This isn’t a headline that fills the Democratic grassroots with confidence: Democratic donors funding an effort to vet potential VP candidates. Maybe major donors should get behind what voters want instead. If that were the case, we wouldn’t win up with unpopular politicians— like Biden… and Kamala— dragging us into untenable positions. Instead, though, “Major Democratic donors are funding a preliminary vetting process for potential vice-presidential nominees should President Biden exit the race, according to four people familiar with the process, suggesting that influential figures in the party are growing increasingly restless and concerned about the time remaining to mount a national campaign.” All 5 candidates they’re looking at are establishment candidates from the right-of-center, AIPAC-friendly end of the party: Josh Shapiro (PA), Andy Beshear (KY), Roy Cooper (NC), Gretchen Whitmer (MI) and Mark Kelly (AZ). Obviously no Bernie, but also no Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Jamie Raskin (MD), AOC (NY)…
Define “Democrats” in this sentence: “Vetting potential vice-presidential candidates usually takes months, so the group of donors, who have not been identified, decided to begin that process earlier this month. If Biden drops out, many Democrats think Vice President Harris would become the front-runner to replace him, and should she secure the nomination, she would have to select a running mate under a compressed timeline to ensure the Democratic ticket meets all state ballot deadlines.”
Meanwhile, back among those interested in finding a replacement for Biden, here’s the memo— Blitz Primary. “If President Biden chooses not to run for another term,” the authors begin, “the Democratic Party will need to quickly and decisively lay out a process to select its new nominee. A consensus is fastbuilding that this unprecedented challenge can be turned into an unprecedented opportunity for the Party and the country. The purpose of this memo is to show how, providing a menu to decision makers of the most compelling— and, critically, practical— options for the Party’s first-ever special primary. First, there is the question of anointing Vice President Harris or inviting her into an open process. While there are convincing opinions on both sides of this, our conclusion after weeks of consideration and study is that anointment would set her and the Party up to fail. She may well be the best alternative, but she will be vastly stronger if she wins the nomination. If Vice President Harris stands next to several other inspiring leaders and dazzles the country— emerging not just among Party elites, but among the general public as someone worth being wild about, not just the “less bad” option— she will be set up for exponentially more success in the General Election and her first term. Democratic Party members will be effectively disenfranchised if Harris is simply anointed as the sole alternative to Biden. While President Biden was correct to note recently that 87+ percent of Democrats voted for him in the primary, none voted for Kamala Harris to be the Presidential nominee.”
The authors claim that it is even more important to keep in mind that, “anointing Harris would cause the Party to miss a remarkable opportunity to capture the nation’s imagination between now and the Convention. If handled badly, the new process will reinforce America’s cynicism and fatigue. But if we offer an inventive and inclusive nominating process, we have an opportunity to reinvigorate the Party and draw in millions of disengaged voters. America is hungry, even desperate, for a wholesale reset of this election. We can flip the script, create suspense, showcase the Democratic Party’s energy and talent, and suck much of the oxygen out of the Trump campaign.”
It gets pretty wild after that. For example one of the options offered to introduce the candidates to the public, hands the process over, not just to conservatives but to actual Republicans! They recommend “Televised forums (1-2 times per week until the convention). Illustrative, non-exhaustive list of potential moderators and topics:
● Oprah Winfrey: Personal Journeys— and Your Big Dreams for America
● Mr. Beast, Zendaya: America’s Future... and Issues Facing Youth
● Bernice King, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes: Faith, Character, Service, and Leadership
● Lin-Manuel Miranda, Henry Louis Gates, Doris Kearns Goodwin: Lessons You Draw from American History
● Tim McGraw, Common, and Yo-Yo Ma: American Arts & Culture... and Your Human Side
● Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, Gen. Stanley McChrystal: National Security in the 21st Century
● Kara Swisher, Reed Hastings: Technology, Innovation, and the Next American Century
● Michelle Obama, Liz Cheney, Ben Sasse: Bringing America Together
They offer other options; I just thought that was the… funniest. In conclusion, they note that “Much like American democracy, the Democratic Party is in crisis. If President Biden remains at the top of the ticket, or if Vice President Harris is anointed as his chosen successor, we won’t flip the script between now and the election— and we instead risk limping toward near-certain defeat. We all know that Donald Trump will exploit every vulnerability in his opponent for his own gain. While on first blush, an open primary seems as if it could expose new vulnerabilities by inviting internal competition and debate instead of immediate party unity in the event of President Biden dropping out, that unity would be feigned at its best— and allowing a well-managed competition would only project inner strength and self-confidence. By contrast, a nominee who is viewed as never having earned her own party’s endorsement is inherently weak. If we have one message in these high-stakes days less than one month out from the convention, it is that it’s still not too late to turn this crisis into a historic opportunity for the party and the nation— at least not yet.”
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