Would a less bland VP pick have helped either candidate?

[completely dead account]

Well, I remember after Hillary won the primaries, there were a lot of people in my local area who were saying Hillary should pick Bernie Sanders to be her Veep to attract more liberal and younger voters.

Would Bernie have actually helped Hillary? I don't know. But considering some Bernie bros ended up voting Trump, maybe.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Well, I remember after Hillary won the primaries, there were a lot of people in my local area who were saying Hillary should pick Bernie Sanders to be her Veep to attract more liberal and younger voters.

Would Bernie have actually helped Hillary? I don't know. But considering some Bernie bros ended up voting Trump, maybe.

It would definitely have helped her, but I highly doubt that Bernie had accepted her VP request.

[dw93]

Pence was a good choice for Trump to bring home the conservative base. Kaine was a total f**k you to progressives.

Agreed.

[MAINEiac4434]

I feel like Pence helped win over some of the evangelicals who were skeptical of Trump and his commitment to conservatism.

Kaine, on the other hand, brought nothing to the ticket. Wasn't far enough left to bring back Bernie or Busters, wasn't exciting enough to take the spotlight off of Hillary a-la McCain and Palin, no demographic advantages, nothing.

[ViaActiva]

I will always think... that if Hillary had chosen Castro ... or even Booker... that she would have won.  I tweeted when she didn't chosen either of them (particularly Castro)- the it may end up being a sentinel mistake.  Either would have given her campaign the extra nudge to turn out enough minority & youth voters in the Larger cities in the few swing states to make the difference.

Agreed - she needed to bridge to a new generation to excite Democrats and draw attention away from her chequered past.

[RINO Tom]

Someone more preferable to progressives than Kaine might have pushed Hillary over the edge, actually.

[Beet]

Kaine was from Richmond, but being a Virginia Senator helped him with inside-the-beltway connections. For instance his Chief of Staff was Mike Henry, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign. He also chaired the DNC from 2009-2011. He was an insider, with insider connections, and that's why he was picked. The official reason was that Hillary meshed with him personally. Needless to say, I think the pick did zilch for Hillary west of the Appalachians.

But hey, it fit perfectly with the high-donor, Hamptons, establishment theme of the campaign. I mean, we're talking about a candidate who probably spent time where she was needed on the campaign trail fundraising instead, not because she needed the money but because she enjoyed it. In front of the public she's a robotic automaton, but hey, in front of her Hollywood and Wall Street buddies she drinks, she laughs, she dances, she gives all her private positions and whatnot. The Kaine pick was in line with that.

My pick, as I said so at the time, was Sherrod Brown. Had she picked him, she would have at least won Michigan. Another gutsy pick would have been Elizabeth Warren. Both of them would have mitigated the damage from Wikileaks on the progressive flank. Instead you had the worst DNC since Nelson Rockefeller got shouted down on live TV in San Francisco's Cow Palace. One guy even tried to boo Michelle Obama offstage.

As for Trump, in retrospect it was a genius pick. Pence may not be as exciting as Sarah Palin, but he provided a necessary link to the traditional Republican and Evangelical base of the Party. That proved critical in October when a lot of Republicans were on the verge of abandoning him over Pussygate and other scandals. He didn't need them to be excited for him, he just needed them to be good foot soldiers. His Midwestern pedigree certainly didn't hurt either.

Also, after Hillary thrashed Trump in the first debate, the VP debate is traditionally the place where the ticket that loses the first presidential debate steadies itself. That's what happened in 2012, when Joe Biden held off Paul Ryan, and 2004, when Dick Cheney stabilized the Bush-Cheney ticket after Bush's terrible debate performance. Pence pulled off the same job marvellously, as he just sat there like a rock and spouted off Ronald Reagan's Russia policy as Tim Kaine smirked his way to a subpar performance while looking a little creepy.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

She should have picked Bernie, no question.

[Flyersfan232]

Pence was a good choice for Trump to bring home the conservative base. Kaine was a total f**k you to progressives.

Agreed.

what about sessions?