McCain's 20 names

CNN is reporting that McCain plans to take a few months to reduce his 20-ish name veep list to the finalists. Of course, they also say he wants to have it decided on by the start of the Republican convention. Well, duh!

U.S. News & World Report is running a story that former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman is moving up the GOP veep list. It's being suggested that Portman could help McCain carry Ohio. That is certainly a possibility, but Portman is not well known in the state outside of the Cincinnati area. An Ohio politician who could truly affect the state is current Governor Ted Strickland, who is an ardent Clinton supporter. But bloggers have been reporting on and off that Obama is also considering him. That seems far-fetched to me, though.

Also on the Democratic side, John Edwards has just said that he wouldn't accept the veep slot again. No surprise there, it would be sort of insulting to play #2 twice in a row, especially after the difficult 2004 race.