A New Name Rises in The Veepstakes

By Kleinheider Posted on July 2, 2008 at 1:49 pm

The GOP fears Obama may pick Dick Gephardt:

Republican strategists trying to game Sen. Barack Obama’s choice for a running mate are focusing more and more on the possibility that he might pick former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, a friend of labor and blue-collar workers. “Gephardt is the one we’re most afraid of,” said a key GOP strategist and Bush ally.

Gephardt has run for the presidency and scored well among the types of voters Obama is trying to reach out to—lower and middle-class workers, laborers, and minorities. Another strategist said that Gephardt presents a friendly face of liberalism that would be hard to attack. He also has a deep well of support among House Democrats, who they believe would rally around an Obama-Gephardt ticket, especially the allies of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

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