Dark Horse Daschle

Marc Ambinder's latest poll asks readers to vote on who they think is most likely to get picked as Obama's running mate. I left a comment on his blog, the gist of which was that Biden, Kaine, or Sebelius could be picked but that if Obama was planning on a big surprise, Clinton or Daschle could be in the running.

Why Daschle? Tom Daschle was an early supporter of Obama. He endorsed Obama in February of 2007. He is the national co-chair of the Obama campaign.

Obama's campaign staff is filled with Daschle old-timers. From this must-read article in The American Prospect:

Often called "the 101st Senator," Rouse, an understated 62-year-old with 30-odd years of Capitol Hill experience, had been Tom Daschle's powerful chief of staff... Obama's chief of staff is the aforementioned Daschle associate, Pete Rouse. His deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, managed Daschle's 2004 campaign. His director for battleground states, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, and his director of communications, Dan Pfeiffer, were both deputy campaign managers for Daschle in 2004. Obama's foreign-policy director, Denis McDonough, was Daschle's foreign-policy adviser, and his finance director, Julianna Smoot, was head of Daschle's PAC.

Daschle admitted recently that he had been vetted by Obama's team. By most accounts Obama likes and respects Daschle, which is a good thing even if it's not always necessary.

Some potential problems: Daschle's post-senate lobbying and Daschle's long career in D.C. which doesn't exactly match the outsider/change theme that Obama espouses.