All You Need to Know About Obama's VP Options

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Gen. Wesley Clark (US Army, retired), 63
Clark, a retired four-star general, commanded the NATO forces in the Kosovo War during his term as the supreme allied commander (1997 to 2000). Obviously that background brings national security cred to the ticket.

But by Clark's own admission, his political consciousness was born after his military duties ended in 2000. A history of suspiciously conservative statements and the fact that Clark did not seem to have clearly defined positions on major issues when he ran for president as a Democrat in 2004 led many to believe that his choice of political party was a matter of convenience instead of principle. But Clark has always been pro-choice, and is now firmly against the Iraq War. And since 2004, he has become a fully integrated part of the progressive movement, even giving the keynote address at YearlyKos, the annual convention for liberal bloggers and their fans, in 2007.

Clark endorsed Clinton last September and is identified as one of her most prominent (and combative) surrogates. As a result, many in the media argue that his selection would help unify the party. But will heartbroken Clinton supporters really be mollified if one of Clinton's good friends is on the ticket? Picking Clark would only be a bridge-building gesture if Clinton herself feels as though Clark's presence on the ticket ensures that her agenda will have a place in the next administration.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), 69
Nunn is almost as old as McCain, the man Democrats are hoping voters will consider too geriatric for the presidency. If something were to happen to Obama, the face of the presidency and the face of the Democratic Party would change drastically. He is essentially a Cheney pick.

That said, Nunn has his strengths. A favorite of the folks who consider themselves national security experts, Nunn served for 24 years as a senator (1972 to 1997). He was chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and cosponsored the bill that formed the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helps foreign countries secure and destroy their nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

And after leaving the Senate, Nunn didn't stop working on the issue of nukes, a focus he shares with Obama, whom he endorsed. He is currently the cochairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce the global threat from weapons of mass destruction. He is routinely considered a top choice for secretary of defense or secretary of state in Democratic administrations, and offers something to everyone on foreign policy: He was often considered a hawk, but opposed both Gulf wars.

Throughout his Senate career, Nunn was a moderate to conservative Democrat on domestic policy. He fiercely opposed President Clinton's attempt to integrate openly homosexual Americans into the military and was a committed deficit hawk. He left politics, citing a lack of "zest and enthusiasm," meaning he would probably shy from the attack-dog role traditionally played by the VP candidate. And his long career in Washington makes the "change" slogan a hard sell.

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), 52
Though young and telegenic, Bayh resembles a generic politician. He has a long career in politics—he was elected governor of Indiana in 1988 (at the age of 33) and again in 1992, and was elected to the Senate in 1998 and again in 2004. Like many lifetime politicians, Bayh is a legacy. He is the son of Birch Bayh, who was a senator from 1963 to 1981 and ran for president in 1976, losing to Jimmy Carter in the Democratic primary.

Bayh is a moderate. As governor, he cut taxes and earned the favor of the Wall Street Journal, which called him a "genuinely fiscally conservative Democrat." After moving to Washington, Bayh served as chair of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, a group that has been criticized for its corporate funding and willingness to embrace Republicanism Lite. He is a member of the Senate Centrist Coalition.

While Bayh is competent, his name is typically met with a yawn in VP discussions. He isn't known for any bold positions or legislative achievements. He is close to the Clintons—top-tier DLCers—and has been an active surrogate during the campaign. He is frequently cited, like Wes Clark, as one of the Clintonites Obama could choose as a sop to the defeated camp.

More purely political concerns: Indiana is deep red, and though Obama fared well against Clinton there, his only hope of winning the state in November may be by selecting Bayh, who has won by historic margins in the state. (Even with Bayh, it will be very tough to take a state that Bush won by 21 percent in 2004.) If the Democrats, with Bayh on the ticket, were to win the White House, Indiana's Republican governor would likely replace Bayh with a member of the GOP, costing the Dems a seat in the Senate and potentially undermining their chance of achieving a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), 65
As the current don of the Democrats' foreign policy community, Biden shores up Obama on a key front. Currently serving his sixth term in the Senate, Biden is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The senator from tiny Delaware would be a perfect liaison to Capitol Hill. That comes with the obvious flip side, however. When you've been in Washington more than 30 years, it's hard to argue you can suddenly play an agent of change. You are as complicit in Washington's problems as anyone.

Biden has a famously big mouth. He talks too much and too often says things that he immediately regrets. Early in the campaign season, for example, Biden said that Obama represented a break from black presidential candidates of the past because he is "clean and articulate." But as Steve Kornacki wrote in the New York Observer, "By embracing [Biden], Obama would be sending a signal to well-meaning white voters of a certain generation that he understands if they—like Biden—haven't fully figured out how to talk about race." And that big mouth can be an effective weapon. Biden could be an attack-dog with infinite credibility. When Bush likened Obama to Nazi appeasers several weeks ago, Biden roared, "This is bullshit. This is malarkey. This is outrageous."

There are problems to overcome. Biden supported the war in Iraq and is relatively hawkish by Democratic standards. When he campaigned in Iowa as a presidential candidate, Biden frequently said that he would oppose any move to make war funding dependent on withdrawal timetables because of a "sacred obligation" to the troops.

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