Please, not Bayh, so boring, milquetoast. I want someone more exciting, without overshadowing, that will give us a bump in the polls. Preferably, a hug one.

...and that Liberation of Iraq committee with Lie-berman just kills me.

I have wavered about Bayh, but I am beginning to turn the corner. Read this posting from earlier today, which includes statistical analysis to support the conclusion that "there is no senator more liberal than Bayh in any state more conservative than Indiana."

I'm pretty sure we're going to go until the convention before we get a VP.

My two cents.

Bayh has been running for President his whole life and has voted accordingly, to build up a vote track record that would play well in a General Election.

I think there is a real possibility that Bayh gets tabbed yet.

Chuck Hagel best fits the slim list of necessary characteristics Obama stated he would look for in a vice presidential candidate.

1. Integrity.
2. Independence.
3. A shared vision of a fundamental change about how American politics works, how business is done in Washington.

But how does Obama convince the Democratic base that Chuck Hagel would be his best vice presidential running mate?

There are all sorts of arguments that attest to the fact that Hagel is the best possible choice for an administration grounded in integrity, independence, and a new political era of principled discourse, aside from the few arguments that have been discussed so far(Hagel would grab for the Democratic ticket a lot of independent minded McCain supporters who don't like what McCain has been doing and saying lately, Hagel in 8 years would likely not be himself a presidential candidate, etc., etc.)

A review of Hagel's political history for those Democrats who may not be fully aware of it would help.

Here's a chronological start. Perhaps the campaign can fill this in more completely.

1981: Reagan appointed Hagel the second-ranking official of the Veterans Administration, but contrary to administration policy he was one of the main speakers at the groundbreaking for the Vietnam War Memorial, and then resigned as a protest against cuts in benefits for Vietnam vets.

1996: Democrats had won every single Senate race in Nebraska for two decades when Hagel ran as a Republican and appealed to enough Democrats to win office in his first race by defeating a conservative Democrat governor. In the process he angered Alfonse D'Amato of New York, then chairman of the Republican campaign committee in the Senate by refusing D'Amato's instruction to run a series of attack ads against his Democratic appointment.

1998: Hagel ran against Mitch McConnell for the Republican Senate campaign committee's chairmanship, sending around a manifesto to his colleagues that promised to thin the ranks of consultants as a step toward cleansing "the political culture in America by 'defining up' the standards of debate, political discourse and campaigns." He lost by a vote of 39-13.

2000: Hagel told the press Bush had "sold his soul to the right wing" and called the Republican primary "the filthiest campaign I've ever seen."

2000: During Florida showdown in 2000 he was in favor of a statewide recount, which the Supreme Court stopped.

2001: He said the prestige of the US was at its height under Democratic Senate Foreign Relations Chairman J. William Fullbright.

2001-2005: He broke with his party leadership to vote against the new prescription-drug program under Medicare, the No Child Left Behind bill and a big farm bill stuffed with incentives for corporate agriculture.

2002-2003: He voted for the AUMF Resolution as a negotiating weapon, but when it became clear that an invasion would actually take place (even though he had not yet concluded good faith negotiations had never been planned) he warned: "How many of us really know and understand Iraq, its country, history, people and role in the Arab world?. . .The American people must be told of the long-term commitment, risk and cost of this undertaking. We should not be seduced by the expectations of dancing in the streets."

2005: He was one of only four Republican senators whose votes held up an extension of the Patriot Act, arguing for checks on federal powers to invade homes and private records that had passed the Senate unanimously but then had been dropped in conference. "When government continues to erode individual rights, that's the most dangerous, dangerous threat to freedom there is," he said, calling it "far more dangerous than terrorism."

2005: "I sometimes question whether I'm in the same party I started off in."

2006: Joe Biden said, "I've been in the Senate a long time, and there's nobody I've liked more than Chuck Hagel,"

2007-2008 He worked with Senator Chris Dodd on a plan to rebuild the nation's infrastructure and stimulate the national economy by doing so, and held a news conference with Dodd in Washington to discuss the issue just hours before the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed, plunging vehicles 60 feet into the river and killing 13 people.

2008: He told the Brookings Institute, "Politics, when all is said and done, is a business of belief and enthusiasm. Hope energizes, doubt destroys. Hopelessness is not our heritage," and argued "I believe what awaits the next President is an inventory of problems more complicated than what Franklin Roosevelt faced on March 4, 1933, and will require the same boldness of leadership and initiatives that FDR brought to his time in order to meet the challenges of our time."

Not to get to troll-y but:

Feingold remains the best choice.

Think of the possibilities if Bayh is on the ticket.

Since Obama's from Illinois and Bayh's from Indiana, they could be the I-Team!

Or how about "Say Bayh to Dick Cheney!"

still wes clark. or bob graham. or rendell

After initially being unhappy with Bayh- he would probably be a very good choice. I still think Wes Clark would electrify the ticket and take away McCain's ONLY strength- in fact, Clark makes McCain's "military experience" (I'm not bashing his POW status) almost backfire on him. Last in his class v. First at West Point, Hot-dogger crashing planes goofing around v Rhodes Scholar (Economics), Daddy and Grandaddy Admirals v Supreme Allied Commander, pro-war v anti-war and so on.

Very simple point: If Evan Bayh is the pick - he will have to come out an unequivocally state that his vote for the war was wrong, and he regrets it, and that Obama was right - and he'll never let something like that happen again.

If he does that, I think he's worth considering.

http://strategy08.wordpress.com

HAGEL!

I'd just like to add that, and I'm sure most would agree, that the "you can't have Sebelius b/c you have to pick Clinton if it's a woman" arguments are truly gross and insulting. What happened to the glass ceiling? Isn't that for all women to break through, not just Hillary Clinton?

Can't say it surprises me. Still, I don't think Bayh would really be as bad as some people say he is. Still, definitely not my first choice.

Obama/Schweitzer '08

=)

Evan Bayh is not a bad a choice, actually, he would be a great choice for Barack Obama, he guarantees an Indiana win. His personality is quite dull and considering the Republithugs are going to do everything in their might to muddy Obama. Obama needs an attack dog for VP, when u think of an attack dog, u don't think of Bayh. I think of Biden and Clinton.

Bill Clinton proved yesterday why Hillary can't be VP. Even in Africa he managed to find a microphone and without even being asked by the reporter he talked about the one subject that Obama was trying to close down: race. Short of sending Bill to outer space for eight years, you just can't have Hillary near the White House. Bill is mad because he's no longer king.