Add Jones To List of Obama VP Prospects

At political gatherings lately I've noticed that the question everybody asks is who I think will be Obama's VP pick -- and what people mean by asking is that they have their own pick that they want to talk about. And, people's picks are all over the place.

Barack Obama warned the press to ignore rumors about his selection process because his advisors would be holding their cards very close to the vest. Nevertheless, reports of new names are trickling out, supposedly based on inside information. Last Thursday Chris Bowers at OpenLeft revealed that Obama's campaign had approached Sen. Pat Murray (D-WA) about the position. Today the revelation comes from Mark Murray at First Read, who says to add Gen. James L. Jones, USMC (ret.) to the list. He is a former former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, former Chairman of the Congressional Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, and former special envoy for Middle East Security, now the CEO of the Institute for 21st Century Energy. Talk about military cred.

Just for the record, Murray's list of other names currently being discussed is: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), former senator John Edwards (D-NC)(who says he doesn't want it), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS), Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH)(also rules himself out), senate candidate and former governor Mark Warner (D-VA), Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), former senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), and former senator Sam Nunn (D-GA). Not many women on there. In addition to Sebelius (and Sen. Murray, if Bowers' report is correct), I was hoping that Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) might get some consideration.