Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Coca-Cola chief executive Muhtar Kent were on a long list of potential vice presidential candidates that Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta sent to the candidate in March, according to a hacked email released Tuesday.
In an email hacked from Podesta's account and posted on Wikileaks, Reed and Kent were among a 39-person running mate list that also included Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and New York businessman Michael Bloomberg.
Podesta sent the list of names to Clinton in March - long before she secured the party's nomination - and called it a "first cut of people to consider for VP." He lumped the names into seven categories. Kent's name was included with other business leaders and philanthropists while Reed was one of seven African-American politicians.
Both Reed and Kent declined to comment on Tuesday.
Reed, a two-term mayor who is one of Clinton's top supporters in Georgia, was long the subject of swirling rumors about a possible vice presidential pick. After he appeared with Clinton at a February campaign event, he said "the only thing I'm focused on is being mayor."
Kent's name is more of a surprise. The Turkish-American businessman, who has been Coke's chief executive since 2008, is a donor to Clinton's campaign and a supporter of the Clinton Global Initiative. But he's not as active in national political circles as some of the other names on Clinton's potential Veep list.
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