bet or better against any other GOP nominee, against Johanns he would have started out as an underdog. So it may have been a simple electoral calculus that led Kerrey to bow out. But what if the reason Kerrey decided not to run for the Senate is that he got a call asking him if he wanted to return t |
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