Mage/healer duo - Druid, Shaman or Cleric?

[Vexenu]

I've been thinking of a starting up a Mage/healer duo to help introduce a new player to the game, but I'm a bit torn over which healer class (Dru, Shm or Cleric) to pair with the Mage. A strong case can be made for all three depending on how you want to play the duo. I've leveled a Mage and have some experience duoing with each healing class, but am interested in hearing from those who have leveled a Mage/healer duo from scratch and/or who have duoed extensively 55+. Also, I'm not interested in a Necro, Ench or other class to duo with the Mage, so no need to suggest the merits of anything else. It will be one of the healers and the Mage.

From my perspective, the pros and cons of each (ignoring commonalities shared by all three, i.e. root):

Druid:
+ SoW
+ Ports
+ Snare
+ Charm
+ Nukes
+ Regen
+ Harmony outdoors
- Weaker 50+
- DS overlaps with Mage
- Charming constantly is annoying (personal opinion)
- Weak buffs
- Weakest overall healing (no slow or CH)
- DE/Hum Cleric and Troll Shm have access to snare neck to use as needed, providing a lesser but passable version of an important Druid ability

Shaman:
+ SoW
+ Good buffs for pet
+ Slow is amazing, especially 45+
+ Lots of mana for heals
+ Pet for added DPS/offtanking
+ Regen
+ DoTs and decent nukes (esp epic + JBB for mana free damage)
- Fairly weak pre-34, Torpor not until 60
- Very expensive to gear high-end
- Haste is useless for Mage pet with superior Burnout
- Constant cannidancing/very active playstyle gets annoying (personal opinion)
- Slow significantly decreases effectiveness of Mage DS (reduces kill speed)

Cleric:
+ Best AC/HP buffs for pet
+ Best heals
+ CH at higher levels for max efficiency
+ Rez
+ Lull/Calm line for easy single pulls
+ Stuns vs. casters
+ IVU for undead dungeons
+ Relaxing, laid back playstyle (personal opinion)
+ Consistently strong 1-60
- No SoW
- Lowest damage output of the three

After making this list I am leaning Cleric, mostly for the ability to safely level in dungeons due to the Cleric's very underrated CC options. I think the Druid choice would probably allow for the quickest leveling with double pet fear kiting, but I'm not really interested in that playstyle. The Shaman would probably be the most powerful duo at 60, but I'm not sure I want to wait that long or deal with canni'ing constantly. The Cleric seems to synergize best with the Mage overall, providing strong CC which the Mage lacks and not interfering with the Mage's best killing strategy (leveraging fire pet DS) the way the Shaman would with slow.

Interested in hearing supporting/conflicting opinions. Is Mage/Cleric the right call? Have I overlooked some important factors that the Druid or Shaman bring to the table? Is slow preferable to CH at the high end? Did Druids get buffed enough in Velious to make them competitive 50+ as well? Can the forum possibly handle another duo thread? Let's find out!