OK, let's talk about possible VP choices [View All]

[Skinner]

I feel like whenever the question of VP choices comes up, you always hear the same names: John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Bill Richardson, Evan Bayh, Etc. There seems to be an assumption that thre is only a very small group of people who are qualified to be VP. But personally, I think this short list of people is just a result of laziness -- you just name the people who happen to be at the top of your head at that moment. There is a large pool of people who can be considered for VP, including:

Governors and former Governors,
Senators and former Senators,
Generals and former Generals,
former cabinet secretaries, and
maybe a few House members.

That gives us a very long list of potential people. (Did I miss anyone?)

So, I figured it might be fun to take a look at the list of some of the potentials, and see if there are any people we haven't considered.

Current Democratic Governors

Arizona - Janet Napolitano
Delaware - Ruth Ann Minner
Illinois - Rod Blagojevich
Indiana - Joe Kernan
Iowa - Thomas J. Vilsack
Kansas - Kathleen Sebelius
Louisiana - Kathleen B. Blanco
Maine - John Baldacci
Michigan - Jennifer Granholm (not elligible - born in Canada)
Missouri - Bob Holden
New Jersey - James E. McGreevey
New Mexico - Bill Richardson
North Carolina - Michael F. Easley
Oklahoma - Brad Henry
Oregon - Ted Kulongoski
Pennsylvania - Ed Rendell
Tennessee - Phil Bredesen
Virginia - Mark Warner
Washington - Gary Locke
West Virginia - Bob Wise
Wisconsin - Jim Doyle
Wyoming - Dave Freudenthal

Current Democratic U.S. Senators

Daniel K. Akaka - Hawaii
Max Baucus - Montana
Evan Bayh - Indiana
Joseph R. Biden Jr. - Delaware
Jeff Bingaman - New Mexico
Barbara Boxer - California
John B. Breaux - Louisiana
Robert C. Byrd - West Virginia
Maria Cantwell - Washington
Tom Carper - Delaware
Hillary Rodham Clinton - New York
Kent Conrad - North Dakota
Jon Corzine - New Jersey
Tom Daschle - South Dakota
Mark Dayton - Minnesota
Christopher J. Dodd - Connecticut
Byron L. Dorgan - North Dakota
Richard J. Durbin - Illinois
John Edwards - North Carolina
Russell D. Feingold - Wisconsin
Dianne Feinstein - California
Bob Graham - Florida
Tom Harkin - Iowa
Ernest F. Hollings - South Carolina
Daniel K. Inouye - Hawaii
Tim Johnson - South Dakota
Edward M. Kennedy - Massachusetts
John F. Kerry - Massachusetts (not eligible for VP slot :))
Herb Kohl - Wisconsin
Mary L. Landrieu - Louisiana
Frank Lautenberg - New Jersey
Patrick J. Leahy - Vermont
Carl Levin - Michigan
Joseph I. Lieberman - Connecticut
Blanche L. Lincoln - Arkansas
Barbara A. Mikulski - Maryland
Zell Miller - Georgia (not eligible - Endorsed the Asshole)
Patty Murray - Washington
Ben Nelson - Nebraska
Bill Nelson - Florida
Mark Pryor - Arkansas
Jack Reed - Rhode Island
Harry Reid - Nevada
John D. Rockefeller IV - West Virginia
Paul S. Sarbanes - Maryland
Charles E. Schumer - New York
Debbie Stabenow - Michigan
Ron Wyden - Oregon

When I look down the list, I actually see a lot of potentially good choices. Since Kerry is a northeastern senator, I kinda think that he is likely to look for a non-senator who is from a more conservative part of the country (South, West, or Midwest). But that's just me. :) Who are the superstars on this list? Who is not currently known by the Average american, but would likely be seen as a solid choice? And who isn't on this list who might make a good choice?