| | Conservatives fear a last-minute Obama veep switch
 "Prominent conservative leaders," said Town Hall's Matt Lewis, expressed worries at the recent Values Voters Summit that Senator Obama would trade Delaware Senator Joseph Biden for former opponent, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, as his vice presidential running mate to counter the popularity of McCain running mate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Gov. Palin herself took a shot at the Obama campaign in an interview that aired Friday, telling ABC's Charlie Gibson "I think he's regretting not picking her now."
"This entire notion, of course, sounds like a conspiracy theory," Lewis wrote, "primarily because it is a conspiracy theory." A certain amount of paranoia does exist, Lewis noted, since New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 in a last-minute move by his predecessor, Robert Torricelli, to drop his reelection bid.
"But while the notion of a last-minute veep substitution sounds absurd," he continued, "is it any more absurd than the last-minute replacement of Torrecelli (sic) with Lautenberg?"
Senator Biden himself elevated Senator Clinton while defending her against an audience member at a rally last Wednesday. "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America," Biden said. "She's easily qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America, and quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me."
"Chuck, stand up and let the people see you," Biden told paraplegic State Senator Chuck Graham before quickly correcting himself at a recent stop in Columbia, Missouri.
"[Biden is] a great guy with a big heart and a tremendous grasp of the issues," a Democratic aide told the Daily Mail. "He doesn't take himself too seriously and that is why he is so genuine and sincere...But he is known to make the occasional stupid mistake and that's simply not a luxury he or Obama can afford right now with Palin having such a big impact."
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