Hillary Clinton Now With 8/1 Odds of Becoming VP: Evan Bayh Favorite
It's Evan Bayh who will be selected Vice Presidential running mate to Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton. So say the folks at BetUS.com who released updated Veepstakes odds on Tuesday. In fact, BetUS.com is so confident that Even Bayh will be selected as Obama's VP that they have made him the 7/5 odds favorite (paying $7 for every $5 bet) and these are the shortest odds offered thus far for either Democratic or Republican Vice Presidential running mate.
Hillary Clinton provided the very best value - offering a payout of 8/1 or $8 for every $1 bet.
But Mr. Bayh's advocacy for the war could complicate his prospects for getting on the ticket, according to a report filed by the New York Times on Tuesday.
Mr. Bayh, 52, is a telegenic moderate Democrat, a father of twins entering their teens, an experienced politician who in 2006 briefly flirted with a presidential run before endorsing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. The son of a senator, Mr. Bayh was a popular two-term governor who could make Indiana, typically rock-solid Republican in presidential contests, a competitive state and appeal to blue-collar Democrats who have been slow to embrace Mr. Obama.
Mr. Bayh's support of authorizing force in Iraq stands in sharp contrast to Mr. Obama's oft-stated view that he showed the good judgment to oppose the conflict from the start. After his vote, Mr. Bayh in early 2003 joined Mr. McCain as an honorary co-chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which made regime change in Iraq its central cause.
"He was not only wrong, he was aggressively wrong," said Tom Andrews, national director of the Win Without War coalition, referring to Mr. Bayh. "In my view, he would contradict if not undermine the Obama message of change, turning a new page on foreign policy and national security."
Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana is the flavour of the week, according to Canadian paper, the Globe and Mail.
He fills many of the traditional qualifications for a vice-president: He's from Indiana, which would increase the Democrats' chances of taking this battleground state from the Republicans, and he supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries, so his nomination might help unify the party. At a campaign appearance in Elkhart, Ind., last week, in which Mr. Bayh introduced Mr. Obama, the two of them looked good together on the stage.
The knock against him comes from the pundit Dick Morris, a former Clinton adviser turned Clinton-hater. "I worked hard to get him [Mr. Bayh] the keynote speech at the 1996 Democratic convention," Mr. Morris wrote in his Web commentary. But instead of taking on the Republicans, Mr. Morris complained, "he gave a forgettable and self-serving series of bromides that did him and Clinton very little good."
But it is still Hillary Clinton who remains an excellent value pick, even better than in previous weeks. At 8/1 odds it's important to remind Gambling911.com readers that Mrs. Clinton did garner some 18 million votes in the primaries and has a loyal following.
"Everybody's got a problem," said Rutgers University political science professor Gerald Pomper. "There's no perfect candidate."
But Hillary Clinton's problem (or problems) might be worth any headaches that come with her selection as running mate to Obama. She could potential seal the deal for the junior Senator out of Illinois.
BetUS.com odds on the Democratic Vice President candidate appear below
DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE
Hillary Clinton 8/1
Bill Richardson 10/1
Ted Strickland 50/1
Kathleen Sebelius 7/1
Evan Bayh 7/5
Wesley Clark 15/1
Joseph Biden 13/2
Christopher Dodd 8/1
Jim Webb 40/1
Michael Bloomberg 45/1
Al Gore 25/1
Mark Warner 25/1
Janet Napolitano 35/1
Ed Rendell 25/1
Sam Nunn 18/1
Tim Kaine 7/5
Brian Schweitzer 30/1
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
