Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection, 2008

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2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama (left) chose Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden Obama.jpg
2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama (left) chose Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

This article lists individuals who were potential Democratic Party candidates for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 presidential election. After Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee on June 3, 2008, [1] Obama formed a small committee, made up of James A. Johnson (who stepped down after one week), [2] Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy, to help him select a running mate. [3] [4] [5] Veteran Democratic lawyer and advisor James "Jim" Hamilton, of the firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, later replaced Johnson in vetting candidates. [6]

Democratic Party (United States) political party in the United States

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.

Vice President of the United States Second highest executive office in United States

The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the President of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The Vice President is also an officer in the legislative branch, as President of the Senate. In this capacity, the Vice President presides over Senate deliberations, but may not vote except to cast a tie-breaking vote. The Vice President also presides over joint sessions of Congress.

Barack Obama 44th president of the United States

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008.

Contents

Obama strongly considered choosing Senator Evan Bayh and governors Tim Kaine and Kathleen Sebelius, but Obama ultimately decided to select Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. The Obama-Biden ticket won the 2008 presidential election, defeating the Republican McCain-Palin ticket.

Evan Bayh American politician

Birch Evans Bayh III is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and politician of the Democratic Party who served as the junior United States Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.

Tim Kaine United States Senator from Virginia

Timothy Michael Kaine is an American attorney and politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010. Kaine was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election.

Kathleen Sebelius American politician

Kathleen Sebelius is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 21st United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. Previously, she was the 44th Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the second woman to hold that office. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Sebelius was the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address and is chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors Association. On April 10, 2014, Sebelius announced her resignation as Secretary of Health and Human Services. She is CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC.

Short list candidates

Media near where Joe Biden was residing during speculation that he may be the Democratic nominee for Vice President. Media Outside Joe Biden's House Prior VP Announcement 2.jpg
Media near where Joe Biden was residing during speculation that he may be the Democratic nominee for Vice President.

Various news sources had listed persons thought to be on Senator Obama's short list for Vice President.

Joe Biden 47th Vice President of the United States

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who served as the 47th vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009.

Bill Richardson politician and governor from the United States

William Blaine Richardson III is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration and has also served as a U.S. Congressman, chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

Chris Dodd American lawyer and U.S. Senator from Connecticut

Christopher John Dodd is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut for a thirty-year period from 1981 to 2011.

In the final days leading up to the Democratic National Convention, four individuals were left on Obama's final list for Vice President: Joe Biden, Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine, and Kathleen Sebelius. [9]

On August 22, the eve of Obama's scheduled unveiling of his running mate, NBC News reported that Bayh and Kaine had been informed that they were not chosen. [10] Last minute controversy emerged as it was learned that Senator Hillary Clinton was never vetted for the position, when it was earlier thought that Sen. Barack Obama would consider her as he previously stated in various private and public reports. [11] This led to several questions as to whether Clinton supporters would feel betrayed and would defuse the intensity in "dream ticket" scenarios.

NBC News news division of the American broadcast network NBC

NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Broadcast, Cable, Sports and News, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, in turn a subsidiary of Comcast. The group's various operations report to the president of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim.

Hillary Clinton American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is an American politician, diplomat, lawyer, writer, and public speaker. She served as the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, U.S. Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and as the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election, the first woman nominated by a major party.

That night, ABC News reported that the U.S. Secret Service had assumed protection of Biden, which was seen as a sign that he had been chosen as Obama's running mate. [12] Just hours later, the Associated Press broke the news that Democratic Party officials had confided that Obama had in fact selected Biden as the vice-presidential nominee. [13]

ABC News News division of the American Broadcasting Company

ABC News is the news division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), owned by the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ABC World News Tonight with David Muir; other programs include morning news-talk show Good Morning America, newsmagazine series Nightline, Primetime and 20/20, and Sunday morning political affairs program This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

United States Secret Service secret service

The United States Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting the nation's leaders. Until 2003, the Secret Service was part of the Department of the Treasury, as the agency was originally founded to combat the then-widespread counterfeiting of US currency.

Associated Press American multinational nonprofit news agency

The Associated Press (AP) is a U.S.-based not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. Its members are U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. Its Statement of News Values and Principles spells out its standards and practices.

Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe later wrote in his book The Audacity to Win, which was published in November 2009, that Bayh had been a "coin toss" away from becoming Obama's running mate. Plouffe and David Axelrod had interviewed the finalists and Plouffe said that Bayh's answers were "substantively close to perfect, if cautiously so." He recalled that at the time of the interview he thought to himself, "there's no way this guy will color outside the lines... Bayh's up side and down side are probably the closest spread of the three", compared to Biden, who could "reach higher heights but could cause us real pain." As Obama approached a decision, he told Plouffe "it's a coin toss now between Bayh and Biden, but Kaine is still a distinct possibility." On August 17, Obama told Axelrod simply, "I've decided. It's Biden." [14] [15]

Announcement

On August 23, 2008, via text message, the Obama campaign announced that the then-presumptive Democratic nominee chose Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. [16]

Initial candidates

Contenders for 2008 presidential nomination

Governors

Senators

Other political figures

Denied interest

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "RealClearPolitics - 2008 Elections - Democratic Delegate Count". Realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  2. ↑ John Broder (2008-06-12). "Obama Aide Quits Under Fire for His Business Ties". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  3. ↑ "vice president - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com". Thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  4. ↑ "Obama Picks Caroline Kennedy, 2 Others for VP Search (Update2)". Bloomberg. 2008-06-04.
  5. ↑ See "Obama VP Vetter Tied to Controversial Mortgage Crisis", http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/06/obama-vp-vetter.html?loc=interstitialskip%5B%5D, USA Today, 9 June 2008
  6. ↑ Freed, Benjamin. "Meet the DC Lawyer Helping Hillary Clinton Pick a Running Mate", Washingtonian, June 20, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Barrett, Ted (June 10, 2008). "Obama VP team discusses 20 possible picks". CNN . Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kane, Murray, Paul, Shailagh (June 10, 2008). "The '08 Veep Tour Begins". Washington Post . Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  9. 1 2 Jeff Zeleny And Jim Rutenberg (August 23, 2008). "In Obama’s Choice, a ‘Very Personal Decision’ - NYTimes.com". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  10. ↑ "Sources: Bayh, Kaine out of Obama VP race - Barack Obama News - MSNBC.com". Msnbc.msn.com. August 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  11. ↑ Mike Allen. "Hillary gets stiffed - Politico.com Print View". Dyn.politico.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-04. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  12. ↑ Time, CNN, NYT (August 22, 2008). "Political Punch". Blogs.abcnews.com. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  13. ↑ "McCain taps Alaska governor for VP - Yahoo! News". News.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  14. ↑ "Bayh was about a 'coin toss' away from being veep, book says". IndyStar.com. November 1, 2009. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Sen. Bayh lost 'coin toss' for VP slot – Legislative notebook". Evansville Courier & Press. November 1, 2009. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In | Share your personal welcome note". My.barackobama.com. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  17. ↑ "Obama's VP Short List". Zimbio. July 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  18. ↑ McCaffrey, Shannon (June 3, 2008). "Sam Nunn: If asked, I'd consider being vice president". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  19. ↑ Smith, Ben (June 24, 2008). "Pelosi floats Edwards". Politico . Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  20. ↑ Hemmer, Bill (March 28, 2008). "Is Gore-Obama Ticket a Possibility?". Fox News . Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  21. ↑ Wright, David (February 26, 2008). "Dodd Endorses Obama, Rules Out Veepstakes". ABC News . Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  22. ↑ Rhee, Foon (May 17, 2008). "Edwards rules out possibility of vice-presidential run with Obama". Boston Globe . Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  23. ↑ Montanaro, Domenico, Murray, Mark, Todd, Chuck (June 11, 2008). "Veepstakes: Strick says no thanks". MSNBC . Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  24. ↑ Kumar, Anita, Craig, Tim (June 15, 2008). "Mark Warner Rejects VP Talk, Wants Senate Seat". Washington Post . Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  25. ↑ "The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME". Thepage.time.com. July 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  26. ↑ Broder, John M. (2008-07-07). "In Case You Ask: Webb Declines Veep Role". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
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