Would Sebelius on the ticket be the ultimate insult?

It’s not surprising, given the nature of the primary contest, that of the top three in the Democratic VP betting two are women.

Hillary (4/1), of course, is still up there and there continues to be a lot being said on her behalf. Given that this does not need to be announced until the end of August it would be easier by then for Barack to choose his former opponent without suggestions that it was forced upon him.

There are, of course, lots of negatives though this piece by Ed Kilgore in Salon today makes a strong case on the former First Lady’s behalf.

But if not Hillary then what about Kathleen Sebelius (7/1) – the Governor of Kansas who, herself, was tipped as a potential candidate for President after Kerry’s defeat. In January she was chosen by the Party’s congressional leaders to give the to Bush’’s to Republican President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address and made a key endorsement of Obama week before Super Tuesday.

But it’s now being argued that it if Obama wants a woman on the tickets it would be hard to choose anybody else but Hillary.

In an article at the weekend on Slate Christopher Beam set the scene: “In the fantasy baseball game known as the Veepstakes, Kathleen Sebelius appears to be the complete package. She’s a popular Democratic governor in a red state. She stood up to out-of-state insurers to keep health care premiums down. She delivered the Democratic response to this year’s State of the Union address. And, best of all for Barack Obama, she’s a woman. What better way to win over disaffected Clinton supporters?…Or piss them off…..

Picking Sebelius wouldn’t be an olive branch, a Clinton backer is quoted as saying it would be an insult: “If Senator Obama has a problem with women, putting a woman on a ticket is not going to get him their votes.” Here it gets paradoxical. It would be OK if Obama picked a man—that’s just business as usual. “Jim Webb is not a slap in the face to Hillary,” she says. “Sebelius is.””

That maybe overstating it and I got a nice bet on Kathleen when she was 10/1.

This will keep us occupied for months.

Mike Smithson