Well, some people are speculating about a Obama / Clinton ticket. I suppose the worry would be that rather than combining their strengths in a complimentary way the ticket would actually combine their weaknesses.

I suppose the worry would be that rather than combining their strengths in a complimentary way the ticket would actually combine their weaknesses.
~ jim jay

Which is why that won’t happen. Also, I think the Obama/Clinton battle will be too bloody with too many points scored against each other for a make-up to occur.

Obama has oft talked about uniting Democrats and Republicans and healing the wounds in the American political psyche. Would he pick a moderate GOPer?

Obama/Biden makes the most sense.

Obama would be unwise to offer the VP spot to Clinton and she would be unwise to accept. Obama has to be master in his own house – not easy with a figure of Clinton’s stature as VP and Bill hanging around in the wings. What’s more he would compromise his ability to reach out to the centre if he put Hillary as VP.

Hillary wouldn’t accept because VP doesn’t offer her anything; given her national profile at the moment, being VP might be a step backwards; and she already knows what national administration looks like first hand. If she loses the nomination this time, and Obama gets tanked, then she has a good shot at the nomination in 2012.

If Hillary is the nominee, then Obama as VP might be a dream ticket: Hillary adds some magic to her campaign, and Barack has a lot of options for the future – he won’t be too old in 2016.

Jesus, 2016 seems like it’s from a Sci-Fi story… and yet it’s just a two-term presidency away.

2012 for Clinton, wont she be like 80 by then?!

Obama-Kucinich would be perfect.

I’m sorry if this comes off as a bit condescending, but I don’t think anyone who has watched this campaign moderately closely would think that there’s any chance that there would be an Obama-Clinton ticket with Obama as the leading candidate. For one, he has used the divisiveness that the Clintons represent as something he separates himself from. Why would he want to bring one of Hillary’s biggest weaknesses, her inability to win anyone from the other side, into his campaign for a general election were he to be the nominee? I guess I could fathom her having him along for the ride were she the nominee, but there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that it would happen if he wins the primaries .

And yes, Obama-Kucinich would be the ideal ticket! Of course it’ll never happen. Had Kucinich never talked about UFO’s it might have been an incredibly doubtful, but fun to think of possibility. With the UFO comment there’s simply no way anymore (if there ever were in the first place).

I agree with O – Kucinich ruled himself out of the game with that silly UFO discussion, though Huckabee doesn’t believe in evolution, which is potentially more scary.

Richardson is ok I guess, but he doesn’t have the gravitas for me.

Obama / Clinton has no hope in hell of happening.

You never know, Obama may opt for John Kerry, who is still in the background and tirelessly working to keep himself noticed. There are plenty of Democrats who still like him (I don’t) and he would also bring in the old-school Democrat base effectively killing off all opposition.

But I still like Obama/Edwards – simply because I think the whole ‘experience’ issue is being overplayed. It hasn’t won any of the candidates any extra votes – so voters are not convinced.

And what has Clinton suggested from her decades of experience that suggests she has more of a handle on things than Obama? during the debates yesterday all the Dem candidates essentially ended up agreeing with Obama’s original assrtion that he would take out Bin Laden if he had the intelligence, even if in Pakistan. Clinton agreed, even though she attacked him from being naive for suggesting it the first time around!

The woman with experience has no original ideas – what is the use of all that experience?

Biden is not widely seen as a serious political leader, and therefore would be a bad VP candidate. Richardson lacks star power, rightly or wrongly. I don’t think “I’m the candidate of experience” will sell as a slogan anyway (Clinton based her campaign in Iowa on it, and lost). Edwards is the logical choice, he balances the ticket, and he can speak to “old” Democrat audiences in the same way that Obama speaks to new people.

Besides, my reckoning is that – if Obama is the nominee – that ticket is already inevitable.

I’ve seen at least a couple of blog posts saying that Jim Webb is the natural running mate for Obama.

He’s a former military man. He was also Secretary of the Navy. Apart from that he’s economically populist and is a firm critic of Iraq. Most importantly he’s Southern.

Shariq,

Webb would be an excellent choice. The GOP couldn’t make the election about Iraq if Webb was on the ticket (be wary, the Republican’s still see milage in events in the ME, especially if McCain’s running). Webb loves talking about that mess!

I agree with Chris – even assuming Clinton and Obama can both pull back from their criticisms of each other, I doubt she’d want to be number two in the White House. Again. And not a great idea for him to have such thwarted ambition at the bottom of the ticket.

Might she, though, be open to a job like State or Defense under him?

Conversely, though, he might make a pretty good veep for her. Decent career move for him whether or not she won.

Mike Bloomberg would make an excellent President!

Obama/Richardson

Richardson sounds good to me. Alan’s right that “I’m the candidate of experience” won’t sell on its own, but I don’t think in this instance that’s important. Richardson will provide a solid, proven complement to Obama’s star power and panache (but lack of experience).