Democrats' Dream Ticket?

With the Democratic primary race looking more and more like a stalemate there's been buzz around liberal salons about a 'Dream Team' ticket with both candidates on it. This seems like a reaction to some serious concerns by pulling a rabbit out of a hat. One recent poll shows 28% of Clinton supporters would rather vote for McCain if Obama wins the nomination, and 19% of Obama supporters would rather switch if Clinton wins the nomination. So, as Obama and Clinton tear into each other, there's a fear that this may be the only way to salvage the general election against McCain.

One wonders. First, it would have to be at the point of a gun for Obama, who has no interest in having a Clinton tag team in the White House. Not only does it create potential for power struggles, it violates Obama's main argument to independents and moderates for his candidacy: turning a new page from the Bush-Clinton, baby-boom culture wars. And Senator Clinton must have little interest in playing second fiddle since she's been doing that for forty years. Now is her time.

On the other hand, Clinton would be more amenable to having Obama as VP, but that presents quite a gamble for him. Just consider what a Clinton VP slot did for Al Gore? An independent Obama would be much better off in the Senate and eventually running for governor of Illinois before taking another shot at the presidency.

More important though is to consider if the two together really represent the strongest ticket against McCain. An African-American and a woman on the same ticket seems to ask moderates and independents to take a gamble on two historic firsts at once. These voters are usually more conservative. It also appears the Democratic primary battle has been hog-tied by identity politics and this would raise identity politics to the forefront of the campaign. How many voters would just decide that McCain would be the safer bet? Certainly older women and Hispanics might lean that way.

The most significant reason why the 'Dream Team' may be more suspect is that both candidates are more liberal than the general electorate and this will not go unnoticed for long. The usual VP strategy is to round out the top spot with a candidate that brings different assets to the ticket - such as a candidate strong on defense experience, economic centrism or a different regional appeal. If we can get past the identity thing, on the issues Obama-Clinton really look more like mirror twins, which concentrates rather than spreads the risk of being out-of-sync with large groups of voters. One thing we learned from the past two elections is that there are some significant geographical differences in voter preferences across the nation.

Given these caveats, it would seem that a "Dream Team" is rather unlikely and, if pursued, risks turning into another presidential election nightmare for Democrats.