As Obama Widens Lead, Flavor Flav Angles for VP Spot

CHICAGO.  Illinois Senator Barack Obama is on a roll, with a string of eight straight primary victories propelling him past former First Lady Hillary Clinton into front-runner status for the Democratic presidential nomination.  Discussions among his inner circle have accordingly turned to the selection of the running mate who will give him the best chance of victory in November.

Obama: "I don't know who you're talking about."

"Running mates are usually chosen for geographic reasons tied to Electoral College votes," says political scientist Lawrence Shannon of the University of Richmond, "but party considerations can also play a role."

Flavor Flav:  "I have the Viking vote sewed up."

While Obama has considered Senator Clinton as his running mate on a ticket that would pack a powerful one-two punch, he is weighing other options as well, leading some to extend feelers to his camp to determine whether they are being considered.  Among the dark horses is Flavor Flav, the rap sidekick and star of a number of TV shows, including "Flavor of Love".

"Every one of these ladies is voting for me!"

"As a rap sidekick, Flav is ready to hit the ground running," says Paul "D-Block" Wilson, a columnist for The Source, the self-proclaimed "Bible of Hip-Hop".  "A vice president is basically someone whose job is to make the president look good, and nobody does it better than Flav."

Other so-called "geniuses".

Mr. Flav is generally credited with inventing the concept of "rap sidekick" while a member of the group "Public Enemy".  He received a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant in 2006 for his innovation, and subsequently parlayed the prestige that award brings into a tenured position on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School.

Mr. Flav, inspiring party members.

"If you want somebody who can unify the party, nobody knows how to party like me," Mr. Flav said to reporters outside Obama campaign headquarters here, as he fingered one of the giant neck watches that have become his fashion trademark.  Asked to comment on the possibility that he might choose Mr. Flav as his running mate, Senator Obama said "I wouldn't ask him for the time of day."

Copyright 2008, Con Chapman