Veepstakes: 8/14 (Dems)

It's been a month since we took a look at the potential VP candidates on each side, and a lot has changed since then. John Edwards admitted to having an affair, Russia invaded Georgia, and the energy crisis turned into a GOP sideshow. To see what kind of an impact those events had on the veepstakes (Democratic today, Republican tomorrow), let's turn to the rankings:

10. Former Vice President Al Gore (D-TN) [Last: 10]
9. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) [Last: N/A]
8. Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) [Last: N/A]
7. Former Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) [Last: 8]
6. Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) [Last: 3]

5. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) [Last: 7]
For the 99.9% of all Americans who haven't heard of Senator Jack Reed, he is a quite liberal senator from Rhode Island. Those last two qualifications alone would seem to dismiss any chance he has of landing on the backside of "Obama/," but think again. He served in the Army from 1971 to 1979, is one of the leading Senate voices on matters of both foreign and domestic importance, and, as a Catholic, has strong roots to the working class demographic that Obama has had trouble tapping into. He also accompanied Senator Obama on his highly publicized trip to the Middle East, for what was widely seen as Reed's VP audition. The fact that he doesn't immediately add any new state to the Obama column is certainly a drawback, but then againLyndon Johnson (1960) was the last VP pick to actually swing any state, so geography might be a tad overrated. Stay tuned, he could be a major sleeper pick.

4. Governor Tim Kaine (D-VA) [Last: 4]
Ever since his name came out as one of Obama's VP hopefuls, Governor Tim Kaine has played the veepstakes in a very odd way. Instead of dampening buzz, as per usual, Kaine has made no pretense that he's not interested in the job, stating "[Obama's VP list] seems to be getting shorter. And I'm still being mentioned." This has widely been seen as a headfake to get the mediat to run to Kaine, only to be completely be surprised by who Obama actually picks. But if he is seriously up for the job, his good looks, youth, and hailing from a swing state are pluses. His poor record as governor and rather moderate views on a number of key issues (labor relations, faith-based opposition to abortion), however, make him a risky pick.

3. Former General Wesley Clark (D-AR) [Last: N/A]
After Clark made some not-so-false (but oh so controversial) comments in early July, he went from veepstakes darling to somebody Obama shouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. So it is with great surprise that, with an announcement from Obama seemingly less than a week away, Clark now resides near the top of this VP list. The first clue, which may even be too obvious, to Clark's ascension (not just here, but within actual political circles as well) is the fact that the DNC has announced that the theme for Wendesday of the Convention, the night the VP is announced, is "Securing America's Future;" three words which just happen to also be the name of Clark's political action committee. Although he's short on elected experience, and his only field of expertise is foreign affairs, Clark has proved his mettle as a more than capable attack dog. The recent Georgia crisis has just accentuated the need for foreign policy gravitas, and finally people are remembering why Clark was such an ideal pick in the first place.

2. Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) [Last: 1]
After the much ado about nothing that was Obama's joint appearace with Senator Bayh on August 6th, and many false predictions about that event, moderate Evan Bayh of Indiana finds himself slipping a place in these rankings. It was widely seen that, if Obama was going to pick Bayh, that date last week was the time to do it. Since then, the Bayh speculation has surprisingly not dampened, but rather grew. There is word out now that Bayh's chances are "better than 50/50," but that should be taken with a grain of salt. A major backlash from the liberal blogosphere, combined with a rather biting New York Times article that does not paint Bayh in an all-too-positive light, seem to have excluded Bayh from serious consideration. Yet here we are in mid-August and he's still hanging tight. The #2 ranking might be more of a perception thing than what will actually happen, but Bayh is certainly not to be counted out.

1. Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) [Last: 2]
It is surprising how little coverage Biden's VP chances are getting in the media, be it blogospheric or mainstream. After over thirty hugely respectable years in Washington, with two unsuccessful presidential campaigns under his belt, nobody knows the ropes more than Joe Biden. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Biden's authority on foreign policy matters is unquestioned, and his longtime chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee gives him serious knowledge of domestic issues. He's one of the most talented debaters and speakers around (see: Noun+Verb+9/11=Rudy Giuliani's sentences), and would absolutely serve as the aggressive attack dog that Obama would need him to. And unlike Bayh or Kaine, Biden is the one frontrunner with truly progressive views, so he would be palatable to both the base and independents alike. He's not a sure thing at this point, but he is certainly the frontrunner.