VP possibility: What do you think about Tom Harkin?

[Rowdyboy]

In his favor

1. Powerful in Iowa, would guarantee a swing state
2. Powerful speaker with strong populist style
3. Has run in a presidential primary before so he's experienced
4. Democratic governor could replace him if elected
5. Strong labor credentials/helps in rustbelt
6. Has the gravitas to go nose to nose with Cheney and whip his ass
7. Scandal free to the best of my knowledge
8. Liberal record/populism should draw from Greens/Nader
9. Called for Rummy's resignation. Thanks Tom :thumbsup:

Against his candidacy

1. Can be portrayed as "ultra liberal"
2. Two, long-time Washington senate insiders on one ticket?

Any other objections that I'm missing? I'm sort of surprised his name hasn't come up before, but I searched the archives and could find no mention of him as a vp possibility...

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

1. I like Harkin

a lot.

[amazona]

2. I think he's a good choice

Years ago I believe his name was floated as a possible presidential candidate and he sounded good when I read up on him then...it has been a few years though.

[bobbieinok]

3. when he ran for president in 92 he was always 'the labor candidate'

plus we need every strong democratic senator we have

[Rowdyboy]

5. But Vilsack could replace him by appointment-There are plenty

of good Democratic possibilities in Iowa. It would be great to have one of them running as an incumbent for Harkin's seat, rather than for an open seat when he retires.

[ACK]

4. Harkin rocks -- great progressive

In a perfect world this man would have been President by now.

I know he ran and did not make it through the primaries but ... gosh he is such a good guy.

The only downside dirt I can think on him is that he is tight with the herbal drugs special interest lobby and has taken money from them.

_

[H2O Man]

6. He has a long record

of opposing the Reagan-bush attacks on Central America in the 1980s. I felt he was the most honest and sincere politician in Washington at the time. There's the obvious connection there with Kerry, who exposed the Iran-Contra scandal. (Keep that in mind, those who are not happy with Kerry!) The only thing that could be held against Tom H. is that he is so honest. He'd tell the country the truth, and many folks just aren't willing to hear it.

[Leilani]

7. I do not care for him

Just my opinion.

He seems like too much of a slick pol to me.

I think he is OK for a state office; I cannot see him on a national ticket.

[amandabeech]

9. Some of my friends have me him.

They worked on his '92 presidential primary bid. They say that he's the real deal, and not all of them are from Iowa.

Harkin has excellent labor and farm credentials. I believe that was also some sort of pilot in the early days of Vietnam, say '63 or so. He has no national guard loaf-off problems.

I've heard him speak live, and he can really whip up a crowd prone to populism, and he comes across as more forceful than Gephardt.

His wife, Ruth, according to my friends, is one sharp woman. She's a former prosecutor and could take on Lynn Cheney, no problem. Ruth would tear someone like that to shreds.

[Rowdyboy]

17. His populist speaking style is what I find most attractive....

While he's not my choice, he's a damn fine campaigner and comes across like Edwards (IMO).

[FrenchieCat]

8. Harkin looked

kinda of clueless behind Howard Dean...during the Dean scream.

I was not impressed!

Does he have any FP experience or anything like that?

What does he bring to the table other than maybe Iowa?

What about his past votes?

Nope, don't see it.

[Rowdyboy]

10. Remember, he endorsed Dean before the primary

which Kerry could hold against him. Don't know of any particular foreign policy experience, but his voting record is exceptional.

You know, of course, that my A number one preference for VP is Wes Clark (if he can't be Boss, at least let him be next-in-line). I've been behind him 100% since Day 1. Here, I'm mostly just speculating about Harkin and a little surprised that no one has mentioned him before.

[FrenchieCat]

11. I know why he hasn't been mentioned....

I don't think he would offer much to a Kerry ticket, IMO! His votes are impeccable according to whom? Independents, moderates? That's who we need to corral, right? The middle, no?

[Rowdyboy]

12. I'll check, but I believe Senator Harkin is firmly on the left

I think he's more liberal than Kerry. Once again, I may be wrong, but my impression is that he is one of the most liberal/populist members of the senate, right up there with Wellstone (RIP) and Feingold.

[Rowdyboy]

15. Frenchie, check out these votes and see what you think

http://issues2002.org/Senate/Tom_Harkin.htm

Not perfect, but pretty damn good. Definitely no moderate.

[dolstein]

13. Guarantee Iowa? He couldn't guarantee the Iowa primary for Dean!

Seems to me that as many voters would turn out to vote against Harkin than vote for him.

I suppose picking Harkin would impress those people who consider a ticket with both a liberal and an ultraliberal to be ideologically balanced, but it won't do a thing for the rest of us (and there are a lot more of us than them).

[Rowdyboy]

16. Again, I'm not pushing Harkin....

I'd much prefer Clark, Graham or Richardson. I agree he's too far to the left to be the best choice. I'm just a little perplexed that Harkin hasn't been mentioned, either here or in the media.

[dolstein]

24. I think Vilsack has overshadowed Harkin

I guess the press has decided that if Kerry picks anyone from Iowa, it will be Harkin. It could also be because Harkin endorsed Dean, whereas Vilsack's wife endorsed Kerry. I think it's highly unlikely that someone who endorsed Dean would be picked as Kerry's VP.

[Rowdyboy]

25. You're probably right

The Dean endorsement was not Harkin's finest hour (actually, it appeared to be jumping onto an unstoppable bandwagon).

And thats why I posted this thread-I wanted different viewpoints on the possibility.

As I've said (over and over and over and over) Wes Clark is my first choice. But Harkin does intrigue me, and there is a point to be made for a surprise, unexpected decision on Kerry's part.

We probably won't know for sure until the convention!

[Nicholas_J]

26. A lot of the newspapers in Iowa

Must be owned by conservatives as I have read a haldf a dozen articles about Vilsack in Iowa Papers that all think he would be a crappy VP choice and that Gephardt wouldhave a better chance of delivering Iowa for Kerry.

I dont know, but everything else everywhere else I have read about Vilsack indicates he is a great guy, good Dem, and I was following a website about the campaign last year on Vilsacks own website before I even knew who he was and he seemed to know his stuff.

But I think you are right. Kerry is unlikely to give a position to anyone who endorsed Kerry, and I think there will be a lot of shake ups in elections coming down the road in which a lot of people who supported Dean will see a lot of party support for re-election dry up for a lot of people who endorsed Dean.


Regardless of the people who suppported Dean, he did throw a major fly in the ointment of the plans of the party to move things smoothly to keep the party's focus clearly on co-ordinating all of its resources on the main purpose of the party thiis election year, and that is to be clearly focused on everything possible to get rid of Bush. Dean attacks on the DLC, other candidates and the extreme divisiveness he brought to the party created as much divisiveness between democrats as there is a divide in the nation between those who support Bush and those who cant stand his administration.

It was Dean who set the tone of negative campaigning between democratic candidates from the start. Attacks on theDLC, which Dean was not only a member of, but was pretty much the DLC's poster boy of Governors while he was a Governor, and the DLC gave Dean significant support both during all of his campaigns. Especially when Republicans mounted a major national "take back Vermont" program to attack Dean for signing the civil unions legislation. Repulicans, as well as major fundamentalist Christian organizations were raising enormous sums of sot money dedicated to get rid of Dean in 2000, and that was the closest election Dean ever faced, due to Deans alienations of progressive elements in Vermont due to his conservatism, plus his alienation of a good percentage of Repubicnas who supported him in prior elections. A significant number of moderate Republicans who considered Deans fiscal conservatism and big business friendly policies and appointees were far more important to them than the wedge issue of civil unions. This with the fact that Vermont REpublicans ran one of their most wing nut conservatives against Dean allowed the large amount of money that the DLC and the NationalDemmocratic Party to provide more money for Dean than Republicans were able to raise for him nationally, even with the 700 club slush fund.Such disloyalty to those who spent a lot of resources watching Deans back in 2000 has not gone over well with the party leadership. They supported him bigtime. They expected Dean to support them. Dena was supported by the DLC to such a degree that he was selected to be the president of the Democratic Governors Association, as well as being the Governor who was given the task of finding and supporting appropriate candidate to run for Governor in states that the Democratic Party was trying to retake in 2000. He hadbeen doing so for the DGA since something like 1997, I think. The results were a disaster, as Dean spent more time trying to jockey for his intended run for the nomination for the Presidency for 2004 than he did trying to plan strategy to retake a large number of Governorships, as well as keep some in which Democrats were up for re-election. It seemed almost as if Dean preferred the Republicans who were running than to work for the democrats.

[no name no slogan]

14. Harkin would be great, but I doubt he'd accept it

He's in a good spot in the Senate right now-- the Veep slot would be a step down for him. However, the idea of a midwesterner is a good idea for ticket balance. We're going to need states like Ohio and Missouri to win this year.

[salonghorn70]

18. Not A Good Idea

No appeal to moderate Repubs or moderate swing voters. No appeal in the South

[Rowdyboy]

19. Very good points

Probably, the strong pro-choice voting record would, indeed, cost some moderates/swing voters. I don't know if anyone can help much in the south-I like Clark, Graham, Edwards and Landieu but I really don't see us winning more than a couple of southern states at best.

Hope I'm wrong.

[Thrill]

20. I think you can win

Iowa without him

[amandabeech]

21. According to my friends, you better have him out there

campaigning like crazy for you.

[Rowdyboy]

22. I agree, at least I really hope we can...

My thinking was that his labor credentials would help in Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin etc.

[fujiyama]

23. I would definetely

prefer him to say Evan Bayh or Gep, but he doesn't seem like a very likely choice.

Plus, I wouldn't be very surprised if Kerry was still somewhat unhappy about Harkin endorsing Dean over him. True, that was a lifetime ago, politically speaking, but I don't think he'd get over it that easilly.

Also, Harkin might be considered too liberal for some and I'm not really sure how much appeal he has to those outside of Iowa.

[genius]

27. Voted for war Backed USA-PATRIOT and Homeland Security

Small state that doesn't matter. Latest poll, Bush could win California.

[incapsulated]

28. Harkin was always a liberal favorite

Back in the day. Kinda like another guy we know...

It won't happen for that reason and:

a) Another Senator
b) Endorsed Someone Else
c) Doesn't Bring much bang for the buck, so to speak. He's old school Dem. So is Kerry. Kerry needs some fresh blood to enliven the ticket, imho.

[Finch]

29. Too Liberal....

...too old and too much of a liability (remember the Wellstone memorial "Republicans are Evil" stunt and his warm up for the Dean rally after the Iowa Caucus... oh dear :) )

[MajorFlaw]

30. I like it. He's a plain spoken guy with solid progressive credentials.

Also, if you haven't been following the VP stakes, Harkin has been ripping shrub a new one every chance he gets..This could really work for us.