Clinton campaign suggests possibility of an all-female ticket
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton celebrate at her New York primary campaign headquarters on Tuesday. (Photo: Kathy Willens/Associated Press)
Hillary Clinton’s potential election as the first female president of the United States would be historic — but why stop there?
In an interview with the Boston Globe Thursday, campaign chairman John Podesta said “there is no question that there will be women” on Clinton’s list of potential running mates should she win the Democratic nomination.
Clinton, Podesta said, is looking “for the best person to make the case to the American people.”
While Podesta didn’t name any names, his comments have already prompted pundits to make their shortlists of women who could hypothetically join Clinton on an all-female ticket.
As the Globe noted, one of the first people who comes to mind is Elizabeth Warren, the liberal senator from Massachusetts who many believe could help Clinton wrangle reluctant supporters of Democratic rival Bernie Sanders.
Other names that have been floated include Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and Janet Napolitano, who served as the Democratic governor of Arizona before becoming the first female Homeland Security secretary in 2009.
The Globe’s James Pindell suggested Clinton could even stray from the conventional choices and tap a political outsider like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. But, then again, he wrote, “that could prompt questions about her running mate’s preparedness and experience — neutralizing that issue somewhat if she wants to criticize Donald Trump for the same.”
Back in January, Clinton told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that a female running mate was “absolutely not” out of the question, but Podesta’s recent comment seems to be the first indicator that an all-female ticket could realistically be on the horizon.
