It appears from news reports that we are moving into stage 2 of the Biden campaign’s search for a vice-presidential nominee — the vetting process.  Broadly speaking, there are three things that influence the pick of a vice-presidential nominee:  1) vetting (anything that disqualifies a candidate); 2) political consideration; and 3) personal compatibility.

When it comes to vetting, everybody has something that could be used against them by the opposition.  Unless you have been living under a rock, every politician has voted for some bill or worked on some project that some people will not like (or at the very least can be twisted into something unpopular).  I have seen state and local races where ads have been run attacking candidates for using dedicated training funds to attend training programs in vacation-type locations.  (Not surprisingly, groups putting on these trainings tend to choose such locations because they are attractive to potential attendees.)  In short, a candidate does not have to have done something wrong for there to be an attack ad as long as the explanation of why there is nothing wrong takes a lot of time.  The real issue with vetting is not is there something out there, but which fights are the campaign willing to have.   We are likely never going to know which candidates are eliminated because of vetting.

Political considerations are, on the other hand, something that can easily be discussed and debated.  Every presidential candidate has strengths and weaknesses — some demographic, some experience, some political, and some geographic.  For example, the last several successful presidential candidates had minimal federal experience.  In each case, the candidate picked a running mate who had a decent amount of federal experience.  Given Vice-President Biden’s extensive federal experience, he can opt for a candidate with experience at the state level or a relatively short period of service at the federal level. Continue Reading...