With the Gore endorsement of Dean pretty much sealing the nomination for Dean, it is now time for me to predict who Dean will choose as his running mate.
As Dean’s campaign has basiclly been “I hate everythijng about Bush and I was against the war,” it is time to run to the center. They are not going to pick a southern veep- politically the world has changed and a southern candidate simpy is not as important anymore, particularly to the Dems. They need someone young, dynamic, and centrist. They need someone who was in favor of the war to blunt the charges that Dean is McGovern, and they need someone who has not made a bunch of idiotic public proclamations in the last two years. They need someone who has not been bloodied by the nomination process, so the 8 other has-beens are out. They could use someone from the industrial midwest, and if they choose someone from the Senate, it needs to be someone who could be easily replaced by another Democrat, particularly a state with a Democratic governor. The answer is rather clear:
Dean’s running mate is going to be Evan Bayh.
This would also explain his well-timed and rather hawkish Q&A last week.
*** Update ***
And before people start claiming he is not centrist, lemme ask you this- how many other Democrats have pictures of themselves with Colin Powell, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and Rick Santorum on their official Senate website? The question is, will he go the way of Lieberman in 2000 and throw out all of his principles to make sure Sheila Jackson lee and Maxine Waters are happy with the ticket? Of course, Bayh is not Jewish, so that solves part of the problem with the CBC.
*** Update #2 ***
I see the name Bill Richardson being floated. A good choice, but didn’t he JUST get elected, with his first action a drastic tac cut package? And Graham has become a nutter, not to mention the age issue.