The campaign to put Julian Castro on Hillary Clinton's VP shortlist

Politico

By Gabriel Debendetti and Annie Karni

June 4, 2015

The campaign to put Julian Castro on Hillary Clinton's VP shortlist

The Democratic National Convention isn’t for 13 months, and Hillary Clinton isn’t the party’s nominee, but some Hispanic Democratic leaders are already pushing hard for Julián Castro to be her running mate — or at least a top contender for the job.

The former San Antonio mayor and current housing secretary was in Washington while Clinton raised money in his hometown on Wednesday, but his name is on the minds and lips of Democrats close to the Clinton camp as the presidential front-runner crosses Texas for campaign fundraisers and a Houston speech on Thursday.

The flashy trial balloon and Castro’s innate appeal have likely ensured the Mexican-American Cabinet member a place on Clinton’s vice presidential long list if she wins the nomination, Democrats close to Clinton said. But Castro hardly has any relationship with the candidate herself, and the effort has gotten a mixed reception at best.

Democrats say it’s far too early for this conversation — arguing that it’s unproductive to talk about a general election ticket when Clinton is battling three other declared Democratic candidates and the ever-present perception of inevitability.

What’s more, several Democrats warned, Castro’s backers run the risk of overplaying their strong hand.

“If I were Julián Castro I’d be worried,” said one Clinton ally with an eye on Democrats’ efforts to woo Hispanic voters. “Others who are in his corner need to dial down those effusive musings.”

Still, there’s a political logic in letting the pro-Castro drumbeat go on.

Clinton’s campaign sees Hispanic voters as crucial to her success, both in swing states like Florida and early-voting states like Nevada, where the candidate last month unveiled an immigration agenda that surprised even the Obama White House with its scope and aggressiveness.

And Castro, an engaging speaker and a fresh young face at 40, would make it somewhat harder for Republicans to paint the 67-year-old Clinton as the candidate of the past.

Former HUD secretary and San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros ratcheted up the Castro speculation with a recent appearance on Univision, the Spanish-language channel owned by close Clinton ally Haim Saban.

“What I am hearing in Washington, including from people in Hillary Clinton’s campaign, is that the first person on their lists is Julián Castro,” Cisneros, who was considered for the vice presidency in 1984, said. “He is the superior candidate considering his record, personality, demeanor and Latin heritage.”

Castro has largely played along, despite telling a Washington audience, “I’m not holding my breath” on Wednesday. He called Republican questions about Clinton’s private email address a “witch hunt” last month, and Cisneros — who said he has spoken to Bill Clinton about Castro — laughed when asked by POLITICO whether Castro wanted to be considered for the position.

“Is he a red-blooded American male?” Cisneros asked rhetorically. “I would be hard-pressed to imagine a scenario where a Latino, and particularly Julián Castro, was not on that short list. It makes so much sense.”

Cisneros is just one of several prominent Hispanic leaders who are promoting Castro.

Democratic National Committee Finance Chairman Henry Muñoz told BuzzFeed in May that Castro “deserves to be on the short list,” and New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who was born in Puerto Rico, said the concerted effort from Hispanic leaders to promote Castro reminded her of the united rally around Sonia Sotomayor when she was under consideration for a Supreme Court nod.

Clinton and Castro haven’t spoken since they appeared together on a panel in Washington in April, but people close to the campaign acknowledged that it’s politically useful for the candidate to keep his name in the public conversation, long before her operation formally starts vetting prospects. That way she can implicitly emphasize to Hispanic voters that she is taking their concerns about representation seriously.

“A lot of Latino Democrats are concerned about what happens if Marco Rubio becomes the [Republican nominee], or Jeb Bush, or even if Scott Walker becomes the nominee and he chooses Rubio to be the VP,” said a Democratic strategist close to the Clinton camp, adding that many see Castro as an easy solution to the dilemma.

And while the early pro-Castro campaign is risky, it effectively ensures he will be considered seriously when it comes time for Clinton to choose a running mate, assuming she wins the nomination.

“There’s an entire art to getting yourself on the list,” explained California Democratic strategist Chris Lehane, a veteran of Bill Clinton’s White House who helped to vet Al Gore. “There’s value to being talked about.”

“But at the end of the day,” Lehane said, “there are really two factors: How does the [candidate] really personally feel about the person who is going to be the No. 2, and the single biggest factor is: Is the person ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? That’s a ‘You know it when you see it’ issue.”

The answer to the first question could change as Clinton travels the country, especially if Castro emerges as a campaign surrogate, considering that the two have met only a handful of times and that he is actually closer to Bill Clinton than to Hillary.

But Lehane’s second question — and Castro’s inexperience — is giving some Washington Democrats pause.

The HUD secretary has been in Washington for less than a year after running San Antonio from 2009 to 2014, and Democratic staffers and lobbyists in the capital arched eyebrows and whispered about Castro’s policy chops following what they saw as his inelegant performances on “The Daily Show” and in congressional budget hearings this year.

Some Democrats told POLITICO that Castro would be a better candidate four years down the road and that Clinton might face serious trouble if she were to put him on the ticket.

“Yes, he’s a rising star, and people even talk about him being the first Latino president,” said the Democratic strategist allied with Clinton. “But now is just not the time, in this day and age when people are looking for real presidential experience. [President Barack] Obama was on the receiving end of charges of not being prepared.”

“John McCain chose Sarah Palin and was bashed for that,” she added. “She has more experience than [Castro] does.”

Castro, at least in public, coyly dismisses the veep buzz, telling CNN recently, “If I had a dime for every amount of speculation that happens in D.C., you know, I think all of us would be wealthy.”

But the public nature of the pro-Castro campaign has nonetheless rubbed some Clinton allies and staffers the wrong way: One Democratic campaign veteran who is in frequent contact with Clinton’s top donors said such a high-profile effort all but ensures that Castro will have a harder time getting through the eventual vetting process.

And it has also functioned to bring other vice presidential contenders to the public eye. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper recently announced he has an autobiography coming out around the time the vice presidential conversation may be heating up, and many Clinton loyalists are enamored of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, widely considered the front-runner for the post.

But the fact remains that Clinton’s team views courting the Hispanic vote as a top priority as she looks to replicate Obama’s electoral success with minorities. Clinton’s decision to unveil her immigration policy in Nevada was no mere happenstance, and when she returns to the state later this month she will speak at conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Even so, Castro’s ethnic background may not be as effective in appealing to Hispanic voters as some believe. As one Clinton ally put it: “Tim Kaine speaks Spanish much better than Julián Castro does.”

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