Tag: Kathleen Sebelius

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius will be the new chief of HHS. I think she's a far better choice than Tom Daschle.

Here's some background on her. The announcement will be made Monday.

Update: Sebelius has accepted the nomination.

This is a follow-up to my post last night on why I think the Obama campaign is floating Tim Kaine as a smokescreen in the Veepstakes and the frontrunner is Kathleen Sebelius.

Here's the latest veep sweepstakes numbers from 538.com. Law Prof Michael Froomkin at Discourse.Net says the Bayh numbers may be misleading. Froomkin thinks, as do I, that Sebelius may get the nod from Obama.

Why does Obama need Kaine as a smokescreen? To make Sebelius more palatable to Hillary supporters who will be more than a bit upset at his choosing a woman other than Hillary. [More...]:

I just spent two hours writing up a theory that came to me at midnight. The gist is that Sen. Barack Obama, by leaking to the mainstream media that Hillary is not on his shortlist while not discouraging talk about Virgina Gov. Tim Kaine, is manipulating a planned succession of leaks.

Obama has hit his truth in advertising wall: He's got to show he's the progressive candidate for real change because that is how he sold himself to American voters. He's committed to expending untold sums of money to go after unregistered voters in the swing states -- the young, minorities and others who firmly believe he represents change. If his VP choice doesn't also embody change from politics as usual in Washington, he becomes reduced to spouting just words about change, which in turn gives him an electability problem. [More...]

Jane at Firedoglake thinks Kansas Governor and long-time Obama supporter Kathleen Sebelius would be a good match for Barack Obama as the VP candidate. Jane also addresses reports of Richard Lugar or Chuck Hegel as VP.

I like Sebelius because she's anti-death penalty, pro-choice and not a former prosecutor. She opposed the law requiring voters to show photo id's.

Prediction: It won't happen for three reasons. First, I do not think Obama will pick a female for his running mate. Second, he is too sensitive about attacks on his national security and foreign policy experience and is more likely to pick someone who can bolster both. Third, he is going to go after centrists and conservatives to counter attacks he is too liberal and is not going to pick a progressive on social issues.