When Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton abandoned her bid for the presidency and endorsed Senator Barack Obama in June, she made clear that she was interested in becoming his running mate, and Obama and his associates signalled respectfully that she would get full consideration.But there is mounting evidence that Obama’s interest in Clinton for the post has faded considerably, if, in fact, she ever really was a strong contender to be on the ticket with him.In conversations, Obama’s advisers discuss Clinton’s role at the Democratic convention next month in a way that suggests they are not thinking of her arriving in Denver as Obama’s running mate. When Obama appeared on Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC he offered a description of the kind of person he was looking for, hinting that it would not be someone who was identified strongly with Washington, a choice that would appear to leave out Clinton. His associates said this description reflected the lack of serious thought being given to Clinton for the post.The feeling goes both ways. Clinton has told associates in recent days that she thinks there is little chance Obama will pick her and that she views the public pronouncements by some of Obama’s aides that she is under review as nothing more than a courtesy. She has not been asked to provide written documentation to the committee vetting the background of candidates for Obama. Although Clinton probably needs less flyspecking than almost anyone else in the field— considering how long she has been in public life and how intensively her past has been examine— the silence from that corner is being taken by Clinton’s advisers as evidence of where she stands on Obama’s vice presidential list.Clinton’s boosters have not given up. “If he picks Hillary he gets her 18 million supporters and we would win in a cakewalk and control the White House for 16 years,” Terry McAuliffe, who was the chairman of her campaign, said on Sunday in an interview. Yet even McAuliffe, in a separate interview on MSNBC on Monday morning, seemed to acknowledge the diminished chances of Clinton’s ending up on the ticket when he said he expected her role at the convention to consist of delivering a speech on Tuesday night. (If history is any guide, the vice presidential candidate speaks on Wednesday night; Obama’s advisers said they had not decided when Clinton would speak.)By every indication, Obama has not reached a decision. Given the political strength Clinton exhibited as she duelled with Obama to the end of the primary season, it is conceivable to say, if polls over the next few weeks suddenly show him struggling against Senator John McCain that Obama would turn to her. But his associates describe that as unlikely, saying that for a variety of reasons, Obama is not looking to have her as a running mate or serving with him in the White House. Obama’s aides are confident that the passions of the primary season have given way to a more pragmatic view among Clinton’s supporters and that Obama would not risk a major backlash from women or other constituencies associated with her if the vice presidential slot goes to someone else.But the Obama camp has done little in public to prepare Clinton supporters for the increasing likelihood that she will not be on the ticket. There is no shortage of speculation among Clinton’s supporters that she is very much in the running as Obama begins closing in on a decision.The list of potential candidates includes Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana and Joseph R Biden Jr of Delaware, as well as Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia, and other names of varying degrees of plausibility.
