AUG 21 -- Hillary Clinton Was Never Vetted: According to the Politico, Hillary Clinton can't be Obama's VP -- because she was never screened for the job.
"She was never vetted," a Democratic official reported. "She was not asked for a single piece of paper. She and Senator Obama have never had a single conversation about it. How would he know if she'd take it?" ...
"This would be the biggest leap of faith ever," the official said. "She's waiting for the text message like everyone else."
The New York Times reports on "mounting evidence that Mr. Obama's interest in Mrs. Clinton for the post has faded considerably, if, in fact, she ever really was a strong contender to be on the ticket with him."
In conversations, Mr. Obama's advisers discuss Mrs. Clinton's role at the Democratic convention next month in a way that suggests they are not thinking of her arriving in Denver as Mr. Obama's running mate. [...]
The feeling goes both ways. Mrs. Clinton has told associates in recent days that she thinks there is little chance Mr. Obama will pick her and that she views the public pronouncements by some of Mr. Obama's aides that she is under review as nothing more than a courtesy.
She has not been asked to provide written documentation to the committee vetting the background of candidates for Mr. Obama. Although Mrs. Clinton probably needs less flyspecking than almost anyone else in the field -- considering how long she has been in public life and how intensively her past has been examined -- the silence from that corner is being taken by Mrs. Clinton's advisers as evidence of where she stands on Mr. Obama's vice presidential list.
Terry McAuliffe says Clinton has been busy in the Senate but will start campaigning soon.
"I don't like to relay conversations between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton -- I know they have an extensive travel schedule for her," he said. "The requests have been piling up. Hillary Clinton has done more in her position of anybody that has come in second before. She's been working. She's been making calls. As soon as she gets done with her senate deals, she's going to hit the campaign trail."
The former national chairman of the Democratic Party who ran Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign this year told 200 Democratic activists in Fairfax County Tuesday that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine would be his party's best choice as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi urges Clinton supporters to back Obama even if Clinton isn't his VP. "I don't think we should be making an issue after the primary is over about who should be vice president. That would have been up to Hillary Clinton and would have been up to Barack. And it is up to Barack," said the Speaker ... Pelosi's remarks to the Huffington Post come amidst growing concern that should Obama choose as a running mate a woman other than Clinton - say, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius - he would anger the New York Democrat's backers.
JULY 20: NYT Reports Clinton Is Being Vetted
Democrats said they thought it was less likely now than it was a month ago that Mr. Obama would choose Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York as his running mate, though they said she remained in consideration and that she was being vetted.