With less than 100 days to Election Day, Harris must choose a running mate

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Vice President Kamala Harris starts her week without an announced running mate. Sources familiar with her vetting process tell NPR, Harris is looking for a governing partner with executive experience. But as of Saturday, she still hadn't narrowed down the field, with about a dozen names still under consideration.

Let's get some insights into this process with Elaine Kamarck. She's a member of the Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee, and she wrote the book "Picking The Vice President." Good morning, and thanks for joining the program.

ELAINE KAMARCK: Good morning, Leila. Thank you for having me.

FADEL: So Elaine, Kamala Harris has to name someone soon, and the list of possibilities is still pretty long. Is the quick turnaround needed here concerning?

KAMARCK: Yes, it is a little bit, only because she's very late to the process because of the way she was chosen, right?

FADEL: Right.

KAMARCK: I mean, there was all sorts of wondering, would Biden drop out, etc. So she's got to do a vetting process in a very quick turnaround, and my guess is that there's a lot of attorneys working overtime as they vet these candidates.

FADEL: Now, as a member of the DNC's Rules Committee, could you explain why Harris has to make this decision by August 7 rather than waiting until the convention 12 days later?

KAMARCK: Oh, it's a long and convoluted story.

FADEL: Oh.

KAMARCK: I'll try to do it quickly for radio. Basically, it's...

FADEL: Yeah, we only have a few minutes.

KAMARCK: Yes, right. Basically, in order to get on the Ohio ballot, with - the deadline is August 7 - the DNC has decided to hold a virtual roll call to nominate its president and its vice president, and that's coming up very soon. So she's got to figure out which one of these candidates she wants to live with, frankly, for the next four years.

FADEL: Now, you literally wrote the book "Picking The Vice President." And as I mentioned, Harris is looking for someone with executive experience. So you're the right person to ask here. Is that the key factor she should be looking for in a VP?

KAMARCK: Well, you know, over America's history, there's been all sorts of different ways of looking at the vice presidency.

FADEL: Yeah.

KAMARCK: In some instances, it's, can this person balance the ticket, either ideologically or regionally? Sometimes, candidates look for somebody who can deliver a state. In this case, I think we'd look at North Carolina and Pennsylvania. And in other cases, it's somebody who will help them govern and have a real partnership. And certainly Bush and Cheney and certainly Bill Clinton and Al Gore fit that mold. So there's different theories that the presidential candidate goes into when they're looking at a vice president.

FADEL: So noting that she's looking for a governing partner with executive experience, what type of person is she looking for, and what does that say about what she is looking for?

KAMARCK: Well, my guess is she's looking at governors. She's looking for a governor because while she has had substantial statewide experience as the attorney general of California, she hasn't - that's one area of policy only. So my guess is she's looking at somebody - at a governor.

She may be looking at a twofer here because either Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, or Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, would not only be a good governing partner, but they might help deliver one of those states.

FADEL: So it does matter what state her running mate might come from.

KAMARCK: Well, sometimes. I mean, the political science on this really tends to show that in the - in this day and age, the vice presidential candidate does not deliver the state. So we haven't seen that happen in a long time. On the other hand, we have such close elections in the last couple years that any little bit might help.

FADEL: Now, as you point out, it's been a pretty wild campaign season. Harris has only...

KAMARCK: Yeah.

FADEL: ...Been in the race for a few days. What other traits should she be looking for in a running mate in this election?

KAMARCK: Well, you know, from the outside, we always look at, you know, what's their ideology? Are - is a liberal going to be balanced with somebody more conservative, etc., etc. But the thing that we all forget and the thing that we can't really know as either reporters or political scientists looking at this is, is there chemistry between the two of them? They're stuck together, you know, for the next four years. It's very hard to dump a vice president. It's almost never done. Do they like each other? Do they trust each other?

I mean, one of the things that I observed firsthand about the relationship between Bill Clinton and Al Gore was they had very similar backgrounds, and Bill Clinton trusted Al Gore. And that meant that he could give him big pieces of responsibility just to take on. And that meant that he had a lot more time to govern. It's a very big job. And if you have a trusted partner, you're a step ahead of the game.

FADEL: And just really quickly, I mean, how hard is that to figure out in just a few days?

KAMARCK: Well, that's hard. Now, my - you know, remember that - I'm sure Vice President Harris knows some of these people, and so she's going to have to trust her gut when it comes to this at the end.

FADEL: That's Elaine Kamarck, author of the book "Picking The Vice President" and a member of the DNC's Rules Committee. Thank you so much for your time.

KAMARCK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.