The Plank

Instead of picking a running mate who compensates for his political weaknesses, Barack Obama should choose a leader and a strong political surrogate, writes Jonathan Cohn, who agrees with Mark Halperin’s list of underrated traits in a vice president pick. If Obama follows through with his principle-minded approach, his veep selection process should work out just fine, Cohn adds. Pundits shouldn’t worry too much about a repeat of a “constitutional crisis” like the one that happened in 2000, when one candidate won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College, writes Josh Patashnik. Simulations of the race based on polling shows that there’s just a 3 percent chance Obama will win the popular vote but lose the electoral college, the blogger notes. For McCain, the chances of that happening are 4.5 percent.