Every major media outlet, and many of the smaller ones, carried the news Tuesday that Kamala Harris had chosen Minnesota’s governor as her running mate and potential vice-president. Most of them opted for the same angle: that few Americans voters had ever heard of Tim Walz and would have to be introduced to him.

It’s a logical enough approach, and absolutely true. So true, in fact, that you could write the same thing about most running mates chosen by most presidential candidates in most U.S. elections as far back as, say … forever. I’m not aware that Mike Pence was nationally famous before Donald Trump recruited him in his first bid for the White House. Nor was Tim Kaine (Hillary Clinton) Dick Cheney (the second George Bush), Dan Quayle (the first George Bush), John Edwards (John Kerry) or Sarah Palin (John McCain) though Palin, for one, did succeed in quickly making an impression for herself.