JUDY WOODRUFF: As the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge, many questions remain
about how next month's Democratic National Convention will work in a time of social distancing.
But, as Lisa Desjardins reports, the biggest question remains, who will share the spotlight
with Joe Biden?
LISA DESJARDINS: What started as a debate stage in March...
JOSEPH BIDEN (D), Presidential Candidate: I would pick a woman to be my vice president.
LISA DESJARDINS: ... has put a new twist on a time-honored campaign parlor game: Which
Democratic woman will Joe Biden pick as his presidential running mate?
Around a dozen candidates have been on his rumored short list, including Senators Elizabeth
Warren, Kamala Harris, and Tammy Duckworth, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Congresswomen Val Demings and Karen Bass, Governor Michelle
Lujan Grisham, and several others.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): I'm honored to be back in North Carolina, at least virtually.
LISA DESJARDINS: Many of the potential picks have already hit the virtual campaign trail.
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): I think it's important to have people in leadership like
Joe Biden.
LISA DESJARDINS: And Biden has moved on to the final round of interviews, and is set
to make his choice public soon.
JOSEPH BIDEN: I'm going to have a choice in the first week in August.
LISA DESJARDINS: It is, after all, just two weeks until Democrats hold their next convention,
a scaled-back event, with Biden speaking in Milwaukee.
And August marks exactly 100 years since women won the right to vote.
MAN: Geraldine Ferraro!
LISA DESJARDINS: Whichever woman Biden chooses will just be second in Democratic Party history;
36 years ago, New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro joined the ticket with Walter Mondale.
GERALDINE FERRARO, Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate: By choosing a woman to run for
our nation's second highest office, you send a powerful signal to all Americans: There
are no doors we cannot unlock.
DONNA ZACCARO, Daughter of Geraldine Ferraro: My mother felt incredible responsibility.
LISA DESJARDINS: Ferraro's daughter Donna Zaccaro later produced a movie about her mother's
run as the first woman on a major-party presidential ticket.
DONNA ZACCARO: There was huge pressure. If she did a good job, then she would be opening
the doors of opportunity. If she didn't do a good job, she thought it could be disastrous.
LISA DESJARDINS: It was more than 20 years before another woman accepted a major party
nomination for V.P., 2008, This time, it was a Republican, Sarah Palin, who was breaking
barriers.
SARAH PALIN, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate: Do you know they say the difference
between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.
(LAUGHTER)
LISA DESJARDINS: That same year, Biden himself underwent the closely guarded process surrounding
V.P. selection, emerging as Barack Obama's running mate.
JOSEPH BIDEN: This is his time. This is our time. This is America's time!
LISA DESJARDINS: Those around Biden say that 2008 experience and his eight years in the
White House profoundly shape how he will make his choice now.
BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: Joe Biden.
LISA DESJARDINS: Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware co-chairs
the V.P. selection committee.
REP. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER (D-DE): He is looking for someone who is not only qualified and
competent, but is as -- his word is simpatico.
LISA DESJARDINS: There are dozens of considerations, from personal chemistry, to who best balances
out Biden's potential shortcomings, to who can help win in battleground states.
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, Former Biden Chief of Staff: I think he's looking for a true partner.
LISA DESJARDINS: Patti Solis Doyle was Biden's chief of staff during the 2008 campaign.
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE: He's looking for someone that only that he likes, but that he trusts,
and who can maybe do some of the things that he's not so great at. He's looking for someone
who can actually govern with him, in a situation where the country is in dire straits.
LISA DESJARDINS: A recent Politico/Morning Consult poll found 54 percent of people say
the V.P. nominee will have no impact on their vote.
MEGHAN STABLER, Biden Delegate to DNC: I'm not as aligned to, it has to be this person,
and, if you don't pick this person, you're not going to get my vote. I'm more into, we
need to put America back on the right track.
TONY MORGAN, Warren Delegate to DNC: Oh, I'm definitely voting for Joe Biden. He is the
only viable candidate to beat Trump.
LISA DESJARDINS: Biden also has called himself a transition candidate. And some Democratic
voters say the person he chooses this year matters more, because Biden would be the oldest
president ever sworn in. He is more vulnerable to the coronavirus. And it's not clear he
would run for a second term, regardless of health.
CESAR ALVAREZ, Biden Delegate to DNC: I think who he chooses is really going to elevate
his running mate not just to be his running mate for 2020, but I think definitely sets
them up to surely be on the national stage for some time.
VICTOR SHI, Biden Delegate to DNC: The vice president is a really good way for him to
reach out to people who may be undecided and really make people feel like their voices
are heard in politics.
LISA DESJARDINS: Biden is also facing growing pressure from some people to pick a woman
of color, including from Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was at one point on the
potential V.P. list.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket.
LISA DESJARDINS: Those calls come as race and justice issues have taken center stage
in the campaign, after nationwide protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd.
Black women are the most reliable and loyal voting bloc for Democratic candidates. Nearly
95 percent voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
AIMEE ALLISON, Founder, She the People: We have never been here before, we black women,
never. We have never been on the short list for V.P., never.
LISA DESJARDINS: Aimee Allison is the founder of She the People, a group that advocates
for women of color in politics.
AIMEE ALLISON: A lot of us believe that a black woman on the ticket will help to increase
enthusiasm, demonstrate that Joe Biden's governance is going to include us, is going to see us,
and that we have a place at the top of the ticket.
LISA DESJARDINS: Biden has already said women of color will play a big role in his administration
and that several are on his V.P. short list.
JOSEPH BIDEN: I am not committed to naming any but the people I have named, and, among
them, there are four black women.
LISA DESJARDINS: There is, of course, a wide universe of women whom Biden could choose,
with names rising and falling daily, but only a few days now until one gets on the ticket.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.