Soon after Sen. Brack Obama’s sit-down with Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press last Sunday, speculation about potential veep’s has been running rampant throughout the punditry class.  Sen. Obama said that the characteristics that he is looking for in a vice president is someone who will work hard and will be a change agent ready to shake-up Washington.  The senator went on to say, “I’m going to want somebody with independence — who’s willing to tell me where he thinks, or she thinks, I’m wrong,” he said. “And I’m going to want somebody who shares a vision of the country: where we need to go — that we’ve got to fundamentally change not only our policies, but how politics work, how business is done in Washington.”

Tim Kaine seems to fit the bill.  Politico reports:

As Senator Barack Obama turns to the choice of his running mate, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has emerged as one of the campaign’s potential finalists, sources familiar with conversations in Richmond and in Chicago said.

Kaine, an early Obama supporter whose biography nicely dovetails with the Illinois senator’s, “ranks very, very high on the short list,” said a source who has spoken recently to senior Obama aides about Kaine.

Kaine “is getting a critical examination,” the source said.

The 50-year-old Virginia governor is among a handful of logical, and much-discussed, choices to join Obama on the campaign trail. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn and Delaware Senator Joe Biden are among others frequently mentioned.

This writer thinks that Kaine would be a great pick!