To help her reach a decision on who to pick as a running mate, Hillary Clinton’s team separated three dozen Democrats into seven “food groups,” according to hacked emails recently released by WikiLeaks.
Although the seven food groups weren’t named, the people in each list suggest there was a food group for Latinos, a white, female senator food group, a white dude food group (full of mostly early backers), a food group of black men, a national security food group, a Titans of Industry and philanthropist food group—and a group with just Bernie Sanders served à la carte.
“For our call tomorrow… I did a first cut of people worth considering,” wrote Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta to Cheryl Mills, a longtime Clinton aide, in March. “They are organized in rough food groups.”
One noticeable omission from the list was former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (as owner and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. and as a Jewish person, he could have added some spice to several food groups!). According to a follow up email, Bloomberg didn’t make the cut over a 12th Amendment concern.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti was included in the Latino food group, which means Podesta eventually solved one mystery.
“Did we figure out whether he is italian or latino,” Podesta asked a top aide in 2008. Actually, Garcetti has a diverse ancestry that includes Latin, Italian and Jewish. It’s unclear why Podesta was curious, but Garcetti’s ancestry has confused people for years.
The only list that had both ethnic and gender diversity was the list of business leaders and philanthropists, which placed Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-founder Melinda Gates, General Motors CEO and chairwoman Mary Barra, Xerox CEO and chairwoman Ursula Burns (who is black) and Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin (who is Jewish) alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook, the richest man in the world and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Starbucks CEO and chairman Howard Schultz (who is Jewish).
Latinos: Garcetti, Former Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar (who instead got a gig on Clinton’s transition team), California congressman Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de Leon..
White female senators: Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, Missouri’s Claire McCaskill (who worked hard to get off of Clinton’s grudge list), Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen, Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow and, of course, Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren.
White guys who were also mostly early backers: Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Senator Martin Heinrich (who is widely considered one of the biggest heartthrobs in Congress), and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia (who was the food chosen as Clinton’s VP pick).
Black men: Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Columbia mayor Steve Benjamin, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum, and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
National security: Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired Navy admiral, William McRaven, another retired Navy admiral and former head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, and John Allen, a retired Marine Corps four-star general and former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
#feelthebern: Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
