McCaskill mum on veepstakes–sort of
WASHINGTON–Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is a garrulous politician who loves to joke about how her mouth “gets me in trouble.” But she was keeping it shut tight (trying, anyway) this morning at a meeting with Missouri reporters when she was asked about the veep stakes.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” she said when asked about who was on Sen. Barack Obama’s short list, a subject that has much of Washington buzzing right now.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” she said when asked if she had had any conversations with James Johnson, who is heading up Obama’s vice presidential vetting team. “I know it’s very unusual,” she added. “I just don’t think it’s productive.”
Then she did talk about it, a little. Pressed on the subject, McCaskill said Obama needed to pick someone who “underlines his broad message of change,” someone who bolsters his foreign policy bona fides, and someone who helps him geographically. She dismissed any talk that she was in the running, saying that buzz has been generated “because my mug’s on TV a lot” as an Obama surrogate. (Indeed, she’s heading to Iowa this weekend to headline a couple Democratic Party events for Obama there.)
And what about Sen. Hilllary Clinton, D-N.Y., as a potential running mate? “She’s on anybody’s short list,” McCaskill said.
McCaskill is working as a sort of unofficial Senate liaison to Clinton supporters in the chamber, particularly women senators, in an effort to unify the party around Obama now that he clinched the nomination. She said she’s been a “sounding board” for those who want to relay information or advice to Obama.
She also said Missourians would see “a lot” of Obama before the November showdown with GOP Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and added that he would be campaigning actively in rural parts of the state, not just St. Louis and Kansas City.
This piece in the New York Times was of course not covered by the PD today.
It is a list of the Clintons “revenge list.” Sen. McCaskill made the list so I was wondering why this went unreported.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/us/politics/11clinton.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin