Bob Beckel, Walter Mondale's campaign manager and barely-concealed Obama supporter, made an interesting point in an online column last Friday for RCP. (link: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/article s/2008/05/if_clinton_wants_to_be_vp_obam .html)
All Hillary Clinton really has to do in order to be the VP nominee is say that she wants to be. Most people don't realize it, but the ultimate decision for VP is made by the convention delegates. We have, in recent history, become used to process of a nominee picking a running mate and that person being endorsed without a lot of questions by the convention. But it is the convention that makes the decision, not the nominee. As long as the person they choose is constituionally qualified, they are the VP pick whether the nominee likes it or not. No vetting process is required.
Surely, Hillary has earned this. After over three months of being told daily that Hillary has no chance, we forget that this election, now almost over, is agonizingly close. One candidate leads in delegates, but one candidate seems almost certain now to be the recipient of more votes. It is basically a 51-49 election (or closer.) It is worth noting, that even after most of us had accepted that HRC had an outside chance at best, she kept winning primaries. She has a strong intensity of support. She could unify the party. I can't imagine a scenario I would vote for Obama in November, except this one.
Here's how it could work:
1. Clinton suspends her campaign after Montana / South Dakota. She must not release her delegates, though it wouldn't matter much in the end.
2. She waits a bit and then says "you know, I think I would like to be VP. I am going to ask my people to gather committments for that honor."
3. Her delegates are only committed to vote for her at the convention for President, but most of them are strong Clinton loyalists and would almost certainly vote for Clinton for VP if she asked. A great many of her current superdelegates would probably jump on board, since they have already stuck with her through the closing bells of the campaign.
4. Again, superdelegates get to make the call. It wouldn't take many. Whatever the number required to nominate is at the convention (we'll know soon enough) would be the magic number. As Beckel points out, Obama's winning margin of 150 or so pledged delegates would be all she would need. In the name of party unity and nominating a ticket that would almost certainly be favored in the fall, I bet Hillary could easily get that many.
If I am the nominee of a party and I want to make sure that I get to name my own VP, I need to win enough pledged delegates to get the nomination outright, so that I truly control the convention. Obama didn't do that. As a consequence, he might have to live with a downticket running mate not of his own choosing.
It would certainly unite the party and be an attractive ticket. It would continue the civics lesson we have all gotten this year about how this sausage making process actually works. It would be a stark reminder to Barack Obama that about half of the party voted for someone else. It would bring we wayward Democrats that are considering voting for Nader or writing in Hillary home to the nominated ticket.
Do I think Hillary would do this? Not likely. Should she? I think so. It would cement her status as a party and leader. She probably will not be nominated for President, but she has earned at least this. Scoff if you will- it's hers for the asking.
Besides, it would have the benefit of allowing all of us to watch Nancy Pelosi driven to apoplexy. Add her to the list of people that I respected before this competition whose behavior has made me very unsure of my status in this party.
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