Speculation begins about a running mate for Obama [View All]

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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/05/08/20080508obama-veep0508-ON.html

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• Sen. Joe Biden, 65, of Delaware.

With 36 years in the Senate and much of it spent on the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden has long experience in foreign policy circles. "He'd rather be secretary of State, but he'd accept it," said a Biden adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Biden also acquitted himself well in his brief and ultimately unsuccessful bid for the nomination himself, notably curbing his tendency to talk too much. Downside: His muzzle could fall off.

• Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, 63, of Arkansas.

As NATO commander, Clark oversaw the allied air war against Serbia that toppled dictator Slobodan Milosevic. He also ran for the nomination in 2004 and won a primary in Oklahoma. As a Clinton backer this year, he could help repair relations with Clinton supporters.

The negative: He had testy relations with other military officers that could come back to haunt him, and his political experience is thin.


• Sen. Hillary Clinton, 60, of New York.

She has deep support from working-class Whites, women and older Democrats. Having her on the ticket could unify the party.

A lot depends on how she runs in the final weeks of the campaign, however. Obama and Clinton clearly don't get along, and a scorched-earth campaign against him would make that worse. Also, nobody knows how former President Bill Clinton would fit into an Obama administration.


• Sen. Claire McCaskill, 54, of Missouri.

An early supporter of Obama from a critical battleground state. Obama supporters think she has done well making the campaign's case on TV throughout the long primary campaign. She's also closer to Obama's generation than many other potential running mates, and a Roman Catholic - a swing voting bloc.

Downside: Elected in 2006, she has even less experience in national office than does Obama, elected two years earlier.


• Gov. Bill Richardson, 60, of New Mexico.

The resume candidate, with legislative experience in Congress, diplomatic experience at the United Nations and abroad, and executive experience as secretary of Energy and governor. Also comes from a swing state and speaks to Hispanics, a key group Obama needs.

Downside: He couldn't win a single primary himself.


• Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, 59, of Kansas.

Popular two-term Democrat found a way to win in the heart of Republican country. Seeking a second term, she named a former Republican state party chairman as her running mate for her second term and increased her winning percentage to 58 percent.

Ancestry is important in the Sebelius equation: Her father, John Gilligan, was governor of Ohio, a swing state in the fall. And her state of Kansas was Obama's mother's home.

Downside: She has no foreign policy or national security experience, and she shares with all potential female running mates the possible liability that adding a woman to a ticket headed by an African-American might be overloading it with too much change for America to swallow.


• Gov. Ted Strickland, 66, of Ohio.

A popular governor of a critical battlefield state, Strickland also is a former Methodist minister who can speak to churchgoing voters often uncomfortable with the traditionally secular Democratic Party. He also helped deliver the state in the primaries for Hillary Clinton and could help Obama reach out to her supporters there and elsewhere.

Downside: It's debatable whether any vice presidential candidate could deliver his home state.


• Sen. Jim Webb, 62, of Virginia.

A former secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, Webb also was a Marine whose service in Vietnam was chronicled in the same book that highlighted McCain's service, The Nightingale's Song. He also opposed the Iraq war like Obama and is popular in Virginia, a traditionally Republican state in presidential elections that Obama hopes to win. He too pulls votes from working-class Whites.

Downside: Elected to office for the first time just 18 months ago, Webb is still newcomer to politics who sometimes has struggled to control his temper.