As the search for Joe Biden’s Vice President enters its waning weeks, two unlikely sleeper candidates have emerged from the field.
Not Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., or Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
It’s Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. and former Barack Obama official Susan Rice.
According to a multitude of sources and separate reports, the two are both making individual last-minute pushes to secure the nomination amid a crowded field of challengers.
Each of them brings a unique angle to the fold.
Duckworth, while a relative unknown compared to the usual political suspects, is slowly gaining profile. Some opinionated critics even believe she’s the only choice for Biden to make.
The Purple Heart recipient and Iraq War veteran who lost both of her legs in a helicopter accident has also served in both the House and Senate. Frank Bruni of the New York Times cited her incremental experience over time, suggesting that she’s primed to take the next step.
Bruni described her as the “anti-Trump,” in being a decorated war hero and working mother as 2020 shapes up to be “a battle for the soul of America.”
On the other side of the coin, Rice, who’s currently wrapped up in the Deep State “Obamagate” controversy is undergoing intensified vetting by the Biden camp as well.
A close source is telling The Hill that the pair’s relationship while previously working in the White House is a crucial factor in the VP selection.
“I know they have a good relationship — perhaps the best relationship of anyone on the list,” the source close said.
“They’ve known each other for years, they’ve worked alongside each other and she’s been tested in a way that a lot of folks on the list just haven’t been.”
Chemistry is key.
After all, Biden did tell CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell that he wanted a “simpatico” running mate — in his words, someone who agrees with his philosophy.
“It’s really important that whomever you pick as a vice president agrees with you in terms of your philosophy of government and agrees with you on the systemic things that you want to change,” he told O’Donnell in June.
But the move could backfire — with Rice being named in the recent Deep State “Obamagate” developments …
Rice, including Biden, had been in the room January 2016 when the Obama White House ordered a witch hunt takedown of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn.
It may be no wonder then, that Biden and Rice have such good chemistry.
The Horn editorial team