1) Sebelius. Governor, midwestern. Incidentally, the Midwest is the only region in the country that both running mates can be from--it is cemented in the American mythos as the "real America" and neutral vis-a-vis other regions.

I don't know if the black-and-woman thing is too much for people; there seem to have been a lot of prognostications in that vein and they keep being wrong. First, America wasn't ready for a black candidate; then Obama was maybe not black enough to win black voters; then it was Obama not getting Hispanic voters because they preferred Hillary; now if it's any woman other than Hillary apparently 50% of the population will have a hissy fit and go to McCain out of spite. I just don't buy it.

Sebelius won a whoop-ass victory in a red state as a Democrat in 2002--no small feat! And for what it's worth, Wikipedia says "Her victory was partially the result of a divide between conservatives and moderates within the Kansas Republican Party." Seems to me there's a similar dynamic at work today.

2) Bayh. Former governor, therefore executive experience. Probably gets points for having been governor during the 1990's, where he will presumably bask in the economic glory of the Clinton years. Also ten years in the Senate. Brings Indiana to the table, which (according to friends who are from there) is one of those states that might go against Obama simply for being black. And Bayh's relative conservatism, although I don't like it, will be reassuring to fence-sitting "centrists." Then again, so would Joe Lieberman's. (Then again again, Lieberman actually won the election for vice-president...)

3) Kaine. His experience is executive, he's from another winnable swing state, and a white guy from a southern state can't hurt among the bubbas. Again, I hate to recommend choices on the basis of catering to bubbas but there are a hell of a lot of them. I wish Mark Warner was on the list.

4) Joe Biden dead last and if I had my druthers he wouldn't be on the list at all. Personally I don't like him because he's necessarily owned by credit card companies. But for strategic reasons, as someone pointed out, Delaware is tiny and a lock anyway; he misspeaks (remember how he called Obama "clean?") and Obama does not need to have Joe's gaffes distracting him; and he's WAY Washington insider, which would really hurt Obama's change message.

But who else should be on the list? Seems to me someone with military experience--even a general. Not Wesley Clark, he's a good man but not politically savvy. Not Colin Powell, he's completely discredited himself. Eric Shinseki?

"I think an increase of 65,000 by 2010 is out of reach with a volunteer force, unless you have a very significant downturn in the economy."

In other words, unless the sun rises in the East.

Still, that will be a hell of an army, won't it?

The fightin' web design specialists of the 108th Armored, blocking pop-ups on the road to Anbar.

The First Real Estate Marine Batallion ("Semper Five Percent!")

Here come the next-generation SeaBees, ready to build pillboxes out of pressboard and vinyl!

And at the rate people are being promoted, you could be a five-starbucks general in no time.

"I think an increase of 65,000 by 2010 is out of reach with a volunteer force, unless you have a very significant downturn in the economy."

Depends on what you mean by "volunteer." You can make anyone volunteer for anything if the alternatives are bad enough.

I hate to even mention it because I don't want to give the Current Occupant any ideas, but one of these days someone is going to look at all the college grads with unpayable student loans, and the homeowners who are upside-down on their mortgages, and think, "Hmmm... THERE's someone who could use a helping hand."

Just one little ol' condition... It'll only be for a year.

We pro-o-o-o-mise.

Anyone who is considering voting for McCain instead of Obama...

It's all well and good to say "we won't pull out, we'll stay there as long as we have to." Easy to say.

As the saying goes: You and what army, exactly?

So when McCain gets all manly and squares his creepy little gnome jaw and says "We won't back down" the translation is "We're going to institute a draft in my first term."

Because how else are you going to do it?

"I also discovered that a lot of young men are scared shitless -- of women, themselves and their future; that, contrary to our cultural imaginings, they are just as desperate to figure things out as young women."

I wish someone would have pointed that out to the cartoon-stereotype angry lesbians who ran my college in the early 1990's. Imagine my surprise at learning that, at only nineteen years old, I was at the privileged end of a millenia-old power dynamic. Oppressing half the human race, hundreds of years before I was even born--what an accomplishment!