In my politics of presidential election class yesterday the topic of vice presidential candidates came into fire. My professor divided us into three groups and assigned us to come up with the "ideal" vice presidential candidates for John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama with respect to age, political views, past political experience, gender, and what ever else we believed to be relevant. After we all revealed our decisions my professor would reveal his "dream teams" for all three potentials. (He's also the head of the political science department so this made all of us poli sci nerds really excited! :-p)
My group was assigned to do John McCain and we decided that the ideal running mate would be someone who is younger (obviously), conservative (he has been criticized for being too moderate in the past), and someone from either the south or northeast (I didn't understand this one so I didn't agree with it - McCain is from Arizona).
The Hillary Clinton group asserted that she should pick a male (to balance out the gender of the ticket), from the south ( Clinton claims that she is a 'New Yorker' despite living in a multitude of places over her lifetime), younger ( Clinton is 61), moderate (an attempt to attract more moderate votes and perhaps appeal to the conservative), and, lastly, someone who has military experience (due to the war issue).
Barack Obama's team believes an older candidate would be better for Obama (he is 46), experienced (Obama has been under fire for lack of experience), male (another female would be too 'dangerous'), military experience (Obama has openly stated that, should he be elected, the war is over), and a governer (because he is a Senator? not too sure about that).
After our lists were openly stated on the board, my professor announced who the 'dream teams' would be; Kay Bailey Hutchinson for McCain, John Edwards for Clinton, and Anthony Zinni for Obama.
My group was assigned to do John McCain and we decided that the ideal running mate would be someone who is younger (obviously), conservative (he has been criticized for being too moderate in the past), and someone from either the south or northeast (I didn't understand this one so I didn't agree with it - McCain is from Arizona).
The Hillary Clinton group asserted that she should pick a male (to balance out the gender of the ticket), from the south ( Clinton claims that she is a 'New Yorker' despite living in a multitude of places over her lifetime), younger ( Clinton is 61), moderate (an attempt to attract more moderate votes and perhaps appeal to the conservative), and, lastly, someone who has military experience (due to the war issue).
Barack Obama's team believes an older candidate would be better for Obama (he is 46), experienced (Obama has been under fire for lack of experience), male (another female would be too 'dangerous'), military experience (Obama has openly stated that, should he be elected, the war is over), and a governer (because he is a Senator? not too sure about that).
After our lists were openly stated on the board, my professor announced who the 'dream teams' would be; Kay Bailey Hutchinson for McCain, John Edwards for Clinton, and Anthony Zinni for Obama.
Hutchinson is a woman senator from Texas who is currently serving her third term. She is "conservative enough" without being extreme in her views. She would certainly help McCain in Texas and also bring in more woman voters (possibly).
Edwards, as we all know, is a man who served one term as a senator for North Carolina. He ran on the presidential ticket with John Kerry in the 2004 election and had an unsuccessful primary showing in this election. Edwards is considered moderate, possibly leaning towards liberal. His track record is less than promising, but he may just be the match that could push Clinton to victory (if she wins the democratic nod).
Zinni is a retired four star general in the United States Marine Corps. Although he has served our country, he has publically stated his disapproval of the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq. He has come out as an Obama supporter and could help his efforts to obtain the military vote.
In this controversial, legendary race we have seen so far vice presidents could turn out to be very important. McCain's age, Hillary's gender, and Obama's inexperience may undermined by choice of running mate. We'll see.. lets get through these crazy primaries first!
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