Sam Nunn Leading Obama’s Veepstakes?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Georgia, Veep, Video
Chatter is growing for the former Georgia senator and one of the founders of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, so could this be one of the reasons why the Obama camp thinks the Peach State is in play?
For two decades, Nunn has been floated as a potential vice presidential candidate by virtue of his national security credentials and conservative southern roots. And each time he has dis missed such talk out of hand, while the party’s nominees opted for more liberal choices from states more likely to go Democratic in November.But this year, the personal and intellectual affinity between the presumptive Democratic nominee and the 69-year-old elder statesman - who abandoned a policy of not backing candidates in Democratic primaries when he endorsed Obama in April - makes him a real possibility as Obama’s running mate, according to interviews with current and former government officials who know both men.
“He sounds like he may be more open to it,” said Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine Corps general who served on Nunn’s Senate staff for 24 years and remains in close contact with his former boss. “He has never before endorsed anybody. That was a surprise to me.”
And if not VP, then perhaps Secretary of Defense? After all, he was a vocal opponent of the Iraq invasion in 2003, and as mentioned above, he understands the need for finding common ground to “close the gap between the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the global response.”
Here’s Nunn on Charlie Rose in 2007…
Seems like a decidedly post-partisan guy to me, and that would fit nicely with Obama’s message for change. And while some are brining up Nunn’s age (currently 69), I think age is less important to voters than a genuine willingness to bring a different tone to Washington.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Georgia, Veep, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I’m confused about your rules for commenters. Why DON’T you “tolerate comments that disparage people … based on sexual orientation”? You’re willing to tolerate Sam Nunn.
Every year, gay and lesbian soldiers with medals on their chests — including scarce Arabic linguists — are still thrown out of the military because of Sam Nunn. You can’t say the man hasn’t had a legacy.
Nor had he apologized, recanted, reconsidered, changed positions, promised to do any differently. To you it doesn’t even rate a mention. So if Sam Nunn comes in here and pushes bunks together to scare people about their sons’ sleeping arrangements, will that be all right with you?
June 21st, 2008 at 11:14 am
Sam Nunn’s stock price on The 2008 Veepstakes game, http://apps.facebook.com/veepstakes, has been rising since the Boston Globe’s article. He’s #4 on the Dems list now behind Gore, Clinton and Edwards.