Who should Hillary pick as her VP choice?

[ShadowRocket]

I think Kaine makes a lot of sense. Has a good resume, from a swing state, and I think the optics of picking an early Obama supporter would look good.

I agree that Schweitzer would be good as well. Similar resume as Kaine, but also brings populist energy to the ticket and comes from a region the Clintons have struggled with.

I think those two, along with Booker, will wind up being her shortlist.

[ShadowRocket]

I've actually started to think that Jeff Merkley may not be a bad choice.  Obviously Oregon isn't a swing state, but two factors that Hillary may have to consider for her VP choice is that she is weak in the West and may do well to shore up her populist credentials, especially if a leftist challenge is able to gain some traction in the primaries.

Merkley satisfies both those credentials. Bennet and Heinrich are more often mentioned as far Western possibilities are concerned, but some downsides to consider are that Bennet will likely be facing a fairly competitve re-election bid and we'd probably lose Heinrich's seat due to gubernatorial appointment unless Martinez goes down next year.