Leaked Email: Clinton Looked to Tech World During VP Search

Hillary Clinton may have picked America's dad Tim Kaine as her running mate, but in an alternate universe her veep was one of America's tech giants. A leaked email sent by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and released by WikiLeaks Tuesday names Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple CEO Tim Cook as potential vice presidential candidates, USA Today reports. According to Fortune, the email was sent by Podesta to Clinton in March as a "first cut of people to consider for VP." The email includes 39 names, including Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Michael Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders, Melinda Gates, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Clinton was asked to add or remove names before vetting started.

The list of potential running mates shows the Clinton campaign was considering a businessperson, which would be a break with vice presidential tradition. It's unclear if any of the least traditional picks—Cook, Schultz, the Gateses—made it to the vetting stage. Gizmodo, which has the full email, points out that Cook "would have been a historic vice-presidential nomination" as a gay man. (Though Apple and its shareholders probably wouldn't want to see him leave.) The 39 names in the email were separated into what Podesta called "rough food groups." Sanders, the final name on the list, was apparently a "food group" of his own. The Clinton campaign has yet to confirm the authenticity of any of the emails released by WikiLeaks. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)