Joe Biden Looks for His Own Joe Biden in Running Mate

In picking a running mate, Joe Biden has said he would want to recreate the dynamic he shared with Barack Obama -- a working partner who shares his policy vision and also complements his skills and areas of expertise. But there’s so much more at stake in 2020. If the front-running Biden wins the Democratic presidential nomination in Milwaukee in July, his choice of a running mate will surely be even under more scrutiny than other nominees, considering he would be the oldest person ever inaugurated if he became president. Whoever is nominated, Democrats are intent on denying President Donald Trump a second term, and the wrong running mate could cost the ticket votes.

Choosing a running mate is the first presidential-level decision that a candidate makes, but it’s also a strategic one, with the potential to add geographic, racial, ideological or gender balance to the ticket, something that campaign managers and advisers believe can help win the race.

He said last July that the vice president should be someone the president can “completely trust, that they’re simpatico with, have the same approach, political approach and you can delegate significant authority to.” In February, Biden said the person had to agree with him on key policy issues like Medicare for All. That would not only avoid a family feud when he works to expand the Affordable Care Act already in place with a public option. It would also mean the person wouldn’t change direction if he or she became president in 2025.

Biden is looking for someone with extensive Washington experience or time as an executive, preferably someone who’s been vetted on the national stage. He’s also said that he would like to pick a woman as his running mate, saying he could think of eight or nine women who could do the job. In November, he mentioned four by name: former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who dramatically resigned from the Justice Department in the first few months of the Trump administration, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and New Hampshire Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-07/joe-biden-looks-for-his-own-joe-biden-in-running-mate