Published: August 24, 2008 12:32 am      

‘None of the above’ proves to be safe bet

The moment is finally here.

The text messages went out. So did the e-mails.

Barack Obama has finally announced his running mate for the upcoming election against Republican candidate John McCain.

We gave a list of either four potential vice presidential picks or none of the above on www.timeswv.com and asked our readers whom they thought the Democratic nominee should pick to be on the ticket with.

Surprise, surprise … with 40.14 percent of the 142 total votes, Sen. Hillary Clinton was the voters choice. After all she did win the state of West Virginia handily of Barack. Why shouldn’t she be the pick for vice president.

Nice pick, but let me check my cell phone again. Nope, not her.

The description on the Web site read “he needs her votes to win the nation.”

That just might be the case, but he’s going to have to win those votes without her.

Of the rest of the candidates, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb came in with 11.97 percent of the vote. This Vietnam vet was thought to be able to lend some military experience to the campaign.

He didn’t make the cut either, saving us another election year without having to see any more groups like the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth running commercials against his war record.

The next two candidates finished in a dead-even tie, each with 4.23 percent of the vote.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine didn’t get the text message. Well, then again, maybe they did — their name just wasn’t in it.

In fact, if you happened to catch a glimpse of the ’round-the-clock vice presidential coverage on CNN Friday, then you’d have seen that Kaine told reporters he wasn’t the candidate. Maybe you thought he was just trying to chase the television cameras off his lawn. Maybe it was a ploy to keep the “nation’s biggest secret” as it’s been described just that for one more day.

That left the 39.44 percent of the voters who went with the field.

Their response? None of the above.

Guess what? Just like in Vegas, it was a safe bet.

When the cell phones, Blackberries and all the other mobile devices chimed to life this morning only one name was there — Sen. Joe Biden Jr. of Delaware.

He’s expected to bolster Obama’s foreign policy numbers, which is always a big help.

Can the guy who couldn’t win the Democratic nomination for president in 1988 or even come close in 2008 help push Obama to the White House?

According to Obama, he’s a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” kind of guy.

“For decades ... hr has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn’t changed him,” he said Saturday during their first joint campaign appearance. “He never moved to Washington. Instead, night after night, week after week, year after year, he returned home to Wilmington on a lonely Amtrak train.”

We’ll see in November if Mr. Biden Goes to 34th Street and Massachusetts Avenue, the vice president’s abode in Washington, D.C.

Next week, let’s hear your thoughts on Republican nominee John McCain’s running mate.

Log on. Vote. E-mail me.

Misty Poe

City Editor

mpoe@timeswv.com