NO EXCITEMENT, PLEASE, WE'RE CLINTONS

I find this Robert Novak item rather plausible:

Clinton backers see Warner -- not Obama -- as best V.P. choice

Anticipating that Sen. Hillary Clinton will clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, some supporters are beginning to argue against her choosing her principal rival -- Sen. Barack Obama -- for vice president.

They maintain Obama provides no general election help for Clinton. As an African-American from Illinois, he represents an ethnic group and a state already solidly in the Democratic column.

This school of thought advocates a Southerner as Clinton's running mate. The last time Democrats won a national election without a Southerner on the ticket was 1944. Prominent Democrats from the South are in short supply today. The leading prospect: former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

Yeah, I don't think it'll be Obama or Richardson -- the Clintons are so cautious that she's not going to want to frighten the public by (gasp!) offering them a ticket with two people who aren't males of northern European extraction. I also think she thinks having Obama on the ticket would undercut her foreign policy credentials (of course, she's the principal reason he's seen as shaky on foreign policy).

I'm not sure Warner is her ideal choice -- her ideal choice would probably be a male WASP Southerner with some foreign policy expertise, but not enough to make her look inexperienced by comparison.

Er, Hill -- if you're going to pick a white guy from the South, how 'bout James Webb? Naaah, never happen -- not bland and reassuring enough.

As for the Republicans, Greg makes the point in the comments to this thread that Giuliani, if he gets the nomination, could well pick Fred Thompson. I agree with Greg that that would be a hard ticket to beat. ("Wow -- two people I've seen on TV!") And they're well matched -- Southern/Northern, tightly wound/lackadaisical, etc., etc.

And banish any notion that Giuliani would be Thompson's or Romney's #2 -- Rudy has an ego the size of Texas, and he'd never be anyone's #2. (Attorney general or Homeland Security secretary, maybe, and that's a terrifying thought.)

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(Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo.)