Top Clintonites Push Hillary for Veep

Mere hours after Barack Obama secured the Dem nomination, key Clinton insiders stepped up lobbying for a VP slot for her. Former White House staffer Lanny Davis started a petition drive—without campaign coordination, he insists—at Womenforfairpolitics.com, the Los Angeles Times reports. “We must field the strongest possible ticket,” the letter to Obama on the site reads. Clinton “would be, by far the most qualified and strongest candidate to be your running mate.”

Bob Johnson, another friend of the former first couple, sent a letter to Jim Clyburn, asking the House’s top African American to lobby the Congressional Black Caucus for a Clinton VP endorsement, CNN says. He added that Hillary had okayed his effort yesterday. “This is not a pressure,” Johnson stressed. “This is elected officials giving their best judgment.” (More Hillary Clinton stories.)