Filling the ticket

This is a useful rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of the potential vice presidential candidates.

A few comments:

• I think Kelly would be an excellent candidate, but it would be entirely contingent on the strength of the Democratic bench in Arizona. I would not pick him without reassurances that Hobbs could pick someone who could credibly hold the seat in 2026.
• There’s a lot to like about Shapiro, who had a truly dominating electoral performance in 2022 (including unusually strong performance outside of Philly and Pittsburgh.) Given the good party vibes in general and the solidarity with Harris shown by the left wing of the party I am pretty concerned about his apparently sub-replacement-level views on Israel/Palestine.
• I don’t think Harris will pick her, but I actually think that Whitmer should actually get a lot of consideration. The assumption that voters don’t like female candidates are not well-grounded empirically, and running an all-woman ticket against two woman-hating creeps seems like a pretty reasonable idea, actually.
• I don’t know a lot about Walz but I do like what I’ve seen:

Funded public schools, strong unions, affordable healthcare (and @JDVance1’s policies of division and fundamental misunderstanding of small town America): https://t.co/Zh1FOYdw7d— Carrie Coon (@carriecoon) July 23, 2024

Love the thought of hammering this contrast over and over https://t.co/K21LttFnjk pic.twitter.com/Oh7pp7sMVd— James Medlock (@jdcmedlock) July 23, 2024