Obama, McCain Contemplate Running Mates

But Romney also carries enormous negatives -- namely that McCain didn't like him during the primary and was furious about some of his comments, among them that his sons were serving the country by campaigning for their dad. (One of McCain's sons served the country as a Marine infantryman in Iraq.)

On the issues, Romney also could violate the "do no harm" maxim on which the Democrats are focused. With the McCain campaign hitting Obama hard for Obama reputedly changing his positions on key issues from Iraq to abortion rights, it would be awfully awkward for McCain to turn around and tap the guy who makes Obama seem firmly fixed in cement.

Romney has changed his positions on so many issues since he moved from moderate Massachusetts governor to the social conservative Republican presidential candidate, it's almost impossible to keep a running tally.

And that's all before we get to the bigger question: How would Romney add so much to the ticket when he could not even break through to Republican voters in the primaries -- with all his dollars spent?

One top prospect is Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., who has famously made a point of trying to shift the party from so-called "country club" Republicans to working-class "Sam's Club" Republicans.

As the Minnesota newspapers have pointed out, he's lost the "mullet" hairstyle and gotten a conservative cut more appropriate for all his appearances on the Sunday shows, and he plays well with the conservative base. But could he be "President Pawlenty?" That's not at all clear.

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Other prospects also bring their own crop of negatives.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., a 38-year-old rising conservative star, would make McCain look too old by comparison.

The perpetually tanned Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., newly engaged after 30 years as a bachelor, is slipping in popularity in his own state after shifting his policy to join McCain in support of off-shore oil drilling.

Former White House Budget Director Rob Portman, another name tossed about, has that unfortunate title, in this economy, of former White House budget director. And he's said he doesn't want the job, anyway.

People close to McCain say he would like to tap former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, the former director of Homeland Security, who is solid on the issue McCain cares most about: the threat of Islamofacism. Ridge would help him in Pennsylvania.

But Ridge is pro abortion rights, and that would infuriate the conservative base that is already disenchanted with McCain. What's more, the first Homeland Security secretary's ties to President Bush would only lend voices to the chants of "McSame."

Others in the mix are Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is advising McCain. But he is a more likely choice for attorney general. And those close to McCain say the person he'd most like to pick is his close friend Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Democrat turned independent who was Al Gore's running mate in 2000. But if you thought Ridge would bring huge problems with the base, just square them for Lieberman.

Then there are the women, who some analysts believe would be a smart pick for McCain -- he can try to make some history, too.

Of those, Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, an anti-abortion mother of five, is getting some ink, as is former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and eBay founder Meg Whitman. The latter two, however, have huge bank accounts that could rub voters the wrong way in a tough economy -- and no real political experience. And then there's another Whitman: former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey.

The Vetters

Both campaigns are employing a practiced and refined method of winnowing down the universe of potential running mates into a short list of candidates. The process starts with a committee that begins the so-called "vetting" process, searching for flaws or closeted skeletons that could prove embarrassing or destructive to a campaign.

In 1972, for example, Democratic candidate George McGovern chose Missouri Sen. Thomas Eagleton for the No. 2 spot, only to drop him just as the campaign was under way after reporters revealed the senator had been hospitalized and treated for depression with electroshock therapy.

To avoid a similarly disastrous misstep, then-Gov. George Bush turned to his father's defense secretary and the Ford White House chief of staff to head his selection committee: Dick Cheney. Of course, Cheney ended up finding no better candidate for the job than himself.

This time both Obama and McCain have tapped lawyers to head their VP search teams. Obama's vetters are headed by former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and, adding the glitter of Camelot, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, who endorsed Obama early in the primary season.

John McCain's VP search team is headed by a veteran Washington attorney, A.B. Culvahouse, chairman of the powerhouse law firm of O'Melveny & Myers and himself a former White House counsel to President Reagan.

Vetting the VPs

Here's how it works:

First of all, teams of lawyers conduct a basic search of public source material -- newspaper clippings, legal filings -- on a broad array of potential candidates, most of whom have no idea they are even being considered. A decade ago, that was accomplished with the aid of Nexis-Lexis and other searchable databases. Nowadays, it starts with the simple and cheaply ubiquitous "Google" search.

Once a serious "long list" is developed, the most serious potentials are given a detailed questionnaire -- like the most intense job application ever devised -- that they must fill out themselves.