Outside the Box?
Link

Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a member of President Bush's first-term Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate.

Veneman, 59, has a biography that could be suited to Obama's unifying message. A Republican raised on a California peach farm, she rose to become the nation’s first female agriculture secretary. In 2002 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was treated successfully. Today she serves as executive director of the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF.

We need to win soooo badly, that it seems to me Obama has some leeway here to choose a VP that might otherwise meet with lots of disapproval from the left. There is certainly nobody he could choose that would make me vote for McCain, or not vote, or pick Nader or Barr.

As Agriculture Secretary, she was not exactly a friend of business regulation. But she might send a message about Obama's commitment to women and family issues (UNICEF), and shows he is not an old school partisan - good for the independents. Still, does she pass the most basic test: ready to be President? Seems like a pick that would be a little too cute. You can read more about her here.