Monday, August 05, 2024

Election 2024: Opinion on The Big Reveal

Kamala Harris is supposed to announce her running mate soon.

Most of the punditry seem to think it will be either US Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona or Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.

I can see the case for either of them -- relatively popular swing staters.

I think Harris would be making a mistake to pick either of them, though. Kelly would cost her with gun owners, Shapiro would cost her with pro-Palestine progressives, and that cost would run across many states, including swing states.

Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky isn't in a swing state, but he'd likely help her in the winnable south (including Georgia and North Carolina) and maybe make some of the unwinnable south at least competitive enough to force the GOP to invest money there instead of elsewhere. He's a Democrat who's manage to beat Republicans in a Republican state. He knows how to campaign against them.

Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota would, in my opinion, help her at least a little in Wisconsin and Michigan and probably not hurt her too badly elsewhere.

Pete Buttigieg: No. Just no. He wouldn't help her anywhere. The "Mayor Pete" nonsense has long since lost its shine and he's been a disaster as Secretary of Transportation. He'd cost her votes pretty much everywhere.

But that's just my opinion. I'll be interested to see who she picks and how that works out for her.

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