The Next Step: Running Mates
The Keys to McCain's VP Pick
When you are running for president, you can't exactly just have a few friends over on the weekend, especially when the friends have been touted as possible running mates, and their names have been leaked to the New York Times. If that happens, a Memorial Day barbecue suddenly begins to look a lot like a job interview, or at the very least, a publicity stunt.
But John McCain keeps telling everyone to just calm down about his holiday social plans. "It's just having a group of friends for Memorial Day weekend," McCain said Thursday afternoon, after a rally at an airplane hangar in Stockton, Calif. "It's no more and it's no less. I want to assure you."
Brooke Buchanan, McCain's traveling press secretary, underlined this point about an hour earlier on the campaign plane. "It's a purely social — let me repeat, social — weekend," she said. "He will be grilling."
But people love to speculate, and McCain has given them more than enough to peak their interest. Among the guests who will be joining him over Memorial Day are former GOP candidate Mitt Romney, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Two other senators, Connecticut's Joe Lieberman and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham are also expected to show. Former Arkansas Gov. and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who will be on a cruise with his wife on their 34th wedding anniversary, will not be able to attend, along with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has other obligations.
Depending on who you talk to, any of those names could be placed on a McCain long list for the vice presidency, a list that McCain has said includes about 20 names. But at this point the potential VP field is difficult to handicap, in part because campaign aides continue to insist that the process remains in its early stages. Still, veepstakes' enthusiasts can take comfort in the fact that McCain and his staff have dropped hints about some of the criteria they will use.
Is Barack Already Looking for a VP?
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama is beginning his search for a running mate, but Sen. John McCain's campaign denies speculation that he's interviewing vice presidential candidates at his home this weekend.
Sen. Barack Obama has quietly begun searching for a vice presidential candidate, a source says.
A veteran Democratic activist said former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson has accepted Obama's request to begin a screening and selection process for the No. 2 spot.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton declined to comment on the report of his candidate's running mate search.
The source, a party operative who has been involved in Democratic presidential campaigns and conventions for more than 20 years, said that the process is "at a very early point" but that campaign workers "have been informaly thinking about it for a while."
In addition, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder will be part of Obama's vice presidential vetting team, a source close to the campaign said.
Holder held the No. 2 position in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration and was acting attorney general in the early days of the Bush administration.
Obama said Thursday that he is not discussing his selection process and does not have criteria for a running mate.
"No criteria right now. I still have to win the nomination," he said (read more)
Analysis: Could Clinton land the VP nomination?
(CNN) -- Friends and close associates of both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are now convinced that, assuming she loses the race for the presidential nomination, she is probably going to fight to be the vice presidential nominee on an Obama-for-president ticket.
Carl Bernstein writes that Hillary Clinton's campaign recognizes that it faces an uphill battle.
Clinton "is trying to figure out how to land the plane without looking like surrender," a prominent figure in the Obama camp said Friday. This means, in all likelihood, bringing her campaign to a close in the next few weeks and trying to leverage her way onto an Obama ticket from a position of maximum strength, said several knowledgeable sources.
A person close to her, with whom her campaign staff has counseled at various points, said this week, "I think the following will happen: Obama will be in a position where the party declares him the nominee by the first week in June. She'll still be fighting with everybody -- the Rules Committee, the party leaders -- and arguing, 'I'm winning these key states; I've got almost half the delegates. I have a whole constituency he hasn't reached. I've got real differences on approach to how we win this election, and I'm going to press the hell out of this guy. ... Relief for the middle class, universal health care, etc.; I'm Ms. Blue Collar, and I'm going to press my fight, because he can't win without my being on the ticket.' "
Another major Democratic Party figure, who supports her for president, agreed: "It's not going to be a quiet exit. ... Obama has got a terrible situation. He marches to a different drummer. He won't want to take her on the ticket. But he might have to, even though the idea of Vice President Hillary with Bill in the background at the White House is not something -- especially after what [the Clintons] have thrown at him that he relishes. I believe she'll go for it."
However, several important Democrats aligned with Obama predicted that he -- and Michelle Obama -- will vigorously resist any Clinton effort to get on the ticket. Rather, Obama is more likely to try to convince Clinton to either stay in the Senate or accept another position in an Obama administration, should he win the presidency. (read more)