From the plethora of stories that I have read in the past few days, the following names have come up.

Gephardt always seems to come up first, and I'm not sure why. I've expressed my distaste for both him and a Kerry/Gep ticket. It would be too boring and insidery for Joe Average. A VP is supposed to compliment AND supplement the big gun, this ticket would do too much of the sooner. The pluses however is that he would tear apart Cheney on all fronts.

Edwards is a fan favorite, but perhaps an outside pick in reality. He is a great campaigner, possibly the next Clinton, but maybe not quite ready for Prime Time yet. I still remember a few childish antics from the debates late last year.

John McCain is probably not going to happen, and if it did, it may enrage the base. That said, this is a sure way to win the Independent vote and probably the easiest path to a victory under a unified ticket. This is the world changer, but only more likely perhaps than Bill Clinton joining the ticket.

Evan Bayh, Indiana conservative senator with an extremely high approval rating, is a good strategic choice. This guy is an up and comer, and although a bit conservative for me, could help in the rose red state of Indiana. He is the Lieberman of this year's short list, but perhaps with less schmuck factor. Bayh was seen meeting with Kerry's VP strategy crew.

Tom Vilsack, Iowa Governator supreme, has also come up quite a bit as of late. Most people don't know who the hell he is, and Iowa is not exactly the most important state. Outside pick.

Bill Richardson , New Mexico Governator supreme, would go a long way with the Hispanic vote, but this guy has some skeletons.

Ed Rendell, our own Governator, might be criminally insane, but a good guy no less.

Howard Dean could perhaps be the ultimate crowd pleaser to the base, but his name has only come up for VP in some poorly done and hardly read blogs.

Bob Graham is possibly the most repulsive campaigner this side of Cheney. Stay away.