No one knows anything, but let’s not let that stop us. Tidbits? Rob Portman will attend the McCain VP unveiling on the 29th, but that was to be expected given his regular presence at Ohio campaign events. Joe Biden will remain a VP contender according to an unnamed confidant notwithstanding his pat “I’m not the guy” reply to reporters this afternoon. (Isn’t that answer less pat now that we know Obama’s decided on a candidate, though?) And Byron York will freak you out with his new post at the Corner claiming that the pro-choice VP buzz is not in fact a head fake by McCain and that stern warnings from the likes of Rush Limbaugh won’t deter a guy who won the nomination despite talk radio having had the knives out for him since January. Read all of that one, as it has interesting speculation on how Obama’s choice might affect McCain’s, e.g., bland Bayh makes bland Pawlenty more feasible.

Finally, Ralph Nader goes there:

The smart pick, according to Nader, is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nader phoned into Politico Tuesday afternoon to offer his prediction that a surprise nod to Clinton is actually what Obama has in mind—never mind the talk of mistrust between the Clintons and Obama…

According to Nader’s logic, Obama may dislike Hillary, but will conclude he has no choice but to get over it if he hopes to leave next week’s convention in Denver with a unified party and a decent shot against John McCain in the fall: “The polls show 25 percent of her supporters have not gotten on board.”…

Nader said his own sources—and, to be blunt, they sound a bit sketchy—lead him to believe that Clinton remains in serious consideration. A friend, he said, recently saw Clinton family intimate Vernon Jordan on Martha’s Vineyard and reported the “usually very effusive” Jordan to be suspiciously “tight-lipped.”

If Hillary’s the pick, why is he rolling her out at an event in Springfield days before the convention starts hopping? The logical thing would be to wait and introduce her to the sea of adoring PUMAs in the audience in Denver to maximize the ecstasy. Doing it early makes the convention seem almost anticlimactic. Plus, what happens then with placing her name in nomination for a roll call vote? Does that get canceled now that the closure/healing/catharsis will no longer be necessary? Exit question confession: I’m kind of hoping it’s her, partly because she grew on me near the end of the primaries and partly because this Shakespearean Clinton drama simply has to end with conflict. We shall meet again, oh yes. Let the final battle be joined.

Belated exit question: If Obama plays his queen in this chess game, is Maverick’s hand forced?

Update: An important clue? Or a slow news night on the trail for Jake Tapper? Content is content!

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, is almost always diligent about saying “he or she” when discussing his potential running mate.

But at a lively town hall meeting in the Tarheel State Tuesday evening, the senator — who is expected to announce his vice presidential pick at the end of this week — used a decidedly male pronoun.

Asked what his plan is to utilize his vice president as President Bush utilized his, Obama said, “Let me tell you first what I won’t do. I won’t hand over my energy policy to my vice president, without knowing necessarily what he’s doing.”

Maybe he meant Cheney in the context of the hypothetical? Or maybe it’s another Hillary head fake! Stop me before I speculate again.