Ed Rendell: Hillary Clinton VP Pick Should Be Tom Vilsack
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has weighed in with his top choice to be Hillary Clinton's Vice-Presidential Candidate and it is Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Rendell told Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that Vilsack checks all the necessary boxes for him.
"He would be my choice. He was a terrific Governor of Iowa. A two term Governor, so he knows how to run things. He was born in western Pennsylvania and he still has a following in the Pittsburgh area, which would be helpful to us. He's been a great Secretary of Agriculture. I think most American farm groups like him better than any Secretary of Agriculture in either party for the last 20 or 30 years. He's been the Secretary of Agriculture for the entire Presidency of President Obama. He's a tough guy. He's strong. He's a good campaigner. He's got a terrifically energetic and attractive wife. I think he'd be a very good candidate and he has no liabilities."
He also believes a very wide swath of Democrats will be satisfied if Vilsack is indeed the pick.
"He's somewhere between moderate and flat out progressive. I think he was a progressive Governor in the things that he did in a state like Iowa, which is certainly a purple state and has a legislature that's not going to allow tremendously progressive initiatives, but I think he moved the ball forward. He was certainly a liberal and he was progressive in most of his policies, but he wasn't way out there. He wasn't as far out as Bernie or Elizabeth Warren."