After a flirtation with Wes Clark, I'm comfortably settled on Sebelius as my most-hoped-for VP pick. A scan of the press/blog CW finds that the most common knock on Sebelius is that it will alienate Clinton supporters, who will be angry that Obama picked a woman other than Hillary.
Now, this is a plausible-enough-sounding talking point, but really turn this one over in your head.
What percentage of Hillary supporters aren't already on board with Obama? I've heard some polls say 25%; I doubt it's that high, but let's take that for the sake of argument. What percentage of those voters would remain turned off no matter who Obama picks? Certainly some. What percentage would truly be so committed to Hillary as to be offended that Obama picked another woman? I would guess some, but not many. I would venture at least as many, and probably far more, would be newly energized by a woman on the ticket. So the CW is not big on Sebelius because of this small minority of a minority?
In Obama's comments tonight (which, admittledy, included several "he" pronouns), he made a point of saying that his VP won't be running his foreign policy. And he wants someone who he can trust.
We know Sebelius wouldn't deny being vetted a few weeks ago. We know she's getting some practice on the stump with some women's events in the Midwest this week.
Smart money's on Kathleen.