In Joe Biden’s hand, Tuesday was a piece of stationery with the words “Kamala Harris” on it.
Washington:
Joe Biden’s choice of vice-president has been one of Washington’s best-kept secrets, but a supposedly accidental news release and Biden’s own teasingly posted notes raise hopes that the winner is Kamala Harris.
Speculation about the choice of VP is a board game played every four years in Washington, but this time the stakes are unusually high.
Biden would be 78 when he took office – the longest-serving U.S. president ever – and he hinted he might not be able to run for a second term, making his MP the party’s first candidate for the nomination.
Biden, who leads strongly in the polls against Republican President Donald Trump, also upped the interest factor by stating well in advance that he would only choose one woman. This will only be the third time in US history that a woman has been chosen, although the previous two cases – Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008 – turned out to have lost tickets.
In keeping with his ultra-low profile campaign, Biden has kept a lid on leaks about his intentions.
Media speculation has grown and sunk from big hitters like Senator Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama’s former UN Ambassador Susan Rice to strong late entries like Florida MP Val Demings and war-wounded senator Tammy Duckworth.
Harris has always been in the mix with an impressive resume that includes her own performance in the Senate, her candidacy for the Democratic nomination before giving in to Biden and, in the Black Lives Matter era, the fact that she is black.
On Tuesday, Biden said he would reveal his decision “in the first week of August.”
“I’ll let you know when I do,” he told reporters.
But what if he has already done it?
On Tuesday he was holding a piece of stationery with the words “Kamala Harris” on it.
Below, a series of positive points:
“Hold no grudges” and “a great help in campaigning” and “great respect for her”.
While Biden also carried notes on his other potential VPs, he wasn’t keeping them in a way that allowed – accidentally or not – an AFP photographer and others to have their pictures taken.
– Premature publication –
In addition to the mini-drama, respected news site Politico – accidentally, it said – published a story declaring Harris the winner. It was “placeholder text … posted to the site in error,” said Brad Dayspring, Politico’s vice president of marketing and communications.
The text was quickly withdrawn, but not before leaving a few Washington insiders wide-eyed.
“Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to become his candidate for the 2020 election on August 1, two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, after keeping his pick close to his chest for months,” Politico wrote in the premature newspaper .
He said Biden viewed Harris as “a worthy opponent” in their primary clashes and that she would bring recognition of his name, his years as a California prosecutor and “his skill as a debater” to the ticket.
– Is the game still in progress? –
Of course, it’s possible that Politico really mistakenly published a piece that had been prepared just in case Harris won – a common practice in news agencies.
And it’s possible that Biden’s notes mean nothing other than that he admires Harris. The same points in the notes could, in theory, be used to congratulate her during a speech to announce that he had chosen someone else.
Other candidates, especially Rice, were discussed in the home stretch. Warren, as a huge figure to the left of the Democratic Party, has also remained in the mix.
Harris brings the baggage of everyone who has done so in public life, especially as attorney general in California, where her role as a crime fighter poses challenges among some on the Democratic left.
Still, with her mixed Jamaican and Indian heritage, her proven toughness at work, and the fact that she’s only 55, Harris ticks a lot of Biden’s boxes.
His former spokesman, Ian Sams, said Harris scared Trump.
“He’s bewildered by strong women,” Sams said on Twitter.
But on Tuesday, Harris was applauded by none other than Trump himself.
“I think she would be a good choice, Kamala Harris. She would be a good choice,” he told reporters.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
