Several months ago I came up with a theory on who Barack Obama would select as his runningmate and the subsequent domino effect it would have on the political enviornment here in Virginia. Nobody really paid attention at the time, but that’s OK because I’m just some stupid blogger.
But now Dan Conley has surfaced over at RaisingKaine with the same exact theory himself. Dan was once a speechwriter for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (a huge Obama supporter) and then Gov. Douglas Wilder.
I think Webb is going to be the choice. The main barrier to his pick will be getting Kaine’s okay … because Obama owes Kaine big time for the early endorsement. But I think Gov. Kaine will be fine with it.
Gov. Kaine has publically given the thumbs-up when he was asked about the possiblity of an Obama-Webb ticket.
If Obama/Webb wins, the Senate seat opens up. Now, it’s a tricky situation … Gov. Kaine will have to appoint someone, but then there will be a special election in 2010 … and then a regular senate election in 2012. Kaine’s gubernatorial term expires Jan 2010, so my guess is that he would rather finish out his term than jump to the Senate in 2009 … Virginians don’t like their governors messing around with their one term in office.
And a good many people won’t be too happy with the prospect of a Gov. Bill Bolling either.
But if Kaine wants to run in 2010, he’ll need to appoint someone who will promise to step aside. The perfect person to serve as a two-year fill in is Doug Wilder, capping his career with a two-year stint as a U.S. Senator.
As a a former Governor, Lt. Governor, and State Senator, Mayor Wilder is more than qualified to serve as a U.S. Senator. He’s getting up there in years, so a relatively short stint in the Senate would probably be fine by him. And if he wanted to serve a little longer? Say until 2012? There will always be a place in an Obama administration for Tim Kaine.
Filed under: Local Politics
Interesting idea. And who wouldn’t like to see the Commonwealth represented in the U.S. Senate by its first African-American governor.
However, I wonder how difficult it would be to get Gov. Wilder to keep his inner-Doug in check. This is not a guy used to taking orders from anyone - and - there are no guarantees that he would follow the Senate Caucus play-book.
But, then again, maybe that wouldn’t be too terrible…
Not unthinkable, to be sure. Obama will have to balance the need to have a Governor-type (Sebelius?) with the need to augment his National Security credibility, which is where Webb comes in. The last time the Democrats ran a two-Senator ticket it turned out OK, but then Richard Daley was mayor of Chicago…hmmm, Richard Daley is still mayor of Chicago…