WASHINGTON (NYTIMES) – With former Vice-President Joe Biden now holding an all but insurmountable lead over Senator Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary contest, many Democrats have shifted their attention to a favourite quadrennial parlour game: the vice-presidential search.

Biden has shown his hand in a big and unusual way for a front-runner, saying he would pick a woman as a running mate. That has opened the path for Democratic officials to start picking favourites – from a socially safe distance.

In discussions with The Times since Biden’s big primary victories on Tuesday, 60 Democratic National Committee (DNC) members and congressional and party leaders most frequently proposed three former rivals of Biden as his running mate – Senator Kamala Harris of California, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Next up was Stacey Abrams, a former state House leader whose defeat in 2018 Georgia governor’s race remains disputed by many in the party.

Other popular suggestions included Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Representative Val Demings of Florida. The Democrats interviewed also proposed seven other women, including Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico.

While de facto presidential nominees typically keep their list of potential running mates closely held, Biden has helped fuel speculation by eagerly rattling off names for months – nearly all of them women. Even his wife, Jill, offered her take in a private fundraiser earlier this month, praising Klobuchar and criticising Harris’ debate stage attack on her husband last summer.

Biden, at various points, has suggested he might choose Abrams, Klobuchar, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire or Sally Yates, the former assistant attorney general whom President Donald Trump fired three years ago.

A female vice president would be historic: Only two women – Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York in 1984 and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska in 2008 – have been nominated, and none have ever served in the White House. That barrier-breaking appeal could give Biden’s candidacy a shot of energy, an acknowledgement of the role women have played in boosting the party during the Trump era.

Prominent Democratic activists, officials and leaders have been vocal with their desires that the ticket include a woman, after the demise of the last major female candidate, Warren, who ended her campaign two weeks ago.

“I’ve been predicting a woman on the ticket since 2017 and demanding it since Warren dropped out,” said Christine Pelosi, a DNC member from San Francisco and the daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“It’s really important to have the ability to lead America in the depression we will enter if we don’t flatten the curve and find a cure. The best pick is the woman Joe or Bernie trusts the most to be president and commander-in-chief.”

Some of the party’s most liberal members and supporters of Sanders suggested that choosing Warren, a fellow liberal, would help Biden appeal to the progressive and young voters who have backed the Vermont senator in the primary. Choosing a moderate like Klobuchar, they say, would dampen general election enthusiasm.

“Whoever ends up the nominee should pick Senator Warren,” said Tefere Gebre, a DNC member from Maryland who is executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. “I would be less enthusiastic if it’s the senator from Minnesota.”

Yet, with the coronavirus upending every part of American society, including the presidential campaign, Biden may be forced to deviate from the standard playbook.

Biden’s running mate pick will be viewed through the lens of a public health and economic crisis, perhaps raising the stock of candidates who have more experience, or pushing him to consider someone from outside of government.

“You could imagine some highly successful person from a different walk of life being considered, and that could expand the list a lot,” said John Podesta, who as Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman was involved in her vice-presidential search. “A college president or a medical professional, somebody who would send a pretty powerful signal that what you care about is strength, performance, a commitment to facts and sound decision-making.”

Biden’s campaign said it was beginning to build a team to conduct a “vigorous vetting process.” Some close to the campaign say the team is in the early stages of compiling a list of potential running mates and then will vet them. Beyond his own experience as Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden has a deep bench of aides to consult. One of his closest advisers, Ron Klain, helped do vice-presidential vetting for Al Gore in 2000.

For Biden, 77, a much younger woman could assuage concerns about his age and critiques about a primary process that started with the most diverse field in history and ended with two white men.

Biden’s campaign hopes the early announcement that he would select a woman will give his operation a shot of enthusiasm from voters, even as the presidential election heads into a deep freeze because of the coronavirus. On Thursday, his campaign sent a fundraising appeal asking supporters to “commit to standing with” Biden and his future female running mate.

By announcing he will pick a woman, Biden is aiming to give his ticket a modern-day balance in a party focused on issues of racial and gender representation. Past nominees have chosen running mates who provided geographic diversity (Lloyd Bentsen in 1988) or offered the promise of winning a key state (Ryan, from Wisconsin, in 2012). Obama, just four years into his Senate term, chose Biden in 2008 to ease concerns about his own relative lack experience and help appeal to white working-class voters.

Presidential candidates rarely place public restrictions on their pick, preferring to keep options open so they can pivot their selection to suit the shifting dynamics of the campaign. Veterans of past vice-presidential searches said the most important elements have been how comfortable the nominees are with their would-be partners.

In an interview earlier this month, Biden cited his close relationship with Obama as a model for his selection process, saying the president was able to trust him with key pieces of his agenda.

“For me, the most important thing in choosing a vice president is whether or not the person is simpatico with me in terms of where I want to take the country,” he said. “It’s really important that the next president is able to do what Barack was able to do with me.”

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