Who should be the nominee for vice president?

Democrats are giddy and hopeful. 

Kamala Harris isn't just new. She is catching on.

Democrats now dare to look ahead. They are asking each other, "Who should be the choice for vice president?"

Democrats passed the torch. They aren't clear what Harris stands for yet because she hasn't defined herself within the Democratic spectrum that reaches from Bernie Sanders and AOC to Joe Manchin. No matter. It is enough that she appears electable and might save the country from a man who plotted to overthrow an election to stay in office, nearly succeeded, said he would do it again, and chose a vice president who said he would help him do it.

Meanwhile, Republicans are stuck with a candidate that 55% of Americans loathe. 

Since there was no primary, Democrats did not divide into irreconcilable camps fighting about climate, Israel-Palestine, peace, health care, immigration, and taxes. Those issues rumble under the surface. Potential vice presidents are more than Hollywood central casting criteria. They will have baggage based on who they excite and disappoint. 

Josh Shapiro

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro looks perfect from a central casting point of view. He's a straight White male governor of a blue-wall state. He might calm the nerves of people uncomfortable with a dark-skinned biracial female president. He might not be sufficiently anti-fossil fuel to please climate progressives; there is fracking in Pennsylvania. He is Jewish. That will reassure some Democrats but will worry others. Will he be too uncritical of Israel's handling of the Palestinian population? Progressives, led by teachers' unions, made organized protests opposing Shapiro. Shapiro has supported school vouchers. He is 51.

 Mark Kelly

Mark Kelly is a former astronaut and is married to assassination-attempt victim Gabby Giffords. He is a popular Arizona U.S. senator. He would bring some border-state credibility to the promise that a Harris administration would deal with immigration. Arizona is a battleground state, which is good. Less good is that Kelly made organized labor unhappy because he opposed rules that would have declared some "independent contractors" to be "employees." His manner has been mild and moderate, and he would be a reluctant "attack dog." He is 60. 

Tim Walz

I had never heard of Tim Walz until this week. He is the governor of Minnesota and a former six-term U.S representative from a red district. He won anyway. He had an NRA endorsement. He shifted left when he became governor. His presence would signal Harris wants to include rural, traditional, Midwest-nice values and style in her presidency. Politico headlined that he had "Midwest grit, the Midwest sensibility." The Wall Street Journal says:

Known for his folksy dress and manner, Walz likely would help Harris the most in battleground Wisconsin because he is already well-known in western portions of that state that share media markets with Minnesota. He might also play well in battleground Michigan—one-third of the “blue wall,” along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, seen as crucial to Harris’s hopes in November.

Progressives who oppose Shapiro are urging her to choose Walz. He is 60.

Pete Buttigieg

Donald Trump has shown Americans the appeal of a courageous defy-conventional-wisdom approach to politics. A VP choice that would create the most astonishment, the most electrifying buzz, is Pete Buttigieg. He has been nationally vetted from his campaign four years ago. Trump's sexual history probably inoculates Buttigieg from sexual scolds on the Christian right; homophobes weren't going to vote Democratic anyway. Buttigieg brings to the table something that has been missing since Obama left office, an articulate centrist Democratic spokesperson who can take the argument to Fox. Biden couldn't. Harris may well be able to. Buttigieg already is and looks great doing so. He is young enough that he may not frighten Harris into thinking she has to muzzle him. He will get his turn to be president, and in the meantime he can take the message to middle America.

There is a school of thought that American elections have become a contest of TV excitement. Of buzz, not policy. Trump's power comes because he dominates public attention. He is a shock-jock, a provocateur. Trump is getting old and erratic and so is the Trump schtick. 

I think the matchup Trump fears the most is a Harris-Buttigieg ticket. They would upstage Trump. We've seen the Trump show. 

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