Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell offered a frank assessment of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate options.
“There’s no one in my judgment who is outstanding,” Rendell told The Cats Roundtable’s John Catsimatidis on Sunday. “But there’s no one who would violate the basic maxim for picking a vice president: Do no harm.”
Rendell, who was the chairman of the Democratic Party from 1999 to 2001, endorsed Biden, the former two-term vice president and 36-year senator for Delaware, during the primary. Yet, his support for Biden hasn’t stopped him from being candid regarding his weaknesses and those of his primary rivals, too. Rendell, for instance, ripped Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for being a fundraising “hypocrite.”
Biden missed a self-imposed deadline on Aug. 1 to announce his running mate. He’s reportedly still considering Warren, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
While he didn’t think any of the women on Biden’s shortlist were “outstanding,” Rendell conceded the possibilities were “decent.”
“I was rooting for Amy Klobuchar,” Rendell said of the Minnesota senator, who took herself out of contention after George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis, where she was once district attorney. “She would’ve helped us in the Midwestern states that we lost the last time.”
Rendell also cast doubt on Biden’s polling in Pennsylvania.
“In Pennsylvania, the polls generally show Biden with a 9- to 10-point lead, but I don’t believe those polls are correct,” he said. “In 2016, when the polls had Hillary [Clinton] winning Pennsylvania comfortably, I said I was worried because, with Donald Trump, there is an effect with the polls that’s very much like Frank Rizzo, our former mayor in Philadelphia.”
He added, “There were some people who didn’t want to admit to the pollster that they were voting for Frank Rizzo, and that was in effect in 2016.”
