Over at Politico, one of Ben Smith's readers is skeptical of recent VP boomlets:
Obama's campaign is doing a hell of a job setting expectations of an imminent veep pick in different swing states. He got three huge days of stories in VA, and now three huge days of stories in IN. If Schweitzer or McCaskill names 'leak' next, I won't be surprised.There's another point to be made there. Indiana and Virginia are swing states, and the speculation over the possibility of an Obama-Bayh or Obama-Kaine ticket has undoubtedly increased the impact of his recent visits. Like the reader, I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of the campaign's strategy in planning the trips; David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, Obama's media strategists, are notoriously good at shaping press coverage.
But even if the intent of the Bayh and Kaine floats was to garner attention for the campaign swings, the coverage wasn't as Obama-centric as past visits have been; it focused as much, if not more, on Bayh and Kaine. Obama, essentially, tricked the media into vetting his possible running-mates for him. With Kaine, that meant hearing tales of his unpopularity among progressives both nationally and in Virginia, as well as mentions of his retrograde social views. With Bayh, the response has been more mixed, with progressive both criticizing and defending him, and trail reporters filing fawning pool reports. In either case, it allowed the Obama campaign to gauge the reaction and take it into consideration when making their final pick.
This kind of ploy won't win Obama the election; running mate choices are almost never determinative in presidential contests. But it should at the very least protect against disastrous picks, à la Thomas Eagleton or Dan Quayle.
--Dylan Matthews
