House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), one of Obama’s most prominent backers, said, “What about John Edwards? He might make a more appropriate vice presidential candidate.”
Conyers cited Edwards’s outsider campaign for the White House, which echoed Obama’s. But Conyers said he would support Clinton if Obama picked her.
Ellison said Edwards would help Obama more than would Clinton but added that it was Obama’s decision. Edwards, who was Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) running mate in 2004, has emerged as a popular possible running mate because of Obama’s difficulty attracting white, blue-collar voters in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Edwards structured his campaign to appeal to working-class whites, and he remains popular with them. He said last week, however, that he is not interested in the vice presidency.
Clinton supporters are enthusiastic about an Obama-Clinton or a Clinton-Obama ticket. Several, such as Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), have endorsed the “dream ticket.”
“If Sen. Obama becomes our nominee and he wants someone to carry the Clinton banner there’s no question in my mind he should ask Hillary Clinton,” Rendell told CNN.
Schumer told reporters: “Hillary and Barack have both run very strong and great races, and I think they’d be a strong ticket together.”
Two former Clinton aides are among the most outspoken advocates for a joint ticket.
Adam Parkhomenko, who worked as an assistant to former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, and Sam Arora, who worked for Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns, recently started a group called VoteBoth to promote a joint ticket. It has adopted a logo that melds the Clinton and Obama campaign designs.
They argue that Obama and Clinton would win because together they have attracted the votes of more than 30 million people and raised more than $400 million.
“We think that change and experience can not only coexist on a ticket but make it much stronger,” said Arora. “Change and experience has moved 32 million voters. It will unite the party.”
That argument has persuaded at least one Obama supporter in Congress, Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), who first endorsed Clinton but then switched to Obama.
“We cannot win with just black voters, college students and liberal voters,” said Scott, referring to Obama’s core supporters. “We’ve got to have working-class whites; we’ve got to have the support of white women; we’ve got to have Hispanics, Jewish voters and Catholics. These are the very people that form the core of Hillary’s support.”
|
