From The Atlantic:
Very quietly, Sen. Barack Obama has begun the process that will end in his choosing a running mate, Democrats inside and outside the campaign said.
Obama has sworn a small group of his senior staff to secrecy. He is determined to start the vice presidential search on his own schedule and has said publicly, and repeatedly, that he will not talk about ticket-mates until the race for the nomination itself concludes.
But on his behalf, staffers are putting together a team to assist the search committee, and a hand-full of Democrats connected with the campaign will start to pull together dossiers (based only on open source research and press clippings at this point) on a large number of potential picks so that Obama can have something to read when he starts to think about the choice.
More after the jump.
Ambinder details some sample questions asked to those being interviewed for the job.
Did they ever employ a nanny on whose behalf they did not pay Social Security taxes, for example; did they experiment with drugs or people in college? -- and potential candidates are required to give the search team access to their tax returns and other financial records.
Issues Obama faces in the selection of a VP
Aside from the question of what to do with Sen. Hillary Clinton, several political imperatives confront Obama as he begins to think about his choice. One is that the candidates with whom he has bonded would not necessarily serve his political needs. Another is that if he chooses a Democrat from the party's establishment, like Sens. Clinton, Dodd or Biden, he might undercut his argument that the establishment needs to go. If he chooses someone young and with a relative lack of executive experience, he opens the ticket to criticism that it is too green. If he chooses a Republican or a pro-life Democrat, he risks a major backlash from Democratic women as he tries to bring more of them to his side after the primary season ends. If he chooses someone young and flashy, he risks being upstaged. And while Obama discounts the experience argument, many of his advisers do not.
As for the list?
Potential ticket-mates, in no particular order, include Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ex-Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM), Ex-Sen. John Edwards, (D-NC), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS), Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ), Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) ex-Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN), Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) and others.
I'm rooting for Nunn, Edwards [They physically look great as a team], Hagel, Sebelius, or Strickland [Ohio Ohio Ohio].
Many of the others such as Dodd, Biden, Clinton, Webb could act as great attack dogs against McCain and the GOP, but I don't think they (with the exception of Clinton) add flair to the ticket.
Who would you add to this list?