Obama-Richardson 2008?

Not necessarily my favorite ticket, but this one does intrigue me. Thoughts?


Sen. Barack H. Obama, Jr. (D-IL), nominee for President


Gov. William "Bill" Richardson (D-NM), nominee for Vice President

Cornerstone of a Midwestern/Mountain-West strategy.

Downsides? Richardson has some knocks against him (claiming for years he was drafted by the Oakland A's when it turns out he wasn't; leaked Wen Ho Lee's name to the press during the late '90s Los Alamos leak scandal, approval Monica Lewinsky for an internship), but he has a lot of things in his favor too (several years in the House, service on the House Foreign Relations Committee, UN Ambassador, Secretary of Energy).

Also, would nominating a Black Man and a Latino (even one with an Anglo name) be too much for white, male voters?

One other downside would be that if McCain were on the Republican ticket, it might make more sense to make a genuine push for the South, since McCain generally has less appeal there and the region could be more competitive; Richardson would do less for the ticket in that case because McCain would do well in the Mountain West also.

:)

:) ;-)

But a VP candidate? I think the chances of that are fairly slim. It might be better for the nation if he stays in the Senate - he's one of our best bulldogs.

He's telegenic and graceful and in a time when there were no other more seasoned, more experienced candidates, he might be the dragon-slayer. But the suddenness of his ubiquity disturbs me. Why, all of a sudden, is he the great blue hope?

In fact, quite the contrary. He is on fire. His qualifications are more not widely known than nonexistent. I wouldn't be too quick to label this fellow a flash in the pan.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obama-2008.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

he put the kabosh on a recount in his state in 2000 despite indications that some votes were undercounted. There has been a lot of vote tampering there that has gone under the radar. I haven't trusted him since.

Thats the ticket right there.

There are lots of superficial voters out there, and there is a reason we haven't had a chunky Pres in 100 years.

I'd be more comfortable with a Richardson/Obama ticket, but Obama/Richardson is still light-years ahead of Bush/Cheney.

and what it brought to the table. (the chimp doesn't even rate a mention.)

We've had to suffer through six years of incompetence as it is.

Sure, we would lose some white voters, but just think about how much energy there would be among minority communities in the US. Increased turn out among Hispanic and black voters might be enough to win the election.

is that Richardson would be the most experienced candidate and Obama the least. Everyone would be asking why the ticket isn't reversed. A one term Senator on top of Governor, congressman, Energey Secretary, and UN ambassador? If Obama wins the nomination he would be best suited by putting someone who has experience yet doesn't embarass his own resume, ie. Clark who is a General but still doesn't have Obama's legislative background. Not saying that Clark is inexperienced but simply that a military resume could overall reflect well without taking away from Obama.

I don't think an Obama/Richardson ticket would be reflect poorly on Obama, though; Kennedy picking Johnson in '60 didn't reflect poorly on him. Given that Obama's political skills (at least at this point) appear far better than Richardson's, I don't think Richardson would overshadow Obama.

the governorship for the Vice Presidency.