And what if, after all this, it is Hillary?

I see that Ralph Nader has phoned The Politico's John Harris to announce that his sources (Harris deems them shaky) indicate that Obama is in fact going to Hillary for veep after all.

I don't usually think of Nader as someone to take my political advice from, but I wonder: Given what's happened in this campaign in the last three weeks, is Hillary now a good choice? A plausible one?

I used to think she'd be a terrible choice, less because of her than because of that fellow she's married to, who clearly hates Obama and would, his wife's vested interest notwithstanding, still make trouble. Bill also may be a liability of his own -- his business dealings and his, ah, post-presidential personal life will face new scrutiny.

However, a Hillary choice would: be interesting and exciting to the party faithful, certainly more interesting than Biden, Bayh or Kaine; unify the party in a big way; enlist the whole Clinton apparatus (Bill somewhat excepted, as noted) in the campaign, and the Clinton apparatus does know how to counterpunch; change the dynamics of the race. Its mere unexpectedness would put the GOP on the defensive for a while.

It would change the polls, too, in the short term. We know that 18-25% of Clinton supporters aren't behind Obama. If he chooses her, that goes down overnight by about two-thirds. That gives Obama an automatic poll bump of probably about six points.

I still think this is probably academic. It won't happen. Probably. Just worth thinking about.