2000 Redux?: Jewish Running Mate Speculation Abounds
Posted By Adam DickterPolitical Insider: 2000 Redux?: Jewish Running Mate Speculation Abounds
When Al Gore picked Sen. Joe Lieberman for his historic national ticket in 2000, Lieberman said it showed "chutzpah."
This year, chutzpah may be contagious.
All three major presidential candidates have picked up speculation about possible Jewish running mates. In the case of Barack Obama, his recent flirting with New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has political blogs buzzing.
Bloomberg's deputy and chief political soldier Kevin Sheekey, who for years fueled speculation of a White House bid by the mayor, is now feeding the rumor mill about a shared ticket between the Democratic frontrunner and the independent, former Democrat, former Republican mayor.
"I think the mayor is the ultimate swing voter," Sheekey told NY1's Dominic Carter recently, when asked about the ticket scenario. "He is someone who the country is looking at to find out where they will go. He is one of the true independents in the country."
Bloomberg's ability to pump a billion large into the campaign would certainly mitigate many of the minuses, as detailed by the blogger semiotica on the DailyKos: "Obama would still lack someone with strong security credentials, Bloomberg's "home state" is one of the bluest in the country, the problem of electing "two firsts", etc."
In the event the struggling New York Democrat Hillary Clinton gets to choose a running mate, one of the people on her speculative short list is Ed Rendell, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, ex-mayor of Philadelphia and current governor of Pennsylvania, which holds its important primary on April 22.
He's been one of Hillary's strongest boosters and a powerful force in her campaign in the Keystone state, where she has the momentum in polls.
Back in October, the web site Keystone Politics said Rendell has "frequently been mentioned as a possible vice-presidential candidate. That's despite repeated disavowals and claims that he'll wait until his second term expires in 2010 before considering even a Cabinet post." (Saying they don't want the job has become almost de rigueur for people who do.)
Now that another prominent governor close to the Clintons, New Mexico's Bill Richardson, has defected to the Obama camp, Rendell could be looking more attractive, although the ticket would lack geographic balance, and Rendell has no foreign policy bona fides.
Rendell is not widely known to be Jewish, and has not played up his religion in his political career.
"He doesn't back away from being Jewish, but he's never projected that as a major part of his identity," Theodore Hershberg, a professor of public policy and history at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Forward in a recent profile of Rendell, for which the governor declined to comment.
The third prospective Jewish running mate is someone whose Jewish identity is an indelible part of his public persona. Were he to pick Lieberman as his running mate, Republican John McCain would be going back to the future, giving the Connecticut senator and observant Jew another place in the books as the first American in recent history (maybe ever), let alone the first Jew, to run twice for vice president with two different party affiliations (Democrat in 2000, independent in 2008).
Despite his high profile at McCain's side, helping appeal to crossover Democrats and independents, Lieberman keeps saying he'll stay in the Senate. But it's hard to imagine him resisting some arm twisting.
"Lieberman would be a daring choice, no doubt increasing the Jewish vote for the GOP ticket and giving McCain a real shot in Connecticut," says Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's political science department. "The problem might be with the Republican base. Lieberman's views outside foreign policy are traditional Democratic."
Bloomberg, said Sabato, "could solidify New York and the Jewish vote for Obama. If they refuse public financing, Bloomberg could help in that category substantially."
But the positions that make him popular in New York might not fare well elsewhere, Sabato notes. "His gun policy, for example, will be harmful to any chance Obama may have in Southern states."