Naming V-P candidate, a major milestone for Obama campaign

London, July 28 : The major milestone in Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign after his Berlin moment in front of 200,000 Germans, will be the selection of a vice presidential candidate.

The selection of a vice-presidential candidate is "the one last remaining wild card in any campaign for the presidency," said Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs after the Illinois Senator wrapped up his 16,000-mile tour in London.

"It will cause a pretty big ripple," The Independent quoted Gibbs, as saying.

Expectations quickened last week that Obama's rival, Republican candidate Senator John McCain, was preparing to announce his running mate in an attempt to upstage the Democratic contender's keynote speech in Berlin last Thursday.

But last week, instead of making the momentous announcement of a running mate, McCain was out campaigning in the Mid-west, sniping at Obama who on Saturday was forced to explain why he had dropped a planned visit to an American military hospital in Germany.

A McCain advertisement aired over the weekend said: "He made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops."

The Illinois Senator responded that he had pulled out of the visit because the Pentagon had advised that it could be considered as political if he took along an adviser, retired Major-General Scott Gration.

The Democratic candidate also addressed concerns that his focus on foreign affairs might backfire at a time when American voters are struggling to meet mortgage repayments and facing unprecedented rises in the price of petrol and food.

Mystery continues to surround the prospective running mates, although speculation has intensified as the field narrows. The Democratic search committee, led by Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, has floated the name of a Republican former agriculture secretary, Ann Veneman.

Unconfirmed reports that the former presidential candidate John Edwards had fathered a child with a filmmaker while his wife is battling cancer, could doom his prospects.

Other names that could be in the frame are those of his fellow senators Chuck Hagel, who accompanied Obama to Iraq, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, and the retired Marine General James Jones. As well as two Governors, Virginia's Tim Kaine and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

On the Republican side, McCain has been in talks with Mitt Romney, his former rival for the presidency, Minnesota's Governor Tim Pawlenty, with whom he has a strong friendship; and the former House Representative Rob Portman of the battleground state of Ohio.

But, given that both presidential candidates are serving senators, it could be that they would look outside Congress for a running mate. Carly Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is being mentioned as a partner for McCain.

ANI