An interesting email from Hilary Clinton’s campaign chairperson John Podesta has cropped up on WikiLeaks (via The Verge). The site that specializes in analyzing and publishing otherwise confidential documents revealed that the campaign was considering a list of almost forty individuals for vice presidency.
Among the names, separated by “food groups”, are some technological leaders. Co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates and his philanthropist wife Melinda Gates were both listed as potential candidates. It’s also worth noting that Apple CEO Tim Cook was on there as well.
Here’s the email in full:
From:[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2016-03-17 17:21
Subject:
Ok, I can breathe again! Congrats on a fabulous night.
I am feeling like it’s possible to get back to the longer term again.
Cheryl and I met with Jim Hamilton on Friday to discuss lawyers who can help do the research and vetting that I outlined in the VP vet memo we discussed. We also met with Marc Elias to get his input on firms that have already provided substantial volunteer lawyer assistance and to get prepared to execute non-disclosure agreements with anyone we involve in the process.
We put together the attached notional teams of “report writers” (confidential profiles/public record vet) and “vettors” (deep-dive/oppo-book), and want to run it by you before we execute on the list. Let me know if there are people you would like to see added or removed before we begin the process.
Cheryl, Robby, Jake, Huma, Jennifer and I also did a first cut of people to consider for VP. I have organized names in rough food groups.
Javier Becerra
Julian Castro
Eric Garcetti
Tom Perez
Ken SalazarTammy Baldwin
Kirsten Gillibrand
Amy Klobuchar
Claire McKaskill
Jeanne Shaheen
Debbie Stabenow
Elizabeth WarrenMichael Bennet
Sherrod Brown
Martin Heinreich
Tim Kaine
Terry McAuliffe
Chris Murphy
Tom VilsackSteve Benjamin
Corey Booker
Andrew Gillum
Eric Holder
Deval Patrick
Kasim Reed
Anthony FoxxJohn Allen
Bill McCraven
Mike MullenMary Barra
Michael Bloomberg
Ursula Burns
Tim Cook
Bill Gates
Melinda Gates
Muhtar Kent
Judith Rodin
Howard SchultzBernie Sanders
Obviously, the email is out of date as of now being written in March 2016. As of July, Clinton chose Tim Kaine (who was on the list too) to be her running mate. However, it’s fascinating that Bill Gates would have been considered vice president material to stand next to Hilary Clinton.
What do you think about the email’s potential candidates? Do you believe Bill Gates would have made a good vice president? We want to hear your thoughts so leave a comment in the section below.
