If Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton decides not to go “radical” and select a woman or a person of minority heritage as her Vice Presidential choice for the upcoming Presidential Election of 2016, she has a long list of potential white males to choose from.
She could go for a Senator from a “swing” state, including the following:
Virginia–Senator Mark Warner or Senator Tim Kaine
Ohio–Senator Sherrod Brown (who I projected on December 31 as the likely choice)
Florida–Senator Bill Nelson
But there are other potential nominees, including:
Incumbent Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware, which I recommended on this blog in February 2015, and was interviewed about it by John Hockenberry of THE TAKEAWAY on National Public Radio on January 21 of this year, which can be found under “Interviews” on the right side of the blog
Senator Al Franken of Minnesota
Former Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut
Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon
Of these nine potential candidates, the most likely would seem to be Brown, Kaine, and Franken in that order.
Biden and Nelson will both be 74 this year, five years older than Hillary Clinton, while O’Malley opposed Hillary in the early primaries and Merkley is the only US Senator to have endorsed Bernie Sanders, making them less likely.
Warner seems less likely than Kaine from Virginia, due to his close race for reelection in 2014, one he almost lost, and Murphy, one of the brightest young liberals, is more of a “dark horse”, not mentioned by many, but a possible surprise choice.