Put Me In Coach

While we still have no idea when Obama or McCain will pick his #2, both are sure holding a lot of try-outs these days.

-- Romney's been everywhere for McCain, w/a special focus on his native MI earlier this week. Today, it's Bayh and Nunn who join Obama in IN.

--Neither are new faces. But they do have that experience thing. And given more evidence of credibility gap for Obama on leadership (newest WaPo/ABC poll showed that almost 1/2 think his level of experience would hurt his ability to serve) perhaps the slogan for any VP wanna-be shouldn't be "Yes We Can" but, "Yes We've Already Done It."

-- Both, of course, bring some baggage. Nunn's gays-in-the-military stand makes him persona non grata among liberals. Bayh, despite his two terms as IN gov, is still indentified as a DC insider.

-- McCain meanwhile, continues his outreach to groups that aren't part of the GOP base. Last week it was Hispanics. Today, it's the NAACP. Smart insiders will tell you McCain can't win if he doesn't do better among indies than Pres. Bush did. Revving up a shrinking base of GOPers just isn't going to cut it. So a VP who has the seal of approval from social conservatives may be missing the point. But is his recent "clarification" on gay adoption helping?

-- For a closer, more comprehensive look at who's up and who's down, check out today's "Lessons Learned," Hotline's weekly Veepstakes column.