With the Democratic race all but sewn up, if Barack Obama hasn’t begun the search for a Vice President yet, the process will be underway soon.

In fact, a Democratic activist says that Jim Johnson, a former Fannie Mae CEO who helped screen prospective VPs in both 1984 and 2004, has accepted Obama’s request to begin the selection process for the No. 2 spot.

We have no way of knowing for sure who’s in the running, but we have some ideas. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of these choices for Vice President - or if we’ve left off someone you think is worthy.

Who will - or should - Barack Obama choose as his Vice President?

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Pros: Tenacious. Seen it all, done it all. Talk of “dream ticket” still resonates with many voters who have invested heavily in this contentious campaign.
Cons: As divisive as they get, plus there’s some hostility from Obama’s camp. When you suggest that your opponent is unprepared to lead, that’s to be expected. Also, Michelle Obama is not a fan of the idea.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

Pros: Has major Cabinet-level and national security experience. Governor of a critical state. Member of key demographic group — Hispanics. His huge endorsement during Rev. Wright mess gave Obama a boost.
Cons: Bill Richardson can be an uneven campaigner, doubts about his ‘00 and ‘04 V.P. vetting linger - and putting an African-American and Mexican-American on the ticket at the same time might (sadly) give pause to some.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell

Pros: This could be the one. A popular figure in a key state, he helped deliver Pennsylvania for Hillary Clinton. A plausible president, and a smart, tough and respected party Democrat not tied to any particular constituency. Would embrace Obama loyally and undoubtedly help the ticket.
Cons: Little national security experience.

Continue reading this article …

John Edwards took the stage at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., last night, with Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” pulsating around him.

The 2004 Vice Presidential nominee surely envisioned such a moment, only with himself representing the Democratic Party for president.

Instead, it was Barack Obama’s “rising” that brought Edwards there.

Michigan was an appropriate setting for Edwards’ endorsement. Populism and empathy for the working class and impoverished were the themes of the former North Carolina Senator’s own presidential bid.

In endorsing Obama, John Edwards hopes to transfer his appeal among the white, working-class voters that the front-runner has struggled to win over.

“The reason that I am here tonight is because the Democratic voters in America have made their choice, and so have I,” Edwards said.

“There is one man who knows and understands that this is a time for bold leadership. There is one man that knows how to create the change, the lasting change, that you have to build from the ground up.”

The question is: Does John Edwards’ endorsement matter?

Continue reading this article …

John Edwards has appeared conflicted on the subject of whether he supports Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race.

In a recent interview, he and wife Elizabeth Edwards seemed disinclined to issue a formal endorsement, praising and criticizing both candidates.

A few days ago, though, while chatting with host David Schuster on MSNBC, Edwards said he would “very likely” endorse the Democrat he voted for the previous Tuesday in the North Carolina primary, which Obama won handily.

Things didn’t turn out as John Edwards hoped this primary season - but the former North Carolina Senator and V.P. nominee remains a powerful party force.

Pressed further, that’s when John Edwards may have slipped up.

“I just voted, I just voted for him on Tuesday,” he said.

Eh hem. Him? John Edwards is going to endorse Barack Obama?

Maybe he could he have said, in his Southern drawl, that he “just voted for ‘er on Tuesday.” ‘Er? ‘Em? Eh, probably not.

Schuster kept at him, asking “So it was a him or a her you voted for?”

Edwards, who has said more matter-of-factly that he believes Obama will win the nomination, then started backpedaling quickly and laughing.

So … we still don’t really know… do we? Does it even matter?

Elizabeth Edwards likes Hillary Clinton’s health care plan.

John Edwards doesn’t much care for Clinton’s “old politics.”

So goes the his-and-her debate in the Edwards household.

Their home state of North Carolina takes center stage today in the tense, ongoing Democratic presidental nomination fight between Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, and two of its most famous voters aren’t tipping their hands.

In their first joint interview since John Edwards dropped out of the race, the couple was asked what they liked and disliked about the two remaining Democrats.

Elizabeth Edwards didn’t hesitate: “I like Hillary’s health care plan.”

John and Elizabeth Edwards in North Carolina.

What doesn’t she like about the U.S. Senator from New York and former First Lady? “The lobbyist money,” she said.

On Barack Obama, she says: “The fact that he has motivated so many young people to be involved, I think is fantastic.” But, she adds: “I don’t like his health care plan or his advertising on health care, which I think is misleading.”

Continue reading this article …

Sen. Hillary Clinton mocked her “3 a.m.” ad, while Sen. Barack Obama added manufactured political “distractions” to host Stephen Colbert’s “On Notice Board” on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report Thursday.

“I think the American people are tired of these political games and petty distractions,” declared Obama. Stephen Colbert’s response:

“Speaking for the news media, we are not tired of it, It allows us to ask the same questions over and over again, and we don’t have to do any work.”

So who won Wednesday’s debate, in Colbert’s eyes? John Edwards.

The candidate of the adult wing of the Democratic party who didn’t make it to Pennsylvania - but who looks better in hindsight - suddenly appeared during Colbert’s faux report on the courting by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

“Finally, America’s white men are being heard, and the candidates are attempting to address issues of concern to them,” Colbert said in front of images of Clinton downing a shot and a beer and Obama attempting to bowl.

Mocking the continued efforts of both remaining candidates to secure his support, the former North Carolina Senator declared that, “No white male vote is being courted more vigorously than this one.”

Commenting on his two warring endorsement options, John Edwards noted that, on the one hand, he did not want to cast a vote that was “anti-hope.”

But, recalling the response of a virulent Clinton backer to another former candidate, Bill Richardson, when he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama, Edwards said, “On the other hand, I don’t want James Carville to bite me.”

Restating his campaign call for a more serious focus on economic issues - which were almost entirely missing from Wednesday night’s debate - John Edwards announced that he would vote in the upcoming North Carolina primary.

His choice on May 6, he says, will be for the candidate who best advocates for ending poverty and providing universal health care.

Failing that, he said, “I will only support the candidate who promises to make me a spy. That would be so cool.”

Even Stephen Colbert was cracking up at that.

Easily the least defensive and most good-humored “contender,” John Edwards reminded everyone of what was lost when he exited the race - and of why the remaining candidates really are still campaigning for his endorsement.

With the Democratic race tied to a complex system, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are fighting aggressively and publicly over superdelegates.

In a process many believe is undemocratic, DNC superdelegates are not selected based on primaries / caucuses in each U.S. state, but based on their status as current or former elected office holders and party officials.

They are free to choose whoever they like.

“‘Superdelegates’ doesn’t mean that they should leap over the will of the people in a single bound,” joked Sen. Barack Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, on CBS’ Face the Nation.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s communications director Howard Wolfson told CBS that the superdelegates “are supposed to vote their conscience.”

Obama leads in the overall delegates and among pledged delegates, assigned based on primary and caucus results. Clinton has more superdelegates in her corner right now, with the overall count still very close.

Neither Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is expected to have enough pledged delegates to win the nomination outright.

The battle for superdelegates is thus critical, and has spurred interesting debates in places like Massachusetts, where Hillary Clinton won the Super Tuesday primary by double digits, but 10 of 26 superdelegates currently support Obama to nine for Clinton (with seven undecided).

Should Obama backers John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Gov. Deval Patrick follow the will of the Bay State, or pick who they personally believe is best?

In any case, contests tomorrow in Wisconsin and Hawaii may favor Obama, but the campaigns are looking to March 4, with the delegate-rich Texas primary and Ohio primary at stake (plus Rhode Island and Vermont).

Clinton is aiming for those critical victories that could help her recover in both the delegate count and the fight for momentum.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama quietly met with former Democratic candidate John Edwards at Edwards’ home in Chapel Hill, N.C., Sunday.

Hillary Clinton also met with John Edwards recently. He and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson remain coveted endorsements for both contenders.

Voters in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., have their say tomorrow, but the John Edwards primary is already in full swing.

Sen. Hillary Clinton made a clandestine visit to her former rival Thursday at his home in North Carolina to seek his support.

Sen. Barack Obama recently had to reschedule a meeting with Edwards, but soon enough, it will be his turn to make a pilgrimage.

Both Clinton, clinging to a narrow lead in delegates, and Obama, riding a wave of wins in the past week, covet the endorsement.

Which way is the former North Carolina senator leaning? Like Bill Richardson, he seems to be genuinely and outwardly conflicted.

Hmm… to endorse Option A, Option B, or neither …

Citing sources close to Edwards, The New Republic claims he likes Obama personally, thinks he intends to change the status quo, but isn’t sure he’s ready - and worries he’s not tough enough to take on the GOP.

On the flip side, John Edwards is lukewarm on Hillary Clinton and doesn’t think she’d change anything, but thinks she’d pummel the GOP.

Whether Edwards will soon endorse in the Democratic race is unclear - CNN reports that some advisers are encouraging him not to endorse either - it would be a nice boost for either candidate, to be sure.

Edwards and Richardson (who we would expect to gravitate towards Clinton, but has not, at least yet) are the top endorsement prizes out there.

While Al Gore would top both in terms of impact, there has been no sign that the environmental Goracle is ready to plunge back into politics.

An apparent alliance between Barack Obama and John Edwards was clearest in the days just before the New Hampshire primary, when Edwards embraced Obama and chastised Hillary Clinton as an agent of the status quo.

One would think that someone who rails against special interests and the current state of Washington as John Edwards does would make an easy call with support of Barack Obama - the anti-establishment candidate with no baggage.

But, as with Richardson, all bets are still off.

It was not a lack of cash nor his wife Elizabeth’s cancer that forced John Edwards out of the race. It was unyielding mathematics.

The big question is who his supporters are now likely to back, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. The even bigger question is how Edwards’ exit upsets calculations of the mechanics of winning delegates.

Florida’s results show the importance of the 15 percent threshold.

Under the rules of the Democratic party, candidates must garner 15 percent in a primary to gain delegates to the convention.

As John Edwards‘ support eroded, squeezed by Clinton’s machine and Obama’s insurgent candidacy, polls showed him slipping.

Failure to win 15 percent would thwart any plan to accumulate delegates and remain a power broker at August’s convention.

John Edwards abandoned his bid for the White House in New Orleans, La., just over 13 months after he launched it in that very city.

Although the Florida primary was stripped of its importance, Edwards would have failed to pick up a single delegate despite winning 14.4 percent of the vote, behind Clinton’s 49.7 percent and Obama’s 33 percent.

Instead, Edwards’ votes would have been discounted.

1. In Florida, that would have favored Clinton, who won the largest proportion of votes and so would have received the bulk of delegates.
2. Had Edwards topped 15 percent, it would have hurt Clinton.
3. Thus, Edwards’s sub-15 result were widespread on Super Tuesday, Clinton would benefit. In that case, Edwards’s exit helps Obama.

John Edwards has decided to drop out of the presidential race and will do so in a speech this afternoon at the same place where he began this campaign — in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Throughout this season, John Edwards hasn’t been able to break through the dueling high-profile candidacies of Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, or raise the funds to carry on.

Top advisers said that Edwards would not be endorsing another candidate today when he makes his announcement at 1 p.m.

John Edwards and daughter Cate Edwards on January 27.

On Tuesday, Edwards canceled campaign events in Alabama and North Dakota, opting instead to fly to New Orleans late Tuesday night.

His press aides told reporters that he would make a “major policy speech” on poverty, in the city where he announced his candidacy.

John Edwards placed a distant third last night in Florida’s primary. And even more disappointing, as a native of South Carolina, he finished in the mid-teens there, as Obama won overwhelmingly.

What does this mean and why did it happen? The verdict is still out, but here are some interesting Edwards links …

• Was his decision to withdraw financial? Unlikely. Despite being dwarfed by Obama and Clinton, Edwards raised millions this month
• His populist message resonated with many voters, but others saw a conflict between his humble past and present wealth
• Some believe Edwards’ exit may have been prompted at least in part by Elizabeth Edwards‘ ongoing health problems
• As for what’s next, some say this benefits Hillary Clinton, who may even award him a second straight V.P. nomination
• Other pundits believe Edwards’ departure likely means further coalescing of the anti-Clinton vote behind Barack Obama

John Edwards says he is trying to represent the “grown-up wing of the Democratic Party,” but he can still let his ($1,000-plus) hair down.

On The Late Show With David Letterman last night, Edwards touted his adult behavior when Letterman asked about personal attacks erupting between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Monday.

Letterman couldn’t resist a swipe - literally - at the candidate.

“Could I just mess your hair up a little bit?” Letterman asked Edwards, who once infamously spent $1,250 on a stylist, including travel costs.

“Has it ever been messed up?” Letterman asked before plunging his fingers in, making a mess of Edwards’ hair as he tried to reciprocate.

Earlier Tuesday, during a taping of The Tyra Banks Show, John Edwards said he “feels like the minority” challenging the popular Clinton and Obama.

“It’s hard to be heard,” Edwards said. “We have a couple of candidates who are good candidates but get an enormous amount of attention and publicity and enormous amounts of money. I’ve got to work really hard.”

The former North Carolina senator and second-time White House aspirant did show that despite his pricey haircuts, his taste isn’t always expensive.

He and Banks shared food from Wendy’s - where John and his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, celebrated their first and subsequent wedding anniversaries.

John Edwards talks politics with Tyra Banks over fast food.