Washington – It wasn’t a short list, but Sen. Chris Murphy was on a John Podesta tally of possible vice presidential candidates, according to a hacked e-mail released by Wikileaks.
Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign, sent his list on March 17 to an e-mail address believed to belong to Hillary Clinton.
He said a group of 39 candidates had made the “first cut” and put into five separate categories, or “food groups.” The e-mail is one of thousands released by Wikileaks.
“Cheryl, Robby, Jake, Huma, Jennifer and I also did a first cut of people to consider for VP. I have organized names in rough food groups,” Podesta wrote.
Murphy was grouped with seven other white males, including Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Kaine was the eventual vice presidential pick.
Murphy’s office had no comment.
Other “food groups” included the names of prominent Latinos, including Rep. Javier Becerra, D-Calif., and Housing Secretary Julian Castro.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., were among a list of possible female candidates, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., among those listed as possible black running mates.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill and Melinda Gates were among a list of entrepreneurs under consideration.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was considered too, in a “food group” by himself.
Podesta wrote that he wanted to run the list by the campaign before additional vetting of the candidates was done.
“Let me know if there are people you would like to see added or removed before we begin the process,” he wrote.
Podesta’s ‘food groups’
Javier Becerra, Julian Castro, Eric Garcetti, Tom Perez, Ken Salazar
Tammy Baldwin, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McKaskill, Jeanne Shaheen Debbie Stabenow, Elizabeth Warren
Michael Bennet, Sherrod Brown, Martin Heinreich, Tim Kaine, Terry McAuliffe, Chris Murphy, Tom Vilsack
Steve Benjamin, Cory Booker, Andrew Gillum, Eric Holder, Deval Patrick, Kasim Reed, Anthony Foxx
John Allen, Bill McCraven, Mike Mullen
Mary Barra, Michael Bloomberg, Ursula Burns, Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Muhtar Kent, Judith Rodin, Howard Schultz
Bernie Sanders