Obama begins V-P vetting process

Increasingly acting like the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama is beginning to vet potential running mates...

Increasingly acting like the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama is beginning to vet potential running mates, laying plans to take control of the party8217;s campaign apparatus and trying to overcome vulnerabilities exposed in the prolonged primary season.

Obama has not asserted the nomination is his, for fear of offending supporters of his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lags Obama among delegates to the party8217;s nominating convention but shows no signs of conceding the race. Still, his recent campaign stops and administrative moves show that his central focus is the November election.

The campaign has tapped James A. Johnson, an Obama fundraiser, to oversee the screening of potential vice presidential candidates, according to campaign aides.

Johnson, vice chairman of the merchant bank and private equity fund Perseus, worked as a top aide to former Vice President Walter Mondale. He helped Mondale vet potential running mates in his unsuccessful 1984 campaign and played a similar role for Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee.

8220;He8217;s been through this VP thing many, many times,8221; Mondale said. He said Johnson 8220;worked for me in a key position in the White House. He knows what it is, because he lived there.8221;

With only three more primary contests remaining 8212; in Puerto Rico on June 1 and South Dakota and Montana on June 3 8212; Obama is also moving to solidify his position in states that will be battlegrounds in November.

Obama does not want to appear to be pushing Clinton from the stage, so he can remain well-positioned to win the votes of her supporters in the general election.

Story continues below this ad

Obama aides are keeping the hunt for a running mate a closely guarded effort. Obama has not shared his thinking on how much weight he will give to calls from some Democrats to make Clinton the vice presidential nominee.

Other potential choices include Richardson and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Both ran against Obama for the nomination but later dropped out and endorsed him.

Others who may be on Obama8217;s list include Gov Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and three senators: Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, who also ran for president this year; Claire McCaskill of Missouri; and Jim Webb of Virginia.

At a visit to a Boca Raton synagogue Thursday, Obama got a question, posed a bit indirectly, about whether he would name Clinton as his vice president.

Story continues below this ad

8220;Will you be willing to consider everyone a possible running mate, even if his or her spouse is a pain in the butt?8221; one person asked.

After he and the crowd stopped laughing, Obama cautioned it was too soon to talk about possible vice presidential nominees. 8220;Two weeks from now, we will know who the Democratic nominee is going to be, so I don8217;t want to jump the gun,8221; he said.

But he noted that one of his heroes, Abraham Lincoln, stocked his administration with rivals, and he said he would be willing to do the same.

In his visit to Florida, Obama has been trying to address weaknesses that emerged in the course of his campaign fight with Clinton. One point of concern is Jewish voters. On Thursday, he spoke to Jewish voters and sought to address any misgivings. At the Boca Raton synagogue, B8217;nai Torah, Obama was introduced by three Jewish elected officials from Florida, who assured the crowd that Obama was a friend to Israel.