Kamala Down, Tim Up

After losing to Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, Democrats realized they they had developed a curse when it came to nominating women to run for President involving their male vice presidential running mates - if your you're going to nominate a woman for President, never let her running mate be a guy named Tim. 😉

After Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, she remained in the public eye to troll Trump and continue living rent-free in Trump's head.  She did so based on a delusional hope that the Democrats would give her, despite having been a failure as a Democratic presidential nominee, a second chance - something no failed Democratic presidential nominee has been given since 1956.  Her 2016 vice presidential running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, dropped from the radar screen entirely, returning to the Senate and doing, well, Senate stuff.  In that sense, Kaine adhered to the strict American tradition of failed vice presidential nominees of any party whose names aren't Franklin Roosevelt or Earl Warren being forgotten more than actual Vice Presidents.  In the aftermath of the disaster that was the 2024 election, however, the roles have been reversed.

Once January 20, 2025 came and went, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris promptly disappeared.  It was easy to see why former President Biden dropped out of sight.  At 82, he earned a nice long rest, and nowadays he's probably kicking back in his basement den, contemplating plans for a presidential library and possibly making notes for his memoirs.  Harder to understand was why former Vice President Harris would keep a low profile to the point of having no profile.  She hasn't trolled Trump online or sent out any derogatory press releases since January 20 - good grief, even Hillary Clinton has been more visible in the past two months.  The most plausible reason is that Harris too needs a rest, and she also needs to decide whether to run for President again or run for governor of California in 2026.  (Of course, the very real possibility of Trump declaring martial law for a trivial reason would make that a moot question.)

And then, there's her former running mate, Tim Walz.   

Walz started his vice presidential campaign ridiculing Trump and James David Vance as "weird" for their public utterances and their world views.  And it registered.  It gave the Democratic ticket a big boost.  Then, inexplicably - unless they were Trump moles - Democratic consultants told Walz to tone down his "weird" rhetoric, and the Minnesota governor retreated a bit in the background, which allowed Harris a bigger spotlight.  When the election returns showed that giving Harris a bigger spotlight proved to have done more harm than good,  Walz was expected to join Kaine, Lloyd Bentsen, William E. Miller (Goldwater's running mate, who was the first Catholic Republican nominated for Vice President, and who appeared in one of the first "Do you know me?" commercials for American Express), Estes Kefauver, Charles McNary, Arthur Sewall, and Theodore Frelinghuysen (gotta mention someone from New Jersey), among others, in the Archipelago of Forgotten Failed Vice Presidential Nominees.  Instead, Walz has begun touring the American heartland, showing up in Republican U.S. House districts and giving speeches ridiculing Trump and his policies - and also ridiculing Elon Musk and his mere existence.  He has been scoring a lot of points for his efforts - especially when he joked about having an app on his phone that allows him to watch Tesla stock as it sinks to new lows.   For from being forgotten - as Jonathan Last of The Bulwark predicted would happen - Walz is a star once again.

One thing Walz hasn't done is explain what Democrats should stand for in 2026 and 2028 as opposed to merely being against Trump and his agenda.  Perhaps one should look at Walz's record as governor of Minnesota - a record that includes universal school breakfast and lunches for the Gopher State's schoolchildren - as a clue to what the Democrats should stand for.

And what office would Walz run for if he plans to seek another office, assuming he doesn't run for a third term as governor of Minnesota at the end at the end of next year?  Walz has already ruled out running for Senator Tina Smith's seat, which is up in Minnesota in 2026, and there's no Senate seat up for election in Minnesota in 2028, so what office higher than a state governorship might Walz be looking at, assuming we're not under martial law before the end of the decade?  The Presidency, maybe?

Franklin Roosevelt.  Earl Warren.  They too were failed vice presidential nominees with brilliant futures behind them.