Will Joe Biden's chosen running mate turn him down?

Now we're told Joe Biden will announce his selected vice presidential running mate NEXT week. But what if he decides to go for Senator Kamala Harris and she says no thank you. She would be an excellent running mate as I have said from the very beginning. But now someone who knows her and in fact used to date her, briefly, has come out of the woodwork to say that if she wants to be president some day, being Biden's vice president would be a disastrous move. Well, it's the old argument isn't it? Vice presidents on the whole go nowhere after being the Number Two, and during the time they are in the White House as the boss's deputy they don't seem to do very much except look supportive. Like Mike Pence now. There are exceptions. George HW Bush was vice president and rose to the top job. And Dick Cheney was the most powerful and influential vice president in the history of American politics but only because George W Bush let him. Would Joe Biden allow or want Kamala Harris to be super-powerful in his administration? I seriously doubt it. But of course in her case there is one factor that can't be ignored. Biden is 77 and he may not want to be an eight-year president - or be capable healthwise of doing two terms. In which case Kamala Harris would have a sporting chance to win the top job. But by 2024 she would be facing some pretty big guns from the Republican Party, notably Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio and, I suppose, Mike Pence. Her only guaranteed chance of being president would be if Biden keeled over and had a heart attack or was generally too ill to perform the duties of chief executive. But let's not finish off poor old Joe and speculate on his early demise. He looks pretty slim and healthy and I hope he lives a long and fruitful life whether he becomes president or not. Kamala Harris or whoever becomes the running mate cannot count on anything bad happening to Biden and it would be grossly disrespectful and unseemly to have such thoughts. So it's back to the old old argument. Will being chosen for the vice presidential running mate role be the kiss of political death for Kamala Harris? Her former boyfriend (briefly!) ex-Mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown says she would be better off going for the job of attorney general. If she did well in that post it would be a good platform for her for a go at the presidency in 2024. My advice? If Biden asks you to be his running mate, say yes, Kamala, but if Biden wins in November, don't do the job like Mike Pence. Be a star in the land.