Playing the VP guessing game (06/09/08)

This is a game anyone can play.

Now that the major party presidential nominees are clear, anyone and everyone is free to speculate on who their vice presidential choices will be.

There's no charge for playing, and until the answers come down everyone's opinion is as good as the next guy's.

Will Barack Obama choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate? Our best guess is, no. But we've been wrong so many times during this campaign that we stopped counting.

Will Obama tap Evan Bayh? Again, we'd say, no. Bayh's from a state neighboring Obama's Illinois; and while he's telegenic, he doesn't add the kind of heft Obama would like to add to the ticket.

Best guess is that he's looking at governors; the Senate has been over-represented in this primary season. But he may be looking for someone with statesman status to neutralize criticism that the Obama candidacy is short on experience.

In that case, Sam Nunn's name keeps coming to mind. A retired member of the Senate and a Georgia Democrat, Nunn teamed up with Sen. Richard Lugar on the complex issue of nuclear proliferation in the post-Soviet world. And Lugar has become something of a mentor to Obama on foreign policy issues. A Nunn pick would add heft and gravitas to the ticket.

On the Republican side, the game is just as intriguing.

Will John McCain pick a woman in an effort to win over disgruntled fans of Hillary Clinton? Our best guess is, no. Most of the GOP female office holders that McCain would be choosing from either too moderate to please the conservative base (think Olympia Snowe) or too conservative to win Hillary's fans.

Again, it's likely the veep spot will go to a governor. Which one is anyone's guess.

You get the idea. Guess away, and enjoy American politics at its most accessible level. - J.R.

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