Texas Blue Mailbag: Week of 1/27/08

The Mailbag returns, with questions that you might expect with Super Tuesday right around the corner: national politics, VP choices, and the Republicans' problem with McCain.

Hi Guys. Bummer about Edwards withdrawing from the race — do you think Obama will announce him as Vice President?

Josh says:

You know, I'm not sure. I think it is a real possibility that Edwards could end up in either Clinton or Obama's cabinet, but I don't know that I buy into the idea of him as Attorney General. He's a much better fit at HUD or Labor. As for VP, I think everyone is keeping their options open, and it could be a possibility.

GG asks:

What do you think the chances are for an Obama / Clinton or a Clinton / Obama ticket are?

George replies:

Obama/Clinton, no more than 10%. Clinton/Obama, nearly nil. I'd expect her to pick a popular Southern or Midwestern politician, like Evan Bayh. She needs those votes, and I don't think the Clintons would stray from that sort of by-the-book strategy that has been proven to work for them before. (Yes, yesterday's debate notwithstanding.)

For that matter, if Obama were to pick any former candidate, I'd think Edwards would be more likely than Clinton, in part for the same reason. (See Josh's answer above — save that I think VP's a more likely place for him than Labor and much more so than HUD; he'd have to be given a whole lot of leeway in either of those Cabinet positions for them to be anything other than a demotion for a former Senator and twice presidential candidate, etc.)

EB asks:

How stupid are Republicans going to look in another week after McCain wraps up their nomination and they pretend like they haven't been calling him a traitor?

Josh says:

Pretty dumb, actually, assuming that any kind of conservative base support solidifies around him, nominee or not. There's some serious schism action happing over on the Republican side as to whether McCain is Republican enough for most of the conservative base's opinion leaders. Coulter and Limbaugh really really hate McCain, and everyone that fits into their ilk is spending a lot of time on the airwaves and in the papers trashing him for everything you can imagine. They think he's a traitor and that he can't be trusted. But he's probably going to be the nominee, so it is going to be a hard road for a lot of his detractors unless they end up deciding to keep beating him to teach him a lesson. Stranger things have happened, I guess.

AB asks:

Is the Texas primary going to matter this year? Will it actually affect who wins the nomination?

Patrick McLeod, our new contributing editor, replies:

I was hoping for a Clinton/Obama/Edwards slate coming into the Texas primary as well as a McCain/Romney/Huckabee/Paul slate on the Republican side. Given the unsettled dynamics on the Democratic side with John Edwards' withdrawal from the race earlier this week coupled with big fundraising numbers from both Clinton and Obama, I think that a choice between Clinton and Obama will still be in the cards on March 4th. I don't see either Clinton or Obama throwing in the towel unless Super Tuesday goes heavily one way or another. Right now, the numbers in the Super Tuesday states don't support that outcome which is a good thing for all of us progressives here in Texas who want our voices heard, albeit with a narrower range of candidates.