Vice President Kamala Harris PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

I’m preparing to watch the second republican debate and here is what I expect: Nikki Haley will emerge as the most viable alternative to Donald Trump.

She checks so many boxes: she is attractive and slim, superficial but important qualities for American voters. She has held an elective office (governor), proving she has strong fund-raising abilities and the wherewithal to rigorously campaign. She has been appointed to an international leadership role at the United Nations, thereby demonstrating her facility to be diplomatic. Her husband is deployed abroad in active military duty, earning her favor amongst the patriotic. She has two children which earns points with the mommy vote. She is well-spoken (her articulateness plays well against anything Trump pronounces). And more importantly, she has the most reasonable approach to resolving the abortion issue than the other Republican candidates.

More checked boxes.

She is a first-generation immigrant American, and in our so-called post racial society (i.e., post Obama elections), the electorate will not denigrate her Indian ethnicity. Will it?

Often said, “it’s the economy,” Nikki is a straight down the party line republican on most issues affecting the economy: energy, government spending, interest rates, worker wages, immigration, etc. Interestingly, she has also declared that she is willing to push back on many of those established policies, especially the standard platform of fiscal conservatism which mostly benefits only the wealthiest.

For all those reasons, I’m sure the Republicans must be giving her a serious twice- over look.

I can’t wait to see how the polls tick up in her favor after the debate.

The conventions are scheduled for July 18 (Republican) and August 19 (Democrat) and I’d like to imagine that Biden will bow out immediately after Trump fails to get his party’s nomination- for good reasons-leaving nearly a month for Democratic candidates to conduct some heavy caucusing.

Exciting.

But wait, while I’m speculating, if Nikki does get the nod for the Republicans, how about Kamala Harris as the alternative Democrat candidate?

Imagine, two women of Indian descent, both seasoned elected officials with similar levels of leadership roles. They also match up in so many other categories (see above listed characteristics) in a contest I’d love to see. But can it happen?

Since they are opposites on just about all the major issues, the choices will be clear.

Why Kamala?

Lately, I’ve noticed how references to the current administration have been relabeled Biden-Harris, incorporated into the daily briefings from the White House and from democratic strategists. We have seen VP Harris appear in strategic spots more frequently around the country, as well as on the campaign trail. Negative news about her office has tamped down. Descriptions of her playing second fiddle have diminished.

None other than the president-maker himself, Sen. James Clyburn, just the other day, described Kamala as having completed her learning on the job, and said she is doing the job of the vice president, and doing it well. Reading between the lines, I heard a high endorsement of Kamala (for president?). But putting all my imaginings and speculations aside, even if Biden is the Democrat Party’s nominee and Kamala remains as his running mate, the Republican party must do better, and offer the American people a better choice than Donald Trump who has already entered the history books for his egregious behavior and his indictments, all unbecoming of the office of President of the United States of America.

Right now, I’m rooting for a few of the Republican candidates who have elevated my hope that we can have worthy, deserving, and more becoming opponents for the nomination.

And regardless of who is on the ticket next November, we must all vote. Vote.