Vice President

When I suggested a couple months ago that President Obama might seriously consider replacing Joe Biden as his running mate with Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice hadn't yet thrilled Romney backers with her speech on June 23 in Park City, Utah, and Ann Romney hadn't subsequently said, "We've been looking at [picking a woman], and I love that option as well."

Drudge reports, under this headline, "ROMNEY NARROWS VP CHOICES; CONDI EMERGES AS FRONTRUNNER":

This morning's news summaries are full of the political jousting expected this week between the Romney and Obama campaigns. In particular, for President Obama, it’s business as usual—a Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House, meetings with advisors, travel, and so on. And the vice president, that indispensable partner and surrogate?

I really enjoyed the boss's argument for dumping Joe Biden from the ticket in favor of Hillary Clinton:

Hillary Clinton received nearly 18 million votes in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination. Her rating in a Washington Post survey a couple of weeks ago was 65 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable. Biden hurts Obama. She would help him. 

This issue of The Weekly Standard features advice from Yuval Levin and Jay Cost for Mitt Romney in his presidential race. A Romney victory is devoutly to be desired. But a truly grand victory requires worthy opponents. Barack Obama is one. With all due respect to our affable vice president, Joe Biden is not. 

Senator Marco Rubio appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace this weekend and gave viewers a clear understanding why many conservatives see him as a strong candidate to be Mitt Romney’s running mate. Rubio answered Wallace’s questions directly and forcefully, drawing sharp contrasts between Obama’s record and the Republican vision for the next four years.

As a constituent of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.), I regretfully offer up my congressman to the country. Residing in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District affords more than 700,000 southeastern Wisconsin citizens the privilege of being represented by Ryan.

With Mitt Romney leading the delegate race and the rapid coalescing of conservatives around him – Jeb Bush, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan with formal endorsements, and Jim DeMint and Pat Toomey with quasi-endorsements – there is increasing speculation about who the former Massachusetts Governor would pick as a running mate if he wins the Republican nomination.

It's surely not worth trying to contemplate the idea that Joe Biden could be a viable presidential candidate in 2016--despite Politico's long feature this morning saying that the vice president's camp appears somewhat serious about the notion. (Literally, Joe Biden? Give me a break.)

On page 251, Dick Cheney admits a mistake. He had shot his friend Harry Whittington in the face, and in the hours that followed, did not put out a statement about the accident. “In retrospect,” he writes, “we should have.”

Will President Obama replace Joe Biden as his running mate in 2012? I've always thought it’s a real possibility. Biden was perhaps useful in bringing experience to the ticket of challenger Obama in 2008, but he does nothing for incumbent Obama in 2012, whereas a fresher and younger face might add some zip and energy to the reelection effort.

This puff piece in the Washington Post sure makes the president look good. The article by Ceci Connolly suggests that while almost everyone ruled out a Democratic health care victory (including Pelosi and Reid), Obama's perseverance and sheer will saved America. Yet the article, clearly sourced by White House staffers working to make their boss look good, does raise a question about the inner-workings of the Obama administration: Where has Vice President Biden been?