Strickland is Out

Matt Lewis | June 10, 2008 5:35 PM

If you had asked me yesterday whom Obama would pick for "Veep", I would have told you 1. Jim Webb, or 2. Ted Strickland.

But now -- seemingly out of nowhere -- Strickland says he will "

absolutely not" be Obama's running mate.

This is a bit of a blow to Obama, for two reasons.

First, Ohio has always been -- and will continue to be -- "the" swing state. Gov. Strickland is wildly popular there, and putting him on the ticket might have been tantamount to putting LBJ on the ticket in '60 -- meaning it might have delivered the state (and thus, the election).

Second, is it just me, or are some Democrats all of a sudden starting to distance themselves from Obama, a bit?