Veepstakes, anyone?

Ever since the June 3 Montana and South Dakota primaries, when Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, Times readers have been writing in with their ruminations on the selection of a running mate. It's no scientific poll, but that won't stop us from publishing a tally of the votes. Percentages are rounded.

ANYBODY BUT CLINTON: 29% Early on, speculation was rampant that Obama would face pressure to place Hillary Clinton, his vanquished rival for the nomination, on the ticket. Some readers were aghast. Wrote Michael V. Roddy, of Yucca Valley:

Hillary Clinton knows perfectly well that Obama has zero interest in bringing her onto the ticket. Because of her putting out feelers, he is now going to have to publicly reject her, further enraging her supporters. Both she and Bill are becoming like alcoholic relations who keep showing up at your door, even at a victory party. If they are going to be rejected, they will make sure they poison your life, too.

Adele Zimmerman, Embudo, N.M., sensed peril, too:

Barack Obama selecting Hillary Clinton as his running mate would be like putting three steering wheels in a car: one for the driver, one for the passenger and one for the guy in the back seat.

Marcie Hill, of Chicago, thought Clinton on the ticket would act like Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, the former contestant on "The Apprentice" who undermined her teammate. And Michele Greene, of Los Angeles, offered a variation on a very familiar theme:

(to be sung to the tune of "Ding Dong The Witch is Dead")

Ding dong the race is done
Obama won and Hillary's gone
ding dong we have our nominee!

But wait! she just won't go away
she's got demands and things to say
damn! she's got a lot of bills to pay!

they say she wants to be the veep
but Bill's become a surly creep
do they think Obama's lost his mind?

he's much too hip, he's much too smart
to hitch his racehorse to their cart
and all the things we'd like to leave behind

scandals, bimbos, stained blue dress
none of that's Obama's mess
he's trailblazing into history!

So ding dong the race is done
Obama won and Hillary's gone
ding dong we have our nominee!

NOBODY BUT CLINTON: 19% Others cheered at the thought of a Clinton vice presidency. "It's got to be you, Hillary," wrote David DiBello, of Lakewood, N.J.:

This was a split decision, and we have a nominee going into the general election where half his party voted against him. If wisdom prevails, Obama will shelf the ego and dislikes and come to a practical conclusion that he will not win the presidency without Hillary by his side. There is no other VP choice that can stop the bleeding to McCain, and to think otherwise is delusional. The only possibility Obama can hope for to proceed without Hillary is for unemployment to eclipse 6.5%, the market to fall another 10%, or something really bad happening in Iraq.The scenario that will provide the drama necessary to motivate the electorate, is for Obama to stand before the convention after months of secrecy and say he has selected the person with the experience and knowledge to help get his goals achieved. Before he finishes, a woman walks up the runway and slowly emerges. The best person for the job: Hillary Clinton. The hysteria will be insurmountable. The bad blood, Clinton fatigue, baggage and kitschy catch phrases of change won't be as important as the novelty and strength of these two together at last.

Harold N. Bass, of Porter Ranch, wrote:

The Obama camp must recognize that their candidate did not fare well among the Hee-Haw, Rolling Rock beer or Jose Cuervo tequila crowd.If Obama wants to win, it is imperative that he capture such swing states as Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia--places where Clinton came out ahead and where her being on the ticket would help Obama. That is why Obama should ask Hillary Rodham Clinton to serve as his running mate...and soon. Any other choice, I fear, will doom his chances.

Wrote S.R. Willen, of Beverly Hills:

It seems unlikely that the DNC will want to put its imprimatur on this bumper sticker, "Vote For Obama, Girls: He Has a Family to Support" but it certainly describes my state of mind, watching Hillary, trailing by a fraction of one per cent, being told she must leave the race, for the good of a) the man b) the party and c) the country. As I see it, this Democratic party has only one chance to unite: if Hillary is on the ticket.

OBAMA-RICHARDSON: 19%OBAMA-FEINSTEIN: 9%Wrote Donald Kelly, of San Jose:

What this Nation needs is someone who does not covet the office. We need Senator Feinstein, even if she does not want it. The choice of Harry Truman unified the Democratic Party. When Truman initially said no, President Roosevelt said "Well, tell the Senator that if he wants to break up the Democratic party in the middle of a war, that's his responsibility." Senator Feinstein, a Clinton supporter, could unite the Democratic party in a time of war. If asked and she says no, someone should remind her of what Roosevelt said to Truman.

McCAIN-CLINTON: 9%Wrote Bruce Barnbaum, of Granite Falls, Wash.:

Concerning the future of Hillary Clinton, now that the primary campaign is over: She is a proven tough campaigner. She can bring in women and disaffected, hard-working whites, two critical groups necessary for victory. She has also proven that she can wreak tremendous damage on the presidential campaign of her opponent. She has now indicated that she would accept the position of running mate on the ticket. All the pieces are in place. It's clear that Sen. McCain should choose her as his running mate.

OBAMA-BARBARA BOXER, OBAMA-WESLEY CLARK, OBAMA-JOHN EDWARDS: 5% each We're not sure where Porter Ranch's Darryl Dickey fit in the voting mix, but he offered a Biblical take:

The only other person I have ever heard of with the name of Barack is a figure from the Old Testament book of Judges, although he spelled his name without the "c." There is an interesting parallel with the Barack of today. Here is the story as told in Judges 4:Sometime between about 2000 b.c. and 1140 b.c., Deborah, sort of a Hebrew Xena, was a judge and a prophet of one of the Israelite tribes (a judge was the leader of an Israelite tribe). King Jabin of Canaan had subjugated Deborah's tribe for many years and the people were so miserable that she decided that the time had come to rebel. She summoned her greatest warrior, Barak, to lead the army against Jabin. He agreed to do so, but only if Deborah would join him at the head of the army, even though he knew that she would get all the credit and glory from a victory. She agreed and together they won a massive victory against far superior forces which included some 900 iron chariots. As predicted, Deborah got all of the credit.Fast forward to the twenty-first century. What if Barack Obama were to ask Hillary to join him on the ticket?

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