Bloomberg for Vice President?

I'll warn you in advance, this is the least informed blog posting I've ever made. I just feel like making a wild, long-odds bet, is all...

I've been watching the mighty brain of the US media pull a muscle try to guess who Obama's going to pick to run as his running chum. Biden? Hmmm. I'd be amazed. Bayh? Nah. Kaine? Well, maybe, but I doubt it. It's too flagged: Kaine looks like a nice guy who's doing Obama a favour, by drawing the press off the scent.

This whole thing, "I'm thinking... I'm checking them out... I'm deciding soon... I've decided! The day before I announce it!"  feels like a circus to entertain the media. I wouldn't be surprised if Obama had decided months ago, last year even.

So I put my novelist's hat on, imagined I was Obama and thought it through. And I was strangely drawn to Michael Bloomberg, for a bunch of reasons. He's a former Republican (can't get more bi-partisan than that). He's rock solid on economics (can't get more important than that). He has run a big company (Bloomberg), and a big chunk of American real estate (New York), both very, very successfully.

And in 2001, in the most Republican borough of New York (Staten Island), he sucked up 75% of the vote. Holy guacamole. That means he can hoover up Democrats and Republicans together like almost no politician ever.

If I was Obama, I'd pick Bloomberg and I would pound the economy as the only issue in this campaign. Forget Iraq, forget foreign policy, forget the outside world. Keep it firmly focused on the economy, and use Bloomberg to take McCain apart.

But that would just be me, I guess.