CBS This Morning anchor and Barack Obama donor Gayle King gushed over Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams on Tuesday morning, saying the former state legislator and failed gubernatorial candidate is "extremely qualified" to be vice president of the United States.
Abrams is openly lobbying to serve as Joe Biden's running mate come November, despite never being elected to any office beyond the state legislature. As she touted her voting rights work and "competence and skills and willingness to serve," King cut in to praise her as ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
"That's a great nuts and bolts answer because everybody knows you're extremely qualified," King said. "I'm looking for something about Stacey Abrams the person. Why is she a good choice and have you had any talks at all with the Biden team?"
Abrams said she had communicated with the Biden team on improving voting infrastructure. She added that she would continue to focus on election reform, whether she is tapped as his running mate or not.
King has not let her role as a journalist stop her from publicly championing her friends within Democratic and liberal circles, such as Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Barack and Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey. She is so close with Booker that she joked in 2012 that "no boinking" had occurred when the two hung out for an evening. She also donated $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2011 before she joined CBS News that same year.
She admitted in a Washington Post profile last year that she would not betray one of her friendships to get a scoop. For instance, she said she knew Booker would run for president before he officially announced it, but she didn't break the story. King vacationed in 2017 with the Obamas, but she has claimed that her recreational trips were "not political" and thus not unethical.
Abrams has never held a position higher than House minority leader in the Georgia legislature, but she frequently expresses eagerness to run on the 2020 presidential ticket. She became a national Democratic star after her narrow loss in the 2018 Georgia governor's race, which she has blamed on disputed claims of voter suppression.
She told Elle magazine in an article published April 15 that her credentials for vice president included "25 years in independent study of foreign policy."
Outside of her political career, Abrams is a noted romance novelist, publishing several books under the pen name "Selena Montgomery." CBS is currently adapting one of her novels, Never Tell, into a TV drama.
Biden has pledged to choose a woman as his running mate. He's also reportedly considering Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), among others.