The basic theory is “He’s not Trump”. And he’ll have the optics of a minority (and female!) running mate.
yes much thanks…
why the delay in announcing a running mate? problems with certain groups who advise him?
I suspect it is because he limited his options early on, and is having trouble finding one that is acceptable.
This thread goes back to the debates. Do you recall how Kamala lit into Vice President Biden then? More recently she has refused to apologize and claims to have no remorse. This has to have left Biden with a bad taste in his mouth. He has other options.
Susan Rice is compatible with the Vice President in a great many respects. They are friends. She is a smart woman. Biden should pick Rice as his VP. She will be loyal. And she has not stabbed him in the back and would never do so.
Historically, Dems have been pushing more for civil rights than GOP. They also promote social welfare way more and African Americans are more likely to use these than whites.
As VP, you don’t get to advance too many policy items. Look at Pence for accomplishments and it’s hard to remember any meaningful ones. That’s fine. VP is basically a sub for POTUS so not supposed to get much done by himself. His record as Senator is probably a better place to look for whether he’s promoted racial equality or not.
But it’s probably not gonna matter much ultimately. With Trump, you know what you’re getting. And especially lately, in terms of handling of racial tension and BLM stuff, he’s probably not impressed that part of the electorate a ton. So by simply not being Trump, and due to historical skew in black vote (towards Dems), I think a lot of people expect that Biden will get the vast majority of that vote. If he picks a woman of color as VP, after having been VP for an African American POTUS, that’ll be hard to beat him on this ground regardless of policy platform.
And it should be obvious, but you’re pointing to recent history. (Someone’s bound to bring up an old example to “refute” you). After the most racist Dems switched to Republican. Yes, things change over time.
However he had hinted way back that he wanted a VP who had run their own campaign so they can help him avoid campaign mistakes as much as possible. I think Harris fits that profile better than Rice who has not seen much campaigning fire before.
They won’t care much how Biden feels about the VP and much more about whether the VP helps them move the needle on some key demographics. Even their disagreements during primaries can be spun into some passion/enthusiasm/ready to fight for a cause they believe in/etc. usual political BSing. Think about Biden himself, I doubt Obama would have picked him if they did not determine that they wanted a white older man to contrast Obama’s youth/inexperience, and appeal to white voters.
Other part they may look at is how his VP will contrast with Pence in the VP debate.
It’s minor since hardly anyone watches the VP debate but Pence vs. Harris seems more exciting to watch than Pence vs. Rice IMO. I’m only looking at entertainment value here though. 
I think the whole calculus has changed since Trump has run things so far into the ground. (And Biden polling at +10). Biden not making much noise for a while seems like the least risky course. This lets Trump just continue to damage his own campaign. (Unfortunately he’s damaging his campaign by further damaging the country… But there’s nothing Biden can do to change that before the election)
IMO, there is now no urgency for Biden to announce a VP pick, other than he has repeatedly stated it would be the first week of August… So he has set himself up where he’s either “changing his mind” or he is doing it by this weekend.
Or he could simply say that the rapidly evolving pandemic situation made him reconsider his VP choice and that took more time due to the gravity of the situation and some hindrances placed upon his campaign by the pandemic itself. They can spin anything and blame it on the pandemic and many people will likely give him a pass on it.
Lincoln! Believe it or not! Many people don’t know that! ![]()
I would pay cash money to watch Trump v Harris.
In fact, No One knew he was a Republican… Until a very stable genius noticed.
But I was referring more to the segregationist Democrats before they changed party affiliation.
They should tag team the debate, put all four candidates (Pres and VP) on stage together.
Honestly, I’d rather they all be required to sit for a comedy central roast. We’d learn far more about each of them that way, than from their tested, refined, and rehearsed responses in a debate.
Trump would be sitting there all pouty like when Seth Meyers roasted him a little at a WHCA dinner.
And then he’d run for President… just to show them all they shouldn’t be laughing at him.
I assume he’s sit there like the last roast he sat through.
Believable he sat and ate a whole roast.
Well it was a tremendous roast, the best roast ever. Everyone loved his roast, people were jealous of his roast.
Historically,
Do you mean for the last 30 or 40 years?
As VP, you don’t get to advance too many policy items.
Unless you are Al Gore who invented the internet and the global warming thing. ![]()