In newspaperland, it's the season of ranking the year's top films, songs, shows, photos and news events, as well as crystal ball-gazing.
A Washington Post version of the looking-ahead game is a "2020 Power Ranking" series in the opinion section that's a campaign version of horse racing odds, only with higher stakes.
The latest installment switches from handicapping Democratic presidential candidates and turns to "something totally different: analysis of the horse race to become the Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee!"
Post pundits list "the 15 people with the best shot at the VP nomination." Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer snags the No. 9 spot, right after Elizabeth Warren.
Columnist Karen Tumulty calls her "a Democratic superstar in the making [who] would be a huge asset to the ticket in the Midwest. She's a pragmatic problem-solver."
Whitmer is among nine women and six men considered in a rundown that starts with Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Stacey Abrams of Georgia, in that order. Two other governors rank below the Michiganian -- Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island.
This weekend's journalistic exercise includes an acknowledgement that everyone below the top two names is a longshot. "All but one of the candidates remaining on the debate stage are white," opinion writer Jennifer Rubin notes. "That strongly suggests the VP will not be white."
