Things change.

Since I last discussed vice presidential prospects for Sen. Barack Obama, of the three most significant candidates, two pulled themselves out of contention and one may have disqualified himself for telling too much truth too soon.

I thought Ohio Governor Ted Strickland was just about a perfect choice: 66, a Christian minister with 12 years of congressional experience and immensely popular in his crucial home state. He gave a Shermanesque “will not serve” statement weeks ago.

Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia was almost as close to perfection: tough, widespread military and administrative experience, popular in another crucial state but with some temperament issues—also said he wasn’t interested, rather definitively.

Gen. Wesley Clark is still available, but stirred up a premature hornets nest on the right by noting that McCain’s prisoner-of-war experience alone did not exactly qualify him for the presidency. A truthful blasphemy, but the last thing Obama wants in his veep is Drama.

(Did you know, by the way, that the term “veep” was coined by Harry Truman’s vice president, Alben Barkley, the former Kentucky senator?)

So now there’s a new short list, replete with interesting choices that I would have thought unthinkable before things changed.

Take Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. All the charisma of a cuticle. But, hey! Here’s a Democrat twice elected governor and twice senator in this reddest of northern red states, so he must be connecting somewhere. He was also a strong Clintonite. Most importantly, Indiana is now seriously in play and he could make the difference there as well as reassure neighboring Ohio.

I’d call him the likeliest prospect, though no one is an “odds-on” favorite.

Another governor of a newly in-play state is Tim Kaine of Virginia, now that Webb is out of contention. But Kaine is a first-termer whose wild eyebrow-raising is disconcerting on TV. Good guy, though a longer shot.

My favorite long-shot governor is Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, who happens to be Jewish and could lock up PA and probably bring Florida into the fold. He’s as savvy and folksy and straightforward as they come—also a Hillary person. Howzabout a black-Jewish ticket? Sounds good to me, but maybe not to a lot of goyim.

Gov. Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas brings gender balance and perhaps the highest personal compatibility with Obama, but seriously unlikely to bring a state—unless a lot of people in Ohio remember that her dad John Gilligan was one of its most popular governors. Then, too, many Hillariacs say it would be insulting and offensive to name a woman other than HRC. Oy!

Clinton herself cannot yet be written off. She would be the bitterest pill for Obamaniacs to swallow—especially with that Bill chaser—but if the numbers look too bad in a month and she seems the only thing that can help salvage the victory, it will be worked out. Still very unlikely.

If there’s a dark horse in this race, it’s a conservative white southerner: former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. Some feminists, gays and netroots will berserk, but he is a perfect balancing complement to Obama. Truly smart and seasoned, especially in foreign policy. Equally important, Georgia now appears to be in play and he could cinch that very unlikely state. Hold this idea in reserve. There’s something painfully interesting about it.

Now there are other names floating, such as Sen. Joe Biden, who seems to be Chris Matthews’s prime choice. Yes, he’s good on foreign policy (though he voted to go to Iraq) and he’s clean and articulate. Well, maybe articulate is not quite the word—he talks too much and has his disastrous 1988 campaign for the presidency to live down. Maybe a good secretary of state—Obama will handily win Delaware without him.

A couple of other progressive east-coast senators, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, would be sane, logical prospects in themselves but their states are safe and neither has the national heavyweight reputation Nunn does.

The eternal issue of Bill Richardson is that while he may have the best resume of all, there are personal issues lurking beneath the surface.

Crossing the aisle, there’s Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, with much to recommend him strategically, but he’s far too conservative on issues other than the war.

Outside the box there’s New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a political switch-hitter whose billions of net worth would suggest he knows something about the economy. OK—a fabulously wealthy New York Jew. But Obama is secure in New York anyway, so this little fantasy will ultimately evaporate.

Perhaps, in his inscrutable way, Obama will pick none of the above. Remember, you read it here first.

__________________________________________-

Don Rose, a veteran strategist for liberal and independent campaigns, is a regular political analyst for The Chicago Daily Observer.