Who’s No. 2?

What happened

Hillary and Bill Clinton said several times over the weekend that Barack Obama would make a fine running mate -- even though they say he’s not experienced enough to be commander-in-chief. (The Boston Globe, free registration) Obama’s camp says he’s not averse to a “dream ticket” -- if Hillary Clinton takes the No. 2 spot. (New York Daily News) Obama extended his lead in the delegate count with a win in Wyoming’s Democratic presidential caucuses on Saturday. (The New York Times, free registration)

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“Talk about chutzpah!” said Michael Goodwin in the New York Daily News. Obama leads in both the delegate count and the popular vote, but “forget those pesky voters -- Hillary has declared herself the winner!” This “scam” is supposed to look like “an olive branch,” but it’s really a “knife aimed at cutting Obama down to size” by suggesting he’s “not ready to be President and would lose the general election as nominee to John McCain.”

The Clintons have to resort to some “unusual” arguments to explain the logic behind their “dream” team, said Mike Dorning in Tribune’s The Swamp blog via the Baltimore Sun. They insist Obama is a “second-rate choice for commander-in-chief,” so how do they justify putting him a “heartbeat away from the presidency”? For the Clinton team, that’s easy -- he’s “ready” to be commander-in-chief, just not as ready as Hillary.

The idea of a Clinton-Obama ticket is nothing new, said Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune. “There's been talk in political circles of Obama as a possible vice president for Clinton since before the Illinois senator announced his candidacy.” What’s changed is that now there’s disagreement over who should get top billing. But with the nomination battle still raging, it’s too early to have this conversation. And with all the bad blood between these two campaigns and the inevitable difficulties either would have playing second fiddle to the other, “it is also nearly impossible” to imagine that such a ticket would fly.