Forget McCain and Obama. Who are the VPs?

It's finally over, this long-running spectacle of the primary season. We are now between rounds, no longer subjected to the enervating slugfest of the opening, but not yet into the toe-to-toe finale of the general election campaign. At the moment, two things are occupying the candidates' attention.

One is money. Obama has raised perhaps a quarter of a billion dollars---that's not a typo---and McCain has collected less than half that amount, still a sizeable sum but dangerously behind. In a verification that there is no such thing as too much money, both will strive to attract still more contributions. Money is the fuel on which the engine of American politics runs, and the worst situation is to run out of it before your opponent does. Now that Obama is the Democrats' choice, he is attracting even more money, and McCain will have to collect cash at a furious pace if his campaign is to remain competitive.

The second important objective is to select a running mate, and this decision is more important that it has been in a very long time.One of Franklin D. Roosevelt's vice presidents, John Nance Garner, said famously (here disinfected to preclude offense) that the office of vice president was not worth a warm pitcher of spit. Perhaps that was so in his case: after all, he was the second banana to the dominant political figiure of the twentieth century. But Garner died in 1967 and did not live long enough to witness the present administration, in which the vice president often appeared to be driving all policy and decision-making.

There are two significant variables that make the choice of running mates more important in 2008. First, both presidential candidates have weaknesses that need to be ameliorated. It is no matter than John McCain has energy to spare, is quick-witted, has a youthful and wry sense of humor, and is certifiably healthy. He is 71 years old, more than twice the median age of all Americans, and to the majority of the electorate, he is terrifyingly close to the end. McCain's mother is 95 and still full of vigor, and the Senator himself is liable to live at least as long, but that won't matter to an 18-year-old first-time voter whose grandparents are younger than McCain. Appearance is reality, especially in politics, and his running mate needs to be, and act, much younger.

Senator Obama has an equally difficult problem to solve. He is a skilled politician, but he appears youthfully naive and needs a running mate with established credentials and maturity. Like McCain, Obama doesn't need a running mate who will reinforce his own strengths, make certain that the Democrats carry states which Obama is already likely to carry, or appeal to his base. Instead, he needs someone who wil help him attract uncommitted voters and convince the middle of the electorate that his administration will possess some national security expertise and Red State appeal. Too bad for him that chuck Hegel is a Republican, because he would fit the ticket nicely.

The second reason that the #2 spot will be on the mind of the voters is---Dick Cheney. No vice president in at least a generation has had as big an impact on administration policy as Cheney has. We remember vice presidents only when they survive the office, remain in the public eye, and become famous in their own rights. (Quick: who was Harry Truman's running mate? Jimmy Carter's?) Cheney has changed, at least for the forseeable future, the importance with which the voters view the office.

In the past, presidential candidates have played it safe, selected people who could deliver an important state or sector of the country, or merely picked the person who finished second in the primary race. They are easy courses of action, but this time around none isa likely road to the White House. To be sure, most people vote for the presidential candidate they like best, but this year the second string must be able to carry the whole ticket.