Democrats' newest potential Hillary challenger wouldn't want her to be his vice president
(MSNBC)
Larry Lessig on "Morning Joe."
The latest long-shot presidential contender doesn't think former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is ready — to be his vice president.
Harvard professor Larry Lessig announced this week that he's exploring a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In a novel twist, Lessig promises that if he's elected, he'd resign after passing a major government-reform package. His vice president would then take over as president.
But during a Wednesday "Morning Joe" interview, Lessig replied, "Not yet," when he was asked if Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, could be his ideal running-mate.
"I think it's early for her. She's just begun to describe [her government-reform agenda] and she's got a lot to explain. She comes from a different era," Lessig said. "She hasn't created the confidence yet."
Clinton supports a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United ruling in 2010, which paved the way for so-called super PACs to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in federal elections. But Lessig argued that she isn't being realistic.
"I mean, what's she's talking about … first of all is an amendment to the the Constitution. Well look, it takes two-thirds of Congress to propose an amendment and three-fourths of the states to pass it. Now people are calling me crazy, but who in this picture is crazy: me or someone who's talking about getting two-thirds of Congress to propose such an amendment?" he asked.
As far as his potential vice presidential picks, Lessig said he has "a list." He cited Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Sanders is running his own surging Democratic primary campaign to Clinton's left.
"But it's ultimately the Democratic convention that would do it. But in my view it should be somebody who rallies the Democratic base," he said. "And the sort of people who are doing that really powerfully and effectively now are people like Bernie, people like my senator, Elizabeth Warren, [and] people who get the base excited enough to turn up and vote."
Watch his full MSNBC interview below:
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