Analysis: Kathleen Sebelius as Vice President on the 2008 Democratic Ticket

Kansas Governor is One of the Jewels in the Crown of the Democratic Party

This might be the first year since 1984 that a woman is on a major party presidential ticket, but if Barack Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee, the woman in the vice presidential spot might not be Hillary Clinton but Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas. Sebelius, as a popular Democratic governor of a largely Republican, Midwestern state, is considered a jewel in the crown of the Democratic Party. Democratic congressional leaders think so highly of her, they gave her the honor of delivering the official response to President George W. Bush's 2008 State of the Union address.

If Hillary Clinton's efforts to capture the 2008 presidential nomination of the Democratic Party fail and if she is denied the chance to be Barack Obama's running mate, there likely would be a great amount of pressure to balance the ticket in terms of gender. The pressure for a woman on the ticket could be as great as it was at the 1984 convention, which saw Geraldine Ferraro named as Walter Mondale's running mate. If that should happen, Kathleen Sebelius has an excellent chance of getting the nod.

Barak Obama likely has warm feelings for Sebelius, as the day after delivering the Democratic riposte to Bush's State of the Union address -- a plum, high profile assignment in which she was styled as the standard-bearer for the Party -- she endorsed him as President. The endorsement came exactly one week before the critical Super Tuesday primaries. Kansas held its own Democratic caucus on Super Tuesday, which Obama won by a landslide.