Salazar Veep Talk Resurfaces

Sen. Hillary Clinton's high negative ratings in the West could put Sen. Ken Salazar on the short list of her vice-presidential picks, two political analysts said Monday.

Referring to a Los Angeles Times story about the nervousness of Rocky Mountain Democrats towards Clinton, Chuck Todd and Mark Murray of MSNBC wrote, "One unintended consequence of Clinton's supposed Rocky Mountain electoral problem? Look for (Montana Gov. Brian) Schweitzer and (Sen. Ken) Salazar and other Westerners to dominate the VP short list."

Salazar has been touted as a vice-presidential choice before, but the recent focus on Clinton's poll numbers in the West have upped the speculation a notch.

When asked about the issue in May, Salazar said, "you don’t get approached" about a spot on the ticket and you "don't run for the office."

The Colorado Democat also said he intended to complete his current Senate term, which ends in 2010, but said he would "never say never" to an offer to be a vice-presidential nominee.

Recent surveys in Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Arizona revealed the New York senator has higher negatives than many of her Democratic rivals, prompting one pollster to tell the Times that Clinton has "that liberal East Coast image that is so hard to sell in the West."

The Clinton campaign said Monday that voters in the region would support their candidate strongly when they became more familiar with her policies.

The evidence that vice-presidential picks alter the outcome of a presidential race is murky, but nominees tend to select veeps who balance them geographically and philosophically.

 Clinton, however, still has a long road to the nomination, considering that the first primary votes will not be cast until January according to the current schedule.

Stay tuned.

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