Doubling Down

Contemplating the prospect of a Bill Richardson vice presidential nomination, Ed Kilgore remarks:

Richardson's handicap in the veepstakes, ironically, is part of what made him interesting as a presidential candidate: his Latino identity. Would the first female or first African-American presidential nominee really want to double down by selecting the first Latino vice presidential candidate? It's doubtful, though by no means impossible.

Sentiment against a "double-down" ticket seems strong in this town, but I think it would make perfect sense for Obama to try to re-enforce his message of change and transcendence by picking a red state woman governor like Kathleen Sebelius or Janet Napolitano as his running mate. For Clinton it's harder to see the case for doubling down since it doesn't have the same kind of harmony with her message. At the same time, whatever sexist assumptions people may have about the ability of a women to do the job aren't really going to be alleviated by having a white man in the number two spot, so I don't see huge harm.