Obama Ready to Reveal 'Safe' VP Pick

Barack Obama will unveil his running mate as early as Wednesday and kick off a tour of swing states before the Democratic convention, the New York Times reports. His pick likely boils down to three politically safe choices, sources say: Sen. Evan Bayh, Gov. Tim Kaine, and Sen. Joe Biden. Some Democrats still hope Hillary Clinton has a shot and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius may be in the running.

Obama all but chose his running mate during a Hawaii vacation while his lawyers vetted names. Now he plans announce his pick in time to maximize pre-convention publicity and steal the spotlight from John McCain. But one Democratic analyst says it's no game-changer: “Vice-presidential candidates can make a marginal difference,” he said, “but they rarely matter in terms of winning a state or region—as Mike Dukakis and John Kerry found out." (More Obama 2008 stories.)