Indiana

Baywatch or Biden Time

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I?m keeping an eye on the Barack Obama campaign today.  They?re expected to announce Barack?s VP in the next couple of days.  They’ve rented space at the Old State Capitol in my other home of Springfield for a Saturday announcement.   John McCain reportedly will announce his VP on Aug. 29. 

Although a lot of people around this state are looking at Senator Evan Bayh,  I tend to lean more towards Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.  I leaned more towards Bayh prior to the conflict between Russian and Georgia and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf being run out of Islamabad on a rail.  Both events highlight the need to have someone with strong foreign policy credentials under his belt.  Biden fits that better than Bayh.

In addition, by picking Bayh Democrats would have to spend a lot more money in Indiana to ensure that Jill Long Thompson becomes Governor.  Because if Bayh goes to the Washington his seat becomes vacant and whoever is Governor gets to pick his replacement.  I can see Democrats spending money to make Indiana competitive, but not that much money.

Although if Barack really wanted someone with the right mix of foreign and domestic experience, he would have picked New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.  Richardson is a former U.N. Ambassador, Secretary of Energy and Congressman.  The only negative against him is that he is Hispanic and having a Black and a Hispanic at the top of the ticket might be too much change for some people.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on August 20, 2008 (boomark / email).