ELECTION 2008: ON THE TRAIL

February 22, 2008

Possible veep? South Carolina's maverick Gov. Mark Sanford is getting the buzz, if not necessarily the love, over the possibility he could become John McCain's running mate. Some national pundits put him on the short list. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," several guests called Sanford a good fit for the presumptive GOP nominee. Political reporters are speculating about his chances. McCain has declined to speculate about a possible running mate. There are about a dozen other names on the list, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former McCain rival Mitt Romney and current rival Mike Huckabee.

Obama skips symposium. Barack Obama is skipping the annual State of the Black Union symposium this weekend in New Orleans. Hillary Rodham Clinton will speak there. Obama will focus instead on campaigning in Texas and Ohio in hopes of delivering a knockout blow to Clinton in those states' presidential primaries on March 4. The Republican candidates, John McCain and Mike Huckabee, also declined to attend. Obama's refusal to attend and organizer Tavis Smiley's criticism of him for doing so have stirred debate within the black community and the blogosphere, taking both Obama and Smiley, a talk-show host, to task.

$1 million a day. As Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton rushed from presidential contest to contest in January, that was how quickly they burned through their money, according to the candidates' reports to the Federal Election Commission. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney were spending a third as much. Obama spent $18 on TV and radio ads; Clinton spent $11 million.