(no subject)

[sleigh]

The Votemaster gave an interesting breakdown of Clinton's advantages and disadvantages as Veep today. Here's the breakdown:

Hillary Clinton's Strengths as Veep Candidate

* She got 18 million votes in the primaries. That ain't chicken feed
* Her presence on the ticket will instantly unify the Democratic party
* She will attract millions of women voters who might not otherwise vote
* She will help enormously with Joe Lunchbucket and his blue collar friends
* She is a plausible commander in chief; more so than the candidate, actually
* She's a great attack dog; she'll bite McCain on the ankle and hang on tight for 5 months
* She knows more about policy and governing than practically everyone in Washington

Hillary Clinton's Weaknesses as Veep Candidate

* She will insist on being co-President (like Dick Cheney)
* Bill will also insist on being co-President
* She doesn't bring in any new state
* She will cause every last Clinton hater to come out and vote, even those who are neutral on Obama
* She represents the "old Washington" Obama has campaigned against so well
* Many Obama supporters now hate her due to the way she campaigned
* She may unify the Democrats but she won't bring in any Republican voters

BTW, if you're not familiar with electoral-vote.com (I became familiar with the site back during the '04 race), you should check it out -- some interesting and in-depth analysis of the race.

Comments

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Add to the negatives: She has supporters who don't know when to STFU and let the decision maker make the decisions. Yes, I'm talking about you, Senator Schumer (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080606/ap_on_el_pr/clinton).

She also

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Forces all of her supporters to drink a totally different brand of Kool-Aid than Obama's.

Re: She also

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

A completely tangential bit of pedantry... I recently read an article where I found out that the people of Jones' Temple in Guyana drank the brand Flavor Aid, not Kool-Aid. Naturally no one says that, but... it's interesting to know. :-)

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the Independent vote. Obama stands to get a hefty chunk. If the Clintons are on the ticket (yes, I believe it will be a joint venture and you are *so* right about the co-presidency issue) a lot of us will stay home.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why people who would vote for Obama would stay home if Hillary is his runningmate. Would they rather see McCain in the White House than Hillary in the #2 seat? To anyone who says, "Yes," please explain, because the whole notion sounds like reactionary silliness to me.

This list left off the #1 reason Hillary's a good choice: it may increase Obama's life span. Anyone who hates Obama enough to want to kill him hates Hillary more.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

I've been saying for a while now that I think Hillary being on the ticket would nullify Obama's message of "not politics as usual" and would be a serious mistake. I think the female vote is likely to go the Democrats way even without Hillary if the campaign reminds voters of the Supreme Court vacancies likely to occur in the next term and the danger to Roe v Wade.

barbarienne asks why people who would vote for Obama would stay home if Hillary is his runningmate. Would they rather see McCain in the White House than Hillary in the #2 seat? The answer in my view is that many of the people who were energized by Obama do not usually vote but saw in Obama a candidate who was different from the usual boring out-of-touch politician. If he picks Hillary, some are likely to feel betrayed because they'll perceive that he's made the same type of deal that politicians always make. Then they'll go back into their cynical "They're all the same" cave and not vote at all.

[greenmtnboy18.livejournal.com]

Given who she is, I'm not sure the second weakness is a real concern. At least not for me.

I'm also not convinced Republicans would vote for Obama without her on the ticket.

But then, I've never understood the concept of *making up your mind* on who to vote for, between the Democrats and the Republicans. *blink* The number of people who actually move back and forth between the parties astounds me.

(I do believe that the two major parties have more in common than they have different, when it comes to overall policy and governing --both parties are embedded in the nationalistic / capitalism-IS-democracy / military industrial complex / America-is-a-Christian-country mindset. But the differences that do exist, from some budgeting priorities to social politics, seem so distinct that I get confused when people who support a Democratic social policy platform vote Republican.)

Either way, I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. For me. I've been hoping in that direction for some time. I wish they'd been able to come to some kind of agreement earlier on, with less weirdness in the campaign.