By Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu
‘They don’t have the money’
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It’s about to happen. We think.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, spent his weekend edging toward a decision on his running mate, with his party’s virtual convention looming next week.
Everyone who has spent weeks speculating on who Biden’s pick for vice president might be, who is in the running and who is out doesn’t really have a clue. If Biden has already settled on a name, he hasn’t let on to anyone but that person or his deepest inner circle. And they’re not talking either.
Choosing a vice presidential nominee is one of the most important choices a would-be President will make, as we wrote last week. And the vice president in a Biden administration might be especially influential. There are multiple candidates who fit his criteria of someone ready to be President, including the one thing we know for sure: that Biden will pick a woman.
So with the proviso that we will only know the identify of his number two when Biden makes it official, here are some possible candidates.
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Kamala Harris
The California Senator has a winning personality, rapier debating skills (as Biden knows to his cost) and is a Democratic rising star. Her own misfiring presidential campaign however flattened her political trajectory somewhat, and her past as a prosecutor could be a gold mine for opposition researchers.
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Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan’s governor is in the throes of a battle against the pandemic, and might not want to walk away from her job. But that experience makes her ideally suited to give testimony to President Donald Trump’s disastrous handling of the virus. She also won her job in a backlash against Trump in the same long-time Democratic state that he shockingly won in 2016.
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Susan Rice
Rice would know exactly where the light switches are if she walks into the White House shortly after a Biden inauguration on January 20. (She was also the overwhelming favorite among Meanwhile readers who wrote with their VP picks last week.) As the former national security adviser in the Obama administration, Rice would also be a lightning rod. Expect Republicans to revive controversies and pseudo scandals over the Obama team’s handling of the Russia investigation and Benghazi if she’s the pick.
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Elizabeth Warren
Biden could signal he plans an ambitious, liberal economic agenda to revive America post-coronavirus if he picks the Massachusetts senator. That would delight the Democratic Party’s left flank — but offer a juicy target for Trump. Another risk to picking Warren: the Bay State’s Republican governor would get to nominate a new senator.
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Karen Bass
A couple of weeks ago, the California lawmaker was the talk of the town. Bass is a popular, smart potential pick, a political veteran who has done deals with Republicans and whose experience as the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus could help drive up crucial African American turnout in big swing state cities like Philadelphia, Detroit and Charlotte. But Bass has faced a searing examination on past positions on issues like Cuba and Scientology, and may now be seen as a risk.
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Tammy Duckworth
One reason why the Illinois senator is seen as a serious pick is because of the enemies she’s made. Fox News’s biggest star Tucker Carlson publicly attacked her patriotism recently, despite the fact she’s already a national hero, having lost both legs when the Army helicopter she was piloting was attacked by insurgents in Iraq. Duckworth, the first senator to give birth while in office, is seen as center left and may be a good ideological fit with Biden.
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Gina Raimondo
Rhode Island has weathered the pandemic well, and Gov. Raimondo’s sharp television appearances highlighted her competence as an executive. But unless she’s forged a strong bond with her fellow centrist Biden, she doesn’t add ideological or geographic value to the ticket.
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Val Demings
The Florida lawmaker was one of the impeachment managers charged with making the case against Trump earlier this year. She has endured a torrent of negative attention over her previous job as the chief of police in Orlando. Demings may appeal to Biden if he’s looking for a candidate without much of a national political power base, who might already be mulling the 2024 nomination.
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Michelle Lujan Grisham
The governor of New Mexico has successfully kept a lid on the coronavirus, and as a Latina, would represent a strong attempt by Biden to court another critical Democratic constituency, Hispanic voters. Her candidacy could be valuable given that Arizona is now considered a swing state and even deeply Republican Texas is said by some pundits to be in play.
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Keisha Lance Bottoms
The mayor of Atlanta has become a national figure and one of America’s most prominent Black politicians through sparring with Georgia’s pro-Trump governor over his impatience to reopen the state’s economy. But her relative inexperience may mean she’s not yet seen as a potential vice president.
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Tammy Baldwin
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The Wisconsin senator would become the first openly gay vice presidential nominee in history and would add some historic potential to Biden’s ticket. She’s also from a state Trump probably needs to win again if he’s to hold onto the White Hou
And a city in New Zealand keeps an official wizard on its payroll.
Meanwhile, America topped 5 million coronavirus cases.
US spy agencies have an idea what Iran, China and Russia want from the 2020 presidential election.
And North Carolina researchers found that certain face masks may actually increase the number of respiratory droplets you exhale.
Ride or die
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Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to fill the city of Sturgis, South Dakota, for the 80th Annual City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. All-American drag racing, music and other festivities will stretch through the coming week — so far, photos and footage suggest that masks and social distancing aren’t the utmost priority for these crowds.
‘They don’t have the money’
After lawmakers failed to agree on a new stimulus bill for America’s sinking economy last week, Trump took it upon himself to issue an executive action that offers an additional $400/month unemployment benefit — with a catch. States must agree to provide a quarter of the funds; if they can’t, their residents won’t get anything. Whether or not states have the money to do that was the subject of debate Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Our estimates from the Treasury Department in terms of the CARES Act one was that states have not spent all the money that was allocated to them,” White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told CNN’s Dana Bash, referring to the sweeping stimulus package Congress passed in March. He said the White House expects states to use what he described as that “considerable overflow” of previous stimulus funding to pay for the unemployment benefit.
But some experts say states will not be able to use those funds for this unemployment aid, and House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Bash that many states are already short of funds due to the pandemic. “First of all (Kudlow) is saying states have the money. No, they don’t,” Pelosi said. “They have expenses from the coronavirus. They have lost revenue. Because of that they are firing heath care workers, first responders, and the rest…Because they don’t have the money.”
Do you miss American tourists?
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As we wrote last week, the US has lifted its blanket travel caution for Americans, and is instead issuing specific warnings for individual countries — though that’ll do little to change the fact US travelers aren’t widely welcome right now, due to the high prevalence of Covid-19 in the country. We asked Meanwhile readers if you were missing American tourists. Here are some of the responses:
Cynical Angelo in Dubai wrote that if more people around the world were honest, “they would say that the world misses American tourists’ dollars, and relatively high spending attitude.”
Mike in New Zealand grumbled that he was missing American tourists “like a hole in the head.” “Arrogant, insensitive and inconsiderate on the whole. Follow the rules, guys – stay home, wear a mask, keep your distance and wash your dirty hands!” he wrote. “No, but I’m missing being able to be a tourist in America,” chimed in his fellow New Zealander Rex.
But the majority of respondents had kind words for the millions of Americans now stuck at home for the foreseeable future.
“Covid-19 showed us that beauty is worthless without visitors to share it with,” wrote Stefano in Florence. “We happily anticipate bracing for the crowds that can’t wait to get back to “La Dolce Vita.”
To the East, Marketa wrote, “Yes, I do miss American tourists in Prague (Czechia). They are usually friendly and it is easy to communicate with them. Generally they are not trouble makers 👍 Hope they will come back soon. Without them it is boring here.”
“Of course YES we miss our American friends and visitors,” wrote Francoise from France. “The Versailles Castle is empty. Nobody is in the street where I can practice my English. For me, I do not care about the dollars they are supposed to bring — it does not go into my pocket — but I do miss the pleasure of meeting them and sometime helping them when they are lost.”
Compatriot Donna said she did too. “We live near a beautiful, ancient city in the South (of France).. so we usually see them, especially in summer. But not this year of course. I enjoy hearing the accents …and generally, I like to start up a chat. I like to know where they’re from, and I want people to enjoy their journey… Most people who decide to ‘hop a plane into another culture’ are quite courageous & interesting!”
And several Canadians responded with their famous niceness, like Judy, who wrote: “I live in Victoria, BC. Tourism in general and American tourists in particular are usually a driving force in our local economy but not this year. And though most of us are solidly behind keeping the border closed for the foreseeable future, we do miss you guys. And we see the COVID-19 figures in your country and we worry about you!”
“Americans are always welcome on Gran Canary Islands,” added Rita (though Spanish border and customs agents may not feel the same way.)
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It’s not just the bikers of Sturgis who want everyone to know they love the open road. After perhaps one too many videos from his dimly lit basement, and amid a Trump campaign to paint Biden as weak, the former Vice President put out a new video ostensibly about the auto industry — but mostly about his classic Corvette.
Source:CNN
