Just about everybody has begun specualting who Barack Obama and John McCain will choose to be their running mates. The candidate list includes all kinds of politicians from governors to former presidential candidates.
Sam Ikard, a junior at the University of Oklahoma, is a Vice President himself. Last semester he was elected VP of OU’s Young Democrats chapter. Sam is a Political Science major and says that he is always keeping track of national politics.
“I think McCain and Obama will announce very soon. McCain, especially, should announce in the next week or two. The Olympics begin on August 8th and run all the way up to the Democratic National Convention. So if he wants to grab media, he needs to do it before the Olympics become the main focus on television. Obama needs to announce relatively soon since the convention is about a month away and he also has to deal with the Olympics in that period,” Sam said
Sam interned in College Station, Texas for Obama for America during his spring semester. He said he enjoyed working for a cause he cares a lot about. Sam discussed who he thought would be the ‘perfect’ runningmate for Sen. Obama.
“I think Obama will pick someone that will help him have more credibility of national security and foreign policy. Personally, I think Bill Richardson or Joe Biden would be great VP candidates. Richardson has lots of executive experience as Governor of New Mexico and foreign policy experience as a UN Ambassador. He'd help get out more Latino voters in key states in the West. There's also talk about Tim Kaine, Governor of Virginia. He would be used to hopefully help bring Virginia back to the Dems for the first time since LBJ in 1964. I, however, think whoever it is, it won't be about the electoral map, but more about increasing credentials to trust in an Obama administration.”
This might be the week that Sam and the rest of the country finds out which politician will be the right man for the job, but this week is important to Sam for local reasons as well. Sam has been working all summer in the campaign office for Andrew Rice who is running for a U.S. Senate seat.
“I'm working all over the state. I'd say it helps with bringing local politics into the picture more because that is what a lot of this race is about,” Sam said.
Sam said he has enjoyed his summer intern so much that he is going to stay during the fall semester. He said he is taking only 12 credits at school because he knows the fall electoin period will be busy. Sam said he was more worried about gas money than with his school loan.
“Both elections this fall will be very excited to be a part of,” Sam said, “And this week is just the beginning.”