Amelia Island/August 6, 2024/9:12 a.m.

If you have not placed your bets on the Kamala Harris Veepstakes, it is not too late.  As I previously wrote about the efforts to replace Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, it was less important who picked up the baton, but how and why it was done.  This morning I looked at her choice of running mate through the same lens.  And the winner is:

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz

And as I always try to do, this choice is not based on what most pundits feel are his strengths. 

• Six years as governor with an approval rating of 61 percent. 
• Having  grown up in rural Nebraska, he can celebrate the achievements of small town residents as opposed to the negative stereotype depicted by JD Vance.
• He has been a …

FLASH:  At 9:19 a.m., CNN is reporting (drum roll) Tim Walz will be on the Democratic ticket in November.  Damn, scooped again!

With this news, let me share the counter-intuitive reason I think this is the perfect choice.  For undecided voters who are fed up with both parties, Walz is a reminder of a time when so many Americans sought a life/citizenship balance.  And how did they do that?  By focusing on their full-time lives and part-time engagement in civic give-back.

Tim Walz is not a career politician.  Following his graduation from high school in 1982, he joined the Army National Guard in which he served for 24 years.  During that same period he was a high school social studies teacher and assistant football coach.  His first foray into elective politics involved part-time jobs as county commissioner and state legislator.  His primary concern was for his family and students.  His elevation to presumptive vice-presidential nominee was certainly not planned as he suggested last night referencing his “rise” from high school geography teacher to national political figure.  “Life comes at you fast.”

Equally important, Walz is the embodiment of what middle-class voters would view as the American dream.  He did not attend an elite Ivy League university but earned a BS in social studies from Chadron State College and an MS in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato.  All paid for, in part, benefit of the G.I. bill.  He served his country as a non-commissioned officer, a Command Sergeant Major in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment.  He remains married to his college sweetheart Gwen Whipple (Will Trump accuse her of squeezing the Charmin?) with whom they have a son Gus and daughter Hope.

His experience more than his words will resonate with many middle class voters.  And his time in the National Guard means, when he talks with veterans, it is from the perspective of a “foot soldier,” not the brass.  His story has no Silicon Valley sugar daddy or blown inheritance.  It is about hard work, self-reliance and a joy of life.  You cannot tell me that will not “play in Peoria.”

I’ll end on one quick observation about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.  If as Tim Russert might have said, “It’s Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania,”  Shapiro was touted as the right “political choice.”  I disagree.  Ask Mike  Dukakis who assumed picking Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen would assure the Lone Star State would be in his column.  I wonder if there would have been a backlash by Keystone State voters.  “We elected him to be our governor and six months after telling us he wanted to serve Pennsylvanians, he wants to leave the state for DC.  He’s just another ambitious, hypocritical opportunist.  (Add your own expletive.)”  And you know, Trump and his MAGA surrogates would have a ball accusing Harris of caring more about the election than the nation and claim she could never carry the state without him.

Harris/Walz versus Trump/Vance?  My money is on the Democratic “10 letter ticket.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP