Are you tired of waiting for Obama and McCain to pick a running mate?

Will you be more impressed if you can predict when the VP will be picked more so than who that is?

Bil Browning thinks Obama will name Sen. Evan Bayh on Wednesday. Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulls out Chet Edwards as a long-shot prospect.

This is beginning to look like a game of Clue: "Obama will pick Sen. Russ Feingold on August 22 in the conservatory."

Even Obama's VP staff is waiting to see who he picks. The only recent pick that went this late was in 1988, when George H.W. Bush named Dan Quayle on August 16. Imagine being a Republican and waiting with excitement, and finding out it's Quayle. Learning that Santa Claus didn't exist was an easier time for them.

I've grown more tired about who Obama and McCain will pick and wonder when they will pick. There is a window this week before the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Beijing on Friday. After the Olympics, there is a narrow crack of a window, if that, before the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

As for announcing during the Olympics, it's not clear when you pick that moment, and wonder if great American victories in the sporting arena would overshadow the shining moment.

Obama is scheduled to be on vacation next week in Hawai'i, so that would seem to limit an announcement this week, maybe, possibly.

Then again, I've grown tired of even when Obama and McCain will pick. This has been a struggle since the McCain camp has insisted that Obama pick first. Obama ran the longest primary in modern history, lasting all the way to June. McCain has had much more time to reflect on a choice, not having had a serious challenge since February.

So this idea, this "5th-grade mentality" that McCain wants to wait until Obama picks is especially immature for a candidate who is advanced in age.

In years past, we have known by this point who each candidate has picked. Days after Ralph Nader announced his latest presidential run, we knew his running mate: Matt Gonzalez, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 

If there is a logic to waiting until the convention for both Obama and McCain, we'd love to hear what that is. Deciding the running mate at the convention would bring it back to the old days, which would make the networks happy since they don't feel like there is enough going on at the convention to warrant TV time.

But we see the choice that the nominee makes as being significant to learning about the leadership skills of the candidate. And so far, we really aren't impressed with McCain, and not so sure about Obama. We have learned that despite the names being tossed around, we really have no clue who either of them will pick. So they can keep a secret, and that's likely good.

The fact that McCain is honestly afraid (despite the false leak of an announcement) of naming a running mate before Obama speaks encyclopedia volumes to the way McCain would run the White House, inspiring even less confidence than we thought we would have for him.

But Obama's strategy is puzzling: he has three choices, and none of them are great. Obama announces before Friday, which would seem the best route but he's reluctant to do so. Obama announces during the Olympics, which has a high percentage shot of going badly. Obama announces just before the convention, which draws anticipation but threatens to overshadow the momentum of the convention.

McCain has 4 choices, including before his convention and after the Democratic convention. If McCain wants to hide his choice, and that seems very likely, doing so during the Olympics would be ideal. But if McCain waits until after the Democratic convention, he will do so on the Labor Day weekend.

So in an attempt to steal Obama's thunder (go back to the false leak during Obama's European trip), McCain is that childish, but he will lose a lot of momentum since the press will be resting up that weekend. So as despicable as that would be, picking that person over Labor Day weekend ruins Obama's momentum AND hides the momentum of McCain's pick.

One of the great mysteries of politics is the picking of the running mate. Those of us who are passionate are always excited about this pick. But even a good mystery can be dragged beyond caring, and Obama and McCain are dangerously close to that point. 

We may learn some deep strategy that we were unaware of, and perhaps Obama and McCain will bring back some good will to the process. But until we see what that is, skepticism rules.

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