As I write this, no word on who Barack Obama is picking as his running mate has leaked out. Every presidential nominee in choosing a vice-presidential running mate, follows either micro-politics or macro-politics.
Micro-politics means picking a popular governor or senator from a battleground home state, which could put that state in the party's column.
A macro pick is someone who might not personally deliver the electoral votes of a key state, but instead that selection could send a larger message about the presidential nominee. Two "macro" examples are JFK's pick of LBJ and Dubya picking "Buck Shot" Cheney. If the conventional wisdom is correct, Obama is going to go the "macro" route and pick Joe Biden. That's fine by me, but I've got a hunch that the pick is going to be someone no one is talking about.
I'm guessing, (and it's only a guess, because I haven't heard or been told anything), that someone will be first-term U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia. Think about it? He would represent the ultimate "macro" and "micro" vice presidential decision for a nominee brave and daring enough to persuade him to do it.
 He covers the military angle. Webb is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, who chose the Marine Corps and went to Vietnam. He saw combat and earned the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts.
Nobody was more right about Iraq. On Sept. 4, 2002, six months before the war began, Webb wrote in The Washington Post: "The issue before us is not simply whether the United States should end the regime of Saddam Hussein, but whether we as a nation are prepared to physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years. Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well there is no exit strategy."
He served in the Reagan administration, so he could pull in some Republican votes. Here's were the "micro" part comes in.  He's from the south, and would put Virginia and maybe even North Carolina in play.
 Obama's campaign is about change.  Webb follows that message.
If Obama wants a leader, Webb could be the man.

The Phillies begin a nine game homestand tonight. It’s the first time fans will get to see shortstop Jimmy Rollins, since he went on national television, out in LA LA Land, and called them front runners.
Front runners huh! Let’s see, in the franchise’s 125 year history, the Phillies have won just five pennants and ONE World Series.
Wasn’t it just yesterday that the franchise lost it’s 10-thousandth game, becoming the first major sports team to ever lose that many games?
It was 47 years ago this month the Phillies ended a record 23 game losing streak. That 1961 team was so bad, Manager Eddie Sawyer quit after one game, saying he was 49 and wanted to live to see 50.
Between 1900 and this season, they lost 100 or more games a season, 14 times, and 90 or more games a season 22 times! Yea, I know, from the mid 1970’s to the early 1980’s nobody in baseball played the game better than the Phils. Three straight division titles (1976-78) including back to back 101 win seasons too. In the end, we only have one World Series ring to show for it.
These current Phils have been on a pretty good run too, but, lets face it, they’ve never won more than 89 games in a season and they may be hard pressed to match that number again this year.
The Phillies have been hapless losers, yet through it all, the fans have been there. I, for one, have been a Phillies fan since I was four years old. I’ve lived and died with them, mostly died. So, I think I can tell you what we fans want.
We want our club to win, sure, but we also want everyone to play hard! That means running out ground balls, you remember how Jimmy got benched for not doing that recently don’t you?
It means showing up on time. Come to think of it, didn’t Charlie also bench Rollins at Shea Stadium last month for showing up after the team bus? Oh yea,you remember don't you? Rollins wasn’t happy about that. What did he say? He thought he should have just been fined instead.
We fans want to believe the players are leaving everything they have on the field. Why do you think players like Larry Bowa and Pete Rose were so loved around here? Because they lived and breathed baseball! I, for one, never felt cheated watching them play did you?
Rollins enters tonight’s series against the Nationals hitting .266 with 8 homers, 42 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. A far cry from last year’s MVP numbers isn’t it?
The team isn’t hitting. It isn’t playing fundamental baseball, working counts, or doing the little things that winning teams do.
I guess Jimmy thinks we’re just supposed to cheer for them anyway. I wonder what he would think if we stopped showing up in record numbers every night too.
 Jimmy says, it was about “sticking up for your team. That’s what it is.”
Play the game right, and you won’t have to stick up for anyone.
 So how will all those “front runners” react tonight? Stay tuned.

A few more random thoughts:

Did you have as much fun as I did watching Michael Phelps make history Saturday night? The Baltimore native swam the butterfly leg of the 4x100-meter medley relay. It's an event we've never lost at the Olympics, but there is always a first time for everything, so I was a bit on edge. Silly me. Phelps and his teammates dramatically won the last gold medal award in the Olympic swimming competition with a time of 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds, beating their own world record set four years ago.
The victory also meant an eighth gold medal for Phelps, a record that eclipsed Mark Spitz's seven at Munich in 1972.
 If you count qualifying matches, the 23-year old raced 17 times! He didn't win them all, then again he didn't have to. Throw into the mix that he was under pressure everytime he raced for a medal, (and let's not forget the fatigue factor here), and  it makes this feat even more amazing!  

As I sat around waiting for the big event, I watched the women's marathon. I, like you I'm sure, root for the U.S., but when we fall out of the running, I look, and cheer for, the underdog, or the great story. I wasn't disappointed.
Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita ran a marvelous race. As I watched her pull away from the lead pack near the halfway mark of the 26.2 mile race, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind. She had been known to pull away from runners in the past, sometimes hanging on to win, sometimes running out of gas and losing. You could see the look of agony on her face.  I know all marathon runners have it.  How couldn't they!  Hey, I'm out of breath running a couple of blocks!  I know runners train for this, but they also have to have a drive, a fire in the belly to keep on running.   Tomescu-Dita just kept on going.
At one point the 38 year old lead by more than a minute through the race's later stages. She won in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 44 seconds, a full 22-seconds over her nearest challenger!  How could you not cheer her on!

There was also the story of Britain's Paula Radcliffe. Four years ago she pulled out of the Athens marathon, suffering from pain and heat exhaustion. The British tabloids lit her up! They said she quit and that she didn't have the heart of a champion. The experience haunted her.
Saturday nght she was trying to pounce back and not just to prove the newspaper critics wrong.  She was also trying to bounce back from fracturing her leg and being bitten by a spider, which kept her from training for several weeks. Radcliffe ran. She didn't win. She didn't even come close to winning any medals either.   Radcliffe never stopped running. Her leg was clearly bothering her, and you could see the pain and fatigue on her face. Yet she, some how, reached down deep inside,  and found the strength to finish the race, like a true champion!  No one will ever be able to call her a quitter again.
 
Lastly there was American record holder Deena Kastor. Four years ago she won a bronze in Athens. Saturday night she had to pull out a little more than three miles into the race, because of an injured foot. She went to one knee in pain, then limped off the course. She later said she "felt something pop".   Kastor told the press she had felt soreness all week, but like a true champion, she pressed on and pushed herself until she could no more.

When the Greeks invented these games, they said it was about watching the human pursuit of perfection. We've clearly seen that, and more, at these Summer games .