As many of you know I am a fan of Chris Cillizza, who writes “The Fix”, the political blog, for the Washington Post. Cilizza has written a column handicapping the VEEP selection as he sees it. Good fun, with no science involved. He has ranked the candidates in the order that he currently sees them, with some comments on each. A slight analysis of each candidates likely thought process is included. Good stuff. On Obama:

For Obama, the general sense is that he will opt for a “safe” choice — a known commodity along the lines of either Sen. Joe Biden (Del.) or Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.).

For McCain:

For McCain, it’s clear that — all things being equal — he would like to pick someone with whom he has a personal rapport — hence the re-emergence of McCain friends like former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and the decline in buzz around former governor Mitt Romney (Mass.).

McCain’s decision to float the idea of a pro-choice running mate in a sitdown with Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes was no accident either, and is rightly read as a trial balloon for the possibility of eithert Ridge or Lieberman as the nominee.

And so lets start with the Republicans, as Cillizza sees it. (1 being the most likely to be selected)

5)Bobby Jindal (prior Cillizza rank 5)

4) Mitt Romney (prior Cillizza rank 1)

3) Joe Lieberman (Prior Cillizza rank n/a)

2) Tom Ridge (Prior Cillizza rank n/a)

1) Tim Pawlenty (Prior Cillizza rank 2)

And now the Democrats:

5) Kathleen Sebelius (Prior Cillizza rank 5)

4) Jack Reed (Prior Cillizxza rank 4)

3) Tim Kaine (Prior Cillizza ranking 2)

2) Evan Bayh (Prior Cillizza ranking 1)

1) Joe Biden (Prior Cilizza rank 3)

My two picks are stll in the hunt, at least according to Cillizza. I have chosen Kaine and Pawlenty in the VEEP Sweeps. Check out the Cillizza piece at this link.