RICHMOND, Va. — Presidential contender Barack Obama said Thursday that he has picked his running mate — but won’t say who it is or whether he has told the person.
“I’ve made my selection. That’s all you’re gonna get,” the Democratic senator told reporters during a campaign swing through Virginia.
The Obama campaign has said it will text message supporters first with the name of the vice presidential pick. That could happen anytime between now and Saturday afternoon, when he is expected to appear in Springfield, Ill., with his VP choice.
Springfield is where Obama announced he was running for president.
The out-of-control speculation, rumor-mongering and random guesses as to who will finally emerge as Obama’s running mate have been swirling all week, and the candidate is clearly enjoying being the keeper of the biggest political secret of the summer.
Asked by a reporter when the text would be sent, Obama grinned and said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
In the past few days, Obama has mentioned what he does — and does not — want in a running mate.
“I want somebody who has integrity, who’s in politics for the right reasons,” he said to a crowd in North Carolina. “I want somebody who is able to say to me, ‘You know what, Mr. President? I think you’re wrong on this and here’s why.’ ”
His pick, he said, will not be like current Vice President Dick Cheney.
“I won’t have my vice president engineering my foreign policy for me,” he said. “He won’t be one of these fourth branches of government where he thinks he’s above the law.”
Cheney has said he does not need to comply with orders from Congress for information because he is part of the legislative branch as the presiding officer of the Senate.
Throughout the past few days, every word — especially pronouns — has been fodder for a traveling press corps intent upon breaking, or at least not missing, the story.
“If you go with every rumor, there must be at least five vice presidential candidates now,” said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
Each day this week, if not hour by hour, the veepstakes winner has shifted when Obama says or does nearly anything.
When Obama stopped in New Mexico Monday, it fanned the flames that Gov. Bill Richardson was the pick. But Richardson, a former presidential candidate, only briefly introduced Obama — and there was no meeting between the two, as far as anyone knew. Strike Richardson.
On Tuesday, Obama complimented Joe Biden in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Orlando, Fla., and all the attention shifted to the Delaware senator. His 33 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would be a big boost to Obama.
That night, Obama referred to his future vice president as “he” at least twice. So New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was out. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius too. Biden? Must be the man.
Not necessarily, the campaign said. Don’t read anything into pronouns.
The next morning, the Obama campaign taunted reporters by sending out an e-mail with the subject line: “Vice Presidential . . .”
When opened, the e-mail said “Just kidding.”
A few hours later, Biden said: “I’m not the guy.”
But was that really true or just a red herring to get reporters to leave him alone?
As the Obama motorcade pulled into Richmond on Wednesday night, the new question emerging was whether the Illinois senator was staying at Tim Kaine’s governor’s mansion.
No, he wasn’t, the campaign said. That, of course, led to questions about why he wasn’t staying at Kaine’s house. Hmmm. In or out?
The next morning didn’t clear anything up. Kaine and Obama met for 15 minutes at the Omni Hotel, but no details emerged. And 15 minutes didn’t seem enough to break good news.
Kaine didn’t help matters by shaking off questions about their conversation, saying: “I’m going to let the campaign speak for the campaign.” He also declined to comment on whether he ruled out being vice president.
When he introduced Obama at a later event, however, Kaine sounded much like a vice president, slamming McCain for being “lock-step, rock-solid” behind President Bush.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
Six potential running mates for Barack Obama
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine
+ Popular governor from a red state; could help reinforce “change” theme and appeal to fellow Catholics.
– Viewed as lacking national clout; limited foreign-policy experience.
Sen. Joe Biden
+ Wealth of foreign-policy experience; 30-plus-year record in the Senate.
– Fared poorly in presidential campaign; reputation for verbosity.
Sen. Evan Bayh
+ Popular ex-governor from a red state (Indiana); executive experience as governor and appeal to Clinton voters.
– Doesn’t bring geographic diversity.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
+ Experience; party unity; clout that can’t be ignored given 18 million primary and caucus votes.
– Hinders “change” theme; high negatives with many voters.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
+ Popular governor from a red state; executive experience; appeal to moderate Republicans, women.
– Not well-known; little foreign-policy experience.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson
+ Foreign-policy experience; helps in Western battleground states.
– Fared poorly in campaign; are voters ready for an all-minority ticket?
