Hillary as VP

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

Lot of buzz about this in the news today:

CNN is reporting this morning that the Obama and Clinton campaigns are in formal talks about ending her quest for the Democratic nomination and possibly giving her the VP slot.

These apparent talks are described by CNN as being in a “very preliminary” stage and as "difficult."

It’s really unclear what this means or what’s really going on here. CNN doesn’t have anyone on the record. Just anonymous sourcing. We’ll have video of their report up shortly.

On first blush I’m skeptical that there really are "formal talks" in the usual sense of that phrase. The report appears to lean heavily on sourcing from within the Clinton camp, which is notable. The significance here may not be that there are formal talks underway or that the vice presidency is under discussion. The real significance may be that this is the opening salvo from the Clinton camp ahead of the negotiations that would likely accompany her withdrawal from the race.

Like everyone else, we’re trying to track this down now. But this may be the beginning of the beginning of the end.

Video:

My thoughts?

I think, on the whole, it is probably a good idea.  There are a lot of people who really really don’t like Hillary, and they will be initially turned off.  But as the race for White House moves into the general election, focus will be on Obama, and people will get used to the idea of Hillary as his #2.  She certainly is qualifed, and certainly blunts the "inexperience" tag that people place on Obama.  Personally, I like Edwards more.  Or even Richardson.  And I think Hillary would be a great Supreme Court justice.  But as VP?  Why not?