FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - It’s hardly a surprise that Tom Brady will start in the New England Patriots’ season opener on Sunday.

The shock could come when the Kansas City Chiefs’ young secondary sees how hard it will be to stop last season’s NFL MVP.

“It’s going to be a tough task, but I think my young fellas back there are ready. They’re ready for a challenge,” said cornerback Patrick Surtain, an 11-year veteran.

Rookie Brandon Flowers is the other starting cornerback and Bernard Pollard and Jarrad Page are in just their second season as starting safeties. Add to that the Chiefs nine-game losing streak at the end of last season and quarterback Brodie Croyle’s 0-6 record as a starter, and the Patriots’ 0-4 exhibition record means absolutely nothing.

“You’re still focused on it,” New England safety Rodney Harrison said. “We’re not.”

The Patriots have their own concerns in the secondary.

Cornerback Asante Samuel left for Philadelphia as a free agent, Fernando Bryant was released after starting throughout the exhibition season and two-time Pro Bowler Deltha O’Neal was signed Monday.

But the team that lost its chance for a perfect season in the Super Bowl still has a deep defensive line and a linebacking group bolstered by first-round pick Jerod Mayo, who will start at inside linebacker.

“It is a relief” that Samuel left, said Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who had 70 catches as a rookie last season.

Brady had a right foot injury and missed all four exhibition games. But after being on the injury or practice participation report for every game the past three seasons, he was finally off it Thursday.

Surtain doesn’t think Brady will be rusty after not playing the exhibition games. After all, the quarterback did throw an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes last season when the Patriots were 18-0 before losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants 17-14.

“He’s phenomenal,” Surtain said. “I’m pretty sure he knows the offense like the back of his hand. I hope he has rust. But you can’t expect anything but greatness from him.”

Surtain and his secondary mates also must contend with Randy Moss, who played sparingly in the preseason. But he missed all four exhibition games last season, had an outstanding opener and set a single-season league record with 23 touchdown receptions.

The Chiefs also must contend with Wes Welker, whose 112 catches tied for the NFL lead, and a deep group of running backs with Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris and LaMont Jordan. The Patriots will be without right guard Stephen Neal, sidelined for at least six weeks.

His replacement, Billy Yates, doesn’t think that will hurt.

“Everybody that’s in this locker room on the offensive line, we know the techniques and we know what each other are doing,” said Yates, who spent most of the past three seasons on the Patriots’ practice squad.

The Patriots set an NFL record last season for most points and had the league’s most productive offense.

“What they did last year was something that you don’t see in pro football and there’s going to be some games where all of a sudden they’re not going to score 40 points all the time,” Kansas City coach Herm Edwards said.

With Brady, even without the exhibition experience, the Patriots could score 40 again on Sunday.

“The fortunate thing for me is that I have played in about 130 games,” he said. “So I know that speed (of the game) and my body knows that speed. Hopefully, I can rely on the past history that I have had playing.”

The Chiefs were 4-12 last season, but they still have running back Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez, who needs 179 yards receiving to break the NFL record for tight ends.

“We’ve got a lot, a lot of young players on this team,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve got to be excited about that. The best thing about playing on a young football team is the only place to go is up.”

Defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, the fifth overall selection by the Chiefs, will get his first look at Brady on the field. On offense, the Chiefs have two rookie starters, left tackle Branden Albert and fullback Mike Cox. And Croyle is inexperienced.

“The thing we see right now is his confidence,” Edwards said of his quarterback. “It’s a lot better than it was in the previous two years. The first year he didn’t play at all. Last year, he had played some.”

Confidence has never been a problem for the Patriots, not with three Super Bowl wins in seven seasons and a last-minute touchdown by the Giants that deprived them of a fourth.

And, of course, with Brady back on the field when the games count and with coach Bill Belichick leading the team.

“It’s not about two or three guys being superstars but it’s about all 53 guys making sure they contribute,” Harrison said. “If we weren’t confident, we wouldn’t be here. He (Belichick) would find somebody else to replace us.”

Ronald Reagan joins the Beema team to anchor the RNC wrap-up, supplemental report in place of the usual News of the Weird program. The Gipper summarizes the entire Convention as only the Great Communicator can.

The other result is that the Dems have a lot of deadwood piled up in their ranks.  This is no better demonstrated by this presidential election cycle.  

First, you have "love child" Edwards.  Had McCain been Edwards shoes, the NYT would not have been so diffident in reporting this "minor" picidillo.  It would have been front page news one nanosecond after the union of sperm and ovum.  Frankly, the Dems were fortunate that Edwards didn't catch fire. Can you imagine the problems for the Dems if that news broke at the convention and he was the nominee?  Those styrofoam pillars would have taken on a whole new meaning.  To paraphrase Dolly Parton:  "you don't trust no southern backwoods lawyer."

Then, there's Hill.  Probably the strongest of the very shallow Dem bench.  But again, what did she have to offer? A lawyer from Arkansas who owes her entire career to a name she acquired through marriage.  Some feminist.

Finally, Barry.  Anyone who knows anything about Democratic machine politics in Chicago will smell another machine politician from ten miles off.  Any participation in Chicago machine politics makes you dirty automatically. All of your associates have skeletons in their closets. Rezko. Ayers. Wright.  I know.  I grew up there. I have relatives who were patronage workers.  

But, while the MSM was "vetting" Sarah Palin by trashing her 17 year-old daughter (Bristol's not even old enough to vote), the MSM failed for decades to vet its own (face it, they're a wholly owned Democratic party subsidiary). Leaving the Democratic party unable to field candidates any better than Love Child, Hill and Barry.

Then Barry picks Biden.  What's Biden done?  Just gets re-elected and re-elected so he built up enough seniority to wind up as chair of the foreign relations committee.  Foreign policy experience; try peter principle.

Finally, in the spirit of enlightened self-interest, the MSM has been the their own worst enemy in promoting their liberal agenda.  Moreover, it has badly tarnished its own brand name.  The MSM is increasingly being discounted as an accurate source of news.  And, by its bias, it has stimulated the rise of alternate sources of news and information.  What was it?  Twenty-four hours before the internet demolished Dan Rather?

There is a reason that stock prices for such propaganda organs such as the NYT are sinking faster than a drowning polar bear in the globally-warmed, ice-free Arctic.  That reason is that people will pay, and pay well, for information.  As in accurate information.  But, people will not pay for propaganda; propaganda is to be handed out for free.

"The National Enquirer's coverage of a vicious war within Sarah Palin's extended family includes several newsworthy revelations, including the resulting incredible charge of an affair plus details of family strife when the Governor's daughter revealed her pregnancy. Following our John Edwards' exclusives, our political reporting has obviously proven to be more detail-oriented than the McCain campaign's vetting process. Despite the McCain camp's attempts to control press coverage they find unfavorable, The Enquirer will continue to pursue news on both sides of the political spectrum."

"The smearing of the Palin family must end," said McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt. "The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Gov Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious lie.

"The efforts of the media and tabloids to destroy this fine and accomplished public servant are a disgrace. The American people will reject it."

The Enquirer also alleges that Palin, whose daughter Bristol, 17, is pregnant, unjustly fired a public safety official while she was governor of Alaska. The article was based entirely on unnamed sources and the magazine often pays sources to speak to them.

"Senator McCain and Governor Palin look forward to discussing the issues that Americans care about, fixing broken government, creating jobs, making our country energy independent and securing the peace for the next generation by bringing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a victorious end," Mr Schmidt continued.

"Legal action will be considered with regard to this disgraceful smear."

But the Enquirer was recently vindicated after its long-running pursuit of John Edwards, a former Democratic presidential candidate, ended with him admitting he had conducted an extra-marital affair with a filmmaker he had met in a bar in New York and later employed on his campaign.

The Enquirer responded: "The National Enquirer's coverage of a vicious war within Sarah Palin's extended family includes several newsworthy revelations, including the resulting incredible charge of an affair plus details of family strife when the Governor's daughter revealed her pregnancy.

"Following our John Edwards exclusives, our political reporting has obviously proven to be more detail-oriented than the McCain campaign's vetting process. Despite the McCain camp's attempts to control press coverage they find unfavorable, The Enquirer will continue to pursue news on both sides of the political spectrum."

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

This morning I found the marriage record of Narcissus Edwards (my 2nd Great Grandmother) to John T. Hoover, her first husband. Score! I knew she was a Hoover, but had no idea what his first name was. And with the entry of her marriage record I am now only 60 sources from my goal of 3000 sources. I have been adding a lot of new marriages this last week.

How are you coming on your genealogy challenge? Are you making progress? Did you start, it's not too late you know. Come join me and let me know how your progressing. This is fun!

Last week I read a column blasting Elizabeth Edwards for her silence on her husband's affair with Rielle Whatsernuts.  This is ludicrous.  Allow me to tell you why.

As a woman who herself was cheated on, I can say with considerable ethos that when you realized that level of betrayal, you're not really ready to run and blab it to everyone.  I knew for a month before I could even tell my mom.  (Yes, my perspicacious mother knew *something* was amiss, but not what).  You know that as soon as you do 'go public' (and in my case 'public' wasn't national media!!) there's going to be someone hearing you who is going to blame you.  The line goes something like, 'if you took care of business at home, he wouldn't *have to* go outside looking for it'.  Yes, so it's MY fault my dirtbag ex boinked his way across the state? If only I'd done that 'show up at the door in a negligee' trick, or given him more oral sex, geez, maybe we'd still be married.  Somehow I can't take my divorce as a loss when seen that way. 

Second, Elizabeth Edwards was dealing with CANCER, goddammit.  Maybe, just maybe, she had OTHER things on her mind than where Mr. Prell Haircut stuck his schwanz?  The EE story is a perfect case of 'until you've walked a mile in their shoes, shut the f*** up'.

Other side: News today that Bristol Palin, 17, is pregnant.  Already the Kos kooks are out in force. (A note: I don't care whose side you're on politically; it's LOW CLASS to, when someone like Robert Novak is diagnosed with brain cancer, start up a poll about which Republican should get it next. I don't associate, and many of my dyed-in-the-wool Democrat friends don't either, with trash.  Do better, people!)  While I don't have the same ethos to speak on this issue (I do not have a 17 year old daughter, though I do have a 9 year old cat, which is like sixty-odd in people years), I can certainly remember what it's like to be seventeen.

And let's be honest: when you're in your late teens, your parents have like ZERO say over what you do.  My mom declared lifelong loathing for me because I wore jump boots at that age.  You can imagine that the blue hair and the nose piercings didn't go down so hot either.  Her dislike didn't stop me, nor, if I may be honest, did it really goad me into doing it.  (Mom's pet theory is that it was all rebellion against her. It really wasn't: I just did it because I thought it looked cool and made me look different from everyone else.  And the boots were comfy as heck!)

Thus I don't really want to gather up the lynch mob on Sarah Palin either.  Not only the evidence above, but let's be honest about this too: It's gotta be tougher growing up now than it was when I was a kid (in the glorious 80s!) Everyone and everything is SO sexualized, and so young.  Short of locking your kid in a closet (which I think is a form of abuse) there's no way to spare them from the incessant message given to all young people: sex is who you are! I don't agree with it, and I think it's a harmful and downright dangerous message, but you'd have to be a dipstick not to realize that it's out there. 

Anyone who gloats over either of these cases, wow, you sure better have the cleanest windexiest glass house on the block. 

But what bothers me the most is that both of these stories dive right into the classic female insecurity--the notion that the mother (in Palin's case) is ultimately responsible for her child's growth and morals.  That's straight outta Freud, and he was, undeniably, a fruitcake (don't believe me?  research 'vagina dentata') In Edwards's case, there's this notion that a wife must bind her husband to her via sex. If she doesn't put out, well, some people would give the guy a free pass to philanderingville.  Honor, integrity and loyalty?  Lost values.  Compassion? Dead, apparently.  Attacking women based on ludicrous stereotypes of women's roles?  THERE's something apparently both parties can get into.

15 minutes ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Sarah and Todd Palin say their 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant.

The couple said in a statement released by John McCain's presidential campaign that Bristol will keep her baby.

Sarah Palin is McCain's vice presidential running mate.

The Alaska governor says Bristol intends to marry the father of her child.

She and the campaign also are asking that the media respect the family's privacy on this matter.

"Hablan de rivalidades, ya tenemos una", dijo Carl Edwards después de vencer a Busch en la meta por 1.969 segundos. Lideró las últimas 31 vueltas luego de ejecutar un hábil tope para rebasar a Busch en las curvas 1 y 2 en la vuelta 470. A partir de ahí, Edwards se escapó para su segunda victoria consecutiva.

Denny Hamlin llegó tercero, seguido de Kevin Harvick y Jeff Gordon, y los tres pilotos registraron unos resultados entre los cinco primeros muy necesarios para consolidar sus posiciones entre los 12 primeros en las puntuaciones con dos carreras restantes antes que se establezca el contingente de la Caza por la Copa Sprint de NASCAR el 6 de septiembre en Richmond.

Con el triunfo, su sexto de la temporada y el 13º de su carrera, Edwards aseguró un puesto en la Caza y recortó la ventaja de Busch en puntos extra a 30. Molesto por la manera como Edwards lo rebasó para obtener la punta, Busch golpeó al No. 99 Ford de Edwards luego de la bandera a cuadros.

Carl Edwards devolvió el golpe y el No. 18 Toyota de Busch se trompeó. Para empeorar las cosas, NASCAR llamó a Busch al tráiler del cuerpo sancionador después de la carrera. Busch dijo que daba igual si Edwards admitía el tope con Busch para ganar la carrera.

"No, porque hace eso, y siempre va contigo y se disculpa", comentó Busch, quien finalizó segundo atrás de Edwards por segunda carrera al hilo. "Lo hizo en Milwaukee (en la Serie Nationwide de NASCAR), y lo hizo algunas veces más. Es su actitud normal. Está bien. Ya conozco eso.

En la vuelta 216, un contacto entre el No. 5 Chevrolet de Casey Mears y el No. 55 Toyota de Michael Waltrip; un accidente que Mears culpó por mala información de su spotter, provocó un accidente múltiple en la curva 1 que tuvo implicaciones importantes para la Caza.

Al frente de un considerable grupo de autos, Mears subió por la pista cerca de la curva 1 luego de ser avisado por su spotter, pegó contra el frente del auto de Waltrip e impactó fuertemente el muro exterior. Sin poder evitar el accidente, Clint Bowyer le pegó a Waltrip con la parte delantera derecha de su Chevrolet, pero pudo continuar. Bowyer se recuperó para finalizar séptimo y estar otra vez entre los 12 primeros, a 12 puntos del lugar 13, David Ragan, quien finalizó 10º luego de arrancar 43º en un auto muleto.

Kasey Kahne no tuvo tanta suerte. Incapaz de esquivar la reyerta frente a él, Kahne se impactó en medio del accidente, y finalmente tuvo que retirarse de la carrera luego que los intentos de reparar su No. 9 Dodge fueron infructuosos.

"Me cae bien mi spotter - es buena persona - pero, hombre, esto es ridículo," dijo Mears, quien durante el día anunció que acordó conducir un cuarto auto con el Richard Childress Racing el año siguiente.

El accidente provocó daños considerables a las esperanzas de Kahne para la Caza, pues lo relegaron fuera de los 12 primeros. Kahne cayó tres lugares al 14º y está 56 puntos atrás de Bowyer.

"Teníamos un buen auto de carreras, y es una pena que el accidente nos haya atrapado", comentó Kahne, quien finalizó 40º. "Sólo vi autos chocando frente a mí, y no pude hacer nada".

Let me start by admitting what it seems is perceived as a cardinal sin amongst some...I watch Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood...I know, oh the shame of watching reality tv. I accidentally landed on the Oxygen channel when surfing one evening and it was on, I left it on and eventually was watching it. So there...

I was amazed at how grounded Tori Spelling was really. Being the daughter of Aaron, I assumed her to be stuck up, full of crap and ponsy...but she does not seem to be. I take reality tv of this sort at face value because while they like to let us believe that they forget the cameras are there, it is hard to believe that you can't see the dude balancing the thing on his shoulder closely followed by the sound man standing in the middle of your housewarming party...but still, she seemed less diva-esquethan what I imagined. Their interactions seem genuine and it seems to be a happy families story.

But then of course that I remember how the two of them got together: while they were both married...I despise infidelity and I am not fond of adulterers so while some find their "happy families" display on television despicable, I am a little more shallow. I enjoy the humor and the going-ons in a house I will never set foot in.  And in despising infidelity I look towards Hollywood and the rest of Celebrityville to find famous people who are squeaky clean. Ah, I sit and think, lets see...

Brad Pitt - um no. Bill Clinton...no again...John Edwards...ooohh did not see that one coming...And then I think, if people who are followed by the press and the papparazzi think they can get away with it, and some do, how many Joe Soaps are out there who DO get away with it. In my group of friends, I know quite a few who have had a spouse cheat on them and for a while they did get away with it. I sit in my living room and think, how many marriages are out there who are suffering under infidelity?

As much as what we want our marriages to work, or as much as what we yearn our partner to honor the "til death do us part" section, do we want to stay with some one for the sake of some words. I have read a few stories and accounts written by the women of the "the first wives club" and some accounts written by the children of marriages when the cheating spouse "abides" their time until the kids were old enough and many of the kids said they would rather have their parents apart and happier, than staying together under duress. The tension in the marriage can not be depleted by the "good" intention of staying together for the sake of the children. The difference just with the McDermotts in Los Angeles - they were in the public eye. And while people bitch on the Oxygen site about how they got together, I am wondering why these people are watching the program. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

So while I am not impressed by Dean McDermott cheating on his wife while they have a young son and were in the process of adopting a daughter, or Tori for cheating on her husband, I am enjoying the voyeuristic peek into their life. And while we think that in an ideal world, they should have both left their respective marriages before making a move, when last did anything happen that would happen in an ideal world - hell in that case, we would never have got another Bush in the Whitehouse: read my lips. And while I do like some of what I see of how the other half live, I am happy to be where I am, in my life, with my children and the place the Hub and I find ourselves in in our marriage.

Love you babe!

[ and yes...I still watch Home Sweet Hollywood...it sure beats watching the onesided news!]

Now no one is for adultery, at least when it breaks a vow of commitment, but the moral righteousness around this issue in politics drives me crazy. To be fair, adultery (especially my own) played a crucial part in my life -- I've been hearing plenty about "what's wrong with these men", understandably so after Clinton and Spitzer and Edwards, but let me tell you, folks, I know some women who have had those powerful urges too, so powerful that a lot was put at risk. It didn't feel much like the Spitzer or Clinton situation to me (I don't know about Edwards): there was very deep and wrenching emotion involved. Nevertheless, it tends to be thrown into the same pot -- it's all the same to the moralists.

 I guess what gets my goat is that the most vocal people who condemn sexual "immorality" seem to me those who are cozy and have no idea what this sort of desire feels like, and since this is a safe bet, it's easy to get up on your hind legs and bray. I first thought about this when I was moderating an online forum on D.H. Lawrence, who slept with (and eventually married) Frieda, a married woman when he met her. We were supposed to be discussing his fiction, but a couple of the men, as well as some women, were more interested in roundly condemning Lawrence for his immorality. The men were particularly on their high horse -- they would never, ever do such a thing, and anyone who did was unforgivable. At one point I asked these two guys if they had ever had the desire to sleep with another woman, and they proudly answered no, never. Now of course I have no idea if this was the truth, but I can believe it, and rather than impressing me, their answer made me wonder how much of morality is simply judging other people by what feels good to you: in other words, if you have no desire to do it yourself, no one else should either.

In The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe says, " You respectable ones, you stand there so calmly, without any sense of participation." He also says, "We have the right to talk about a thing only when we can feel for it." (By "talk about a thing" he means moral judgement).

Sen. Barack Obama's choice for running mate will be announced to supporters in a text message Saturday morning, senior Obama campaign officials told CNN on Friday night, and a senior party official said it won't be Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Barack Obama says he has decided on his running mate but is not yet ready to reveal the name....

....A senior Democratic official who had spoken with Clinton told CNN late Friday that the Obama campaign has communicated to her through private channels that she will not be Obama's vice presidential pick.

....Also, sources close to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said he has been informed he was not selected. One source told CNN that Obama personally made the call to Kaine.

By LIZ SIDOTI and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers 

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's potential running mates ducked, dodged and semi-denied their way through a day of political intrigue Friday as the Democratic presidential contender readied a high-tech announcement of his pick for vice president.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, nooooo," Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told reporters who asked for her latest thoughts on the months-long search.

Three days before Democrats open their convention in Denver, several officials said Rep. Chet Edwards, whose district includes President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, had made the roster of potential running mates. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Evan Bayh of Indiana were also in the mix, as were Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sebelius — and any unknown others Obama had managed to keep secret despite intense scrutiny.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's prospects remained unlikely. Senior aides said the Obama campaign had never requested financial or other records from her.

Obama told reporters on Thursday he had made his choice, and aides used the prospect of a text-message announcement to try and attract additional supporters by soliciting their cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Even that became occasion for intrigue.

One senior Democrat said an announcement was expected late Friday, while another said he had been told to expect nothing until Saturday morning.

Obama has arranged a joint appearance for Saturday with his running mate at the state Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television convention venue.

Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard tubes, ready-made handles for signs bearing the names of the Democratic ticket — once the identity of Obama's running mate was known.

Edwards, whom Speaker Nancy Pelosi had touted for running mate, told reporters in Waco, Texas, "I have had interactions with the Obama campaign over the last several months, but I will not get into details."

Kaine, a moderate governor from a swing state, boarded a ....

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080822/ap_on_el_pr/ve
epstakes;_ylt=Als3h4l_CG.QsEAYR4Kclbus0NUE

Fill in the blank....

 

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.

Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

Representative Chet Edwards of some gol-darn place in Texas.....

No, wait: WACO!

Evan Bayh...

Chet Atkins!

(He's the "Other Edwards" apparently....)

Tim from Virginia!

WASHINGTON (CBS) ― The suspense holding, Barack Obama readied an announcement by text message Friday of his vice presidential running mate from a list suddenly spiced by a dark horse from Texas.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's prospects remained a mystery on a day full of them, although senior aides said the Obama campaign never requested financial or other records from her.

Three days before the party gathers in Denver to nominate Obama for the fall campaign, several officials said Rep. Chet Edwards, whose district includes President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, had made the list of finalists. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Evan Bayh of Indiana were also in the mix, as were Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas - and unknown others Obama had managed to keep secret despite intense scrutiny.

"It'll be exciting news," Sebelius told reporters in Kansas.

Obama, his secret his own, went to the gymn for a morning workout before heading to an office in Chicago to polish the convention acceptance speech he will deliver next Thursday night.

Obama told reporters on Thursday he's already made his choice, and aides have used the prospect of a text-message announcement to try and attract additional supporters by soliciting their cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

The Illinois senator has arranged a joint appearance for Saturday with his running mate at the state capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Obama said Friday on CBS's "The Early Show" the running mate he has chosen - but has not yet announced - had to meet three standards to join the Democratic ticket: Prepared to be president, able to help him govern and willing to challenge his thinking.

Those criteria did little to narrow the guessing game as the Democractic presumptive nominee prepared for a massive rally in Illinois on Saturday to present his No. 2 to the nation and undertake a pre-convention tour of battleground states. He planned to disclose his choice through text messages to supporters, perhaps as early as Friday.

"Obviously, the most important question is: Is this person ready to be president?" Obama told "The Early Show" on CBS. Second, he said, was: "Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally?"

And, he added: "I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a 'yes person' when it comes to policymaking.

Among those believed in the running, Edwards, Biden and Bayh fit the mold of running mate with experience in defense or foreign policy - areas in which Obama performs relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain.

Clinton's credentials were forged in the primaries and caucuses where she ran a close second to Obama in the battle for the nomination.

There was no shortages of other speculation, ranging from: GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who traveled with Obama to Iraq and Afghanistan; Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, or Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut.

Edwards is a favorite of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who praised his "extraordinary credentials" on ABC's "This Week" on Aug. 3 and said: "I hope he will be the nominee."

One Democratic official with knowledge of the conversation said Obama told Pelosi recently that she would be pleased with the choice. Other Democratic officials said he was on the short list. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Obama's selection process.

Edwards, chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, is a nine-term moderate Democrat representing the GOP-leaning Texas district. He is well-known in Texas but does not have a national profile.

Asked about Pelosi's praise, Edwards said in July that he "cannot imagine that many Americans would not consider it a privilege" to be considered a vice presidential contender.

Among the other potential choices, Biden was at home in Delaware, Kaine helped his son move into college housing in Washington and Bayh attended tennis camp with one of his children.

Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television Democratic national convention venue.

Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard handles, meant to allow delegates to wave signs bearing the names of the ticket - once the identity of Obama's running mate was known.

And he wasn't saying.

Several GOP officials said Friday that McCain had not settled on a running mate - nor offered the job to anyone - although former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty were under serious consideration. It's likely McCain will wait to see who Obama selects before picking his running mate.

Officials said the campaign also was preparing for an "unconventional" nominee, an indication that oft-mentioned former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, or Connecticut Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman still could be in the running. That category also could include non-politicians who McCain deeply admires, such as Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Two officials close to Romney said he had not been offered the job. Pawlenty batted away questions Friday in a CNN interview, saying, "I'm sure he'll make a wonderful choice for our party and for our country and we'll just have to wait until next Friday to find out the answer to those questions."

Stay tuned.....

"I'm just showing you what I see. This is my impression of what my life has been and the culture I'm a part of. . . . These people .... are all my family. I love them dearly....We don't have any content in films. Everything we do is a matter of style. Style is just a way of getting your attention and saying, 'Hey, look what I see!"'
---Film Director Robert Altman