Kamala / Walz 2024

Bingo.

Honestly this Walz guy might be the first non-Bernie Dem that has me :vince1:

The rest :person_shrugging:, Kamala and Pete included

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I still held out like a 1% chance she could be the surprise pick, but I do think this is definitive enough to fully close the book.

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Yeah, that’s clearly an absolute statement to a question that she very easily could have answered in a wishy-washy manner if there was a part of her that still wanted to be under consideration.

Random question/thought—does pulling yourself out of the Veep stakes make you an asshole? Suppose Harris wanted her and by all accounts she’s an excellent governor in a light blue, bluish purple state, so she’d be an asset to the ticket, perhaps the best possible asset. Doesn’t she have an obligation to run if asked? Especially since democracy is on the line.

It’s not an unfair question if we knew all the facts, but it’s truly impossible to know if this is entirely her choice. People voluntarily publicly declaring that they’re not interested after they’ve been told privately that it’s not happening is something I’m certain we see a lot of.

To the extent that some voters may have desperately wanted her as their #1 choice, I’d rather she be this absolute about her intentions so that people can move on and warm up to the other good choices available.

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No, not in the least. If you don’t want to be VP (or president) then not pulling yourself out of the running would be both irresponsible and morally wrong. Even if you did want that role but didn’t want to sign on to that ticket, i can’t see how you could possibly be obligated. This is not a minor endeavor.

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Remove my name from consideration, thanks

yeah pete as VP, completely unleashed and given the directive to just make this shit his full time priority, let’s do it

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I don’t think anyone is under an obligation to take/apply for a job they don’t want, especially one that comes with as much scrutiny and attention as Veep. I’m not going to judge someone who doesn’t want to put their life under a microscope for months and step away from their important current job where she presumably thinks she is already doing positive work. This is especially true for someone who was already the target of a kidnapping attempt.

If her heart isn’t in it, I’d rather her be an enthusiastic surrogate working hard to win Michigan for the eventual ticket than trying to run a national campaign for an office she doesn’t want.

in the general sense, no, I don’t think one has an obligation to run if asked but in this particular case I think whitmer has already been told “we 100% are not going to run a woman for VP on this ticket”

Pretty obvious tactic would be a “white man has to mansplain for the giggler” response

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let em try that, so far the “she’s a DEI hire” stuff has not moved the needle at all for them and maybe even has backfired some

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Kingmaker? Sounds like it’s down to Walz or Pete. Seems like Kelly has disappeared and Shapiro might have too much baggage. I missed this clip yesterday, but it sounds like Clyburn has warmed up to Pete in the past few years.

https://x.com/holyspacemonkey/status/1817908243802300811

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I’d be happy if this is the state of play, but I’m not sure I can try to read the situation exclusively from who is the most ubiquitous on cable news.

I proceed under the assumption that this is even less efficient than other political markets that at least get informed by hard polling data, but this is the current mood in those:

image

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Please god not Mark Kelly:

image

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Yeah see mark kelly looking like a goblin but not in the jk rowling way is plus for me, not minus. Weird laugh / smeagol 2024.

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I mean if they lean into the Mark Kelly goblin angle I’m in.

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I’m for Walz because he’s got a legislative and governing history, while checking the same media checkbox as Buttigieg, but won’t mind if Buttigeig gets it. From an abstract point of view I want to use the old timers while building up a bench reserve.

Let’s say Buttigieg doesn’t get the VP nod, what would his next steps be? Find a state that’d be open to having him as a Rep or a Senator? Go for another cabinet position?

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I assume that’s what the move to Michigan was about, to relocate to a state he could plausibly win statewide in if that becomes a good option in the future. But if he doesn’t get picked then I’m guessing that’s a backup plan to serving in a cabinet spot in a Harris administration if she wins.

Goblin mode