The Short List...

Gov. Vilsack... Served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. Shortly after ending his 2008 bid for the White House, he endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and was named the national co-chair for Clinton's presidential campaign. We like a Team player.

Fmr. Senator Bob Kerrey... Senator from Nebraska (1989–2001). He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992, so he knows his way around a campaign. Since leaving the Senate he has served as president of the New School, a university in New York City. He was also willing to drop some questions about the Party Nominee's opponent's younger, more "pharmaceutical" days.

Sen. Webb... James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is the junior Senator from Virginia. He is also an author and a former Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan. Webb endorsed incumbent Democrat Charles Robb for reelection to his Senate seat, over Webb's former Naval Academy classmate and fellow Marine Oliver North, in 1994. Webb subsequently endorsed Republican George Allen over Robb in 2000, and then ran against Allen himself in 2006. So he's obviously a champion.

Senator Pryor... Arkansas's junior U.S. Senator. Pryor places great emphasis on constituent service. He has a sign on his desk that reads "Arkansas comes first," as his father did when he held the seat. On May 23, 2005, Pryor was one of the 14 senators (McCain's "Gang of 14") who forged a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster. (Get it? He washes out McCain on this issue!) This effectively ended any threat of a Democratic filibuster (and thus also avoided the Republican leadership's threatened implementation of the so-called "nuclear option.") Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance." The threat of a filibuster removed, Republicans were able to force cloture on the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor-no relation), who subsequently passed a vote by the full Republican-controlled Senate. He did, however, vote against the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing his concerns over Alito's views on the president's powers during wartime. Senator Pryor can be counted on to pick up at least 2 of the Huckabee states.

Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee. As mayor of Nashville, he added more than 440 new teachers, built 32 new schools and renovated 43 others. He also implemented a back-to-basics curriculum to teach students the fundamentals of learning. Additionally, under the Bredesen Administration, the NFL's Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) were brought to Nashville and were furnished with a new stadium; the NHL awarded Nashville its first of four new expansion franchises as the Nashville Predators; a new arena was built; and a new downtown library was built as a cornerstone of major improvements to the entire library system. He's a popular Southern governor - always a boon on a ticket.