Dick Cheney proved the vice president can play a big role in the White House and now I’m hearing people emphasize the importance of the next VP. For Obama, I’ve heard people say that he better have a good VP because, if elected, Obama is likely to be assassinated. If McCain wins, they’re saying he’s simply going to need some help. Josh Marshall writes:

On the campaign trail this cycle, McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused. Any single example is inevitable for someone talking so constantly day in and day out. But the profusion of examples shows a pattern. Some of this is probably a matter of general unseriousness or lack of interest in policy areas like the economy that he doesn’t care much about. But for any other politician who didn’t have the benefit of years of friendship or acquaintance with many of the reporters covering him, this would be a major topic of debate in the campaign. It’s whispered about among reporters. And it’s evidenced in his campaign’s increasing effort to keep him away from the freewheeling conversations with reporters that defined his 2000 candidacy.