Amid consistent polling showing Democratic nominee Joe Biden with a yawning lead, insiders are starting to game out the question that comes after a win: What would a Biden administration look like?
Sunday night’s reporting from Axios offered the latest glimpse of a Biden administration: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being pushed as attorney general, the outlet reported.
Cuomo has already thrown water on the prospect, saying this morning he has “No interest in going to Washington.” But this begins a whole round of speculation. If Cuomo doesn’t want it, then who?
Back in August 2016, when then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton led in the polls, Politico gamed out an entire Clinton Cabinet (with multiple names per role) including Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper for interior secretary and then-Labor Secretary Tom Perez, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm or Preet Bharara for attorney general. At the time, the Clinton campaign said such speculation was premature.
This time around, speculation doesn’t seem quite so rampant. Despite Biden’s growing and persistent lead in the polls, his campaign is proceeding cautiously – Democrats are desperate not to get too confident only to lose again. And too much speculation or measuring the drapes could play into that.
But we do have a couple of nuggets to mull: In August, Politico reported that a would-be Biden administration could draw on both the former vice president’s connections from the Obama administration and progressive members of the Democratic Party. At the time, names floated included Sen. Elizabeth Warren for treasury secretary, Susan Rice for secretary of state, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for HUD secretary, Rep. Karen Bass for HUD or health and human services, and Pete Buttigieg for UN ambassador or VA secretary.
Warren came up again in CNBC’s reporting in September.
The Point: Speculation around his AG pick is a reminder – with Biden leading nationally, people are starting to ask who would staff his administration.