Game on, folks: looks like the GOP has decided that McCain's only chance is against Hillary Clinton, and they are pulling out all the stops to garner more "support" -- in appearance only -- to help defeat any chance of a Barack Obama nomination.

This is classic tactic -- not only a GOP one, but also a Democratic one: remember gaming the system during their primaries to keep their players in the race longer? The Democratic interference was less likely to kill a viable candidate's chances -- the entire Republican field sucked; now it simply sucks with an army of one instead of many. But the Republican party has played this game to great effect before: remember the Lamont/Lieberman primary? ePluribus Media covered the GOP/Lieberman alliance at that time:

• Sealed with a Kiss: Lieberman's "Roving" Independence
• Sealed with a KISS: Strange Bedfellows, Joe Lieberman and the GOP

As long as we're aware of it, we can counter it and let our own voters decide. Let's not be faced with another Liebermanesque type of "victory" due to Republican manipulations.

We've all seen "Part I" of "A Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue" -- it's only now winding down its second release. An unlikely pair of politicos and their powerful supporters swept into power on the wings of prayers, and all hell breaks loose, resulting in the most elaborately produced nightmare that the citizens of this nation and the world have ever seen. The Reich-wingers have been ecstatic; the "director's cut" re-release, in 2004, had them swooning in the streets, until the damn critics finally started showing up and giving their reviews.

Now, after a brief hiatus and a writer's strike, it appears as though the production studio for this flick has collapsed -- but a rival company has picked up the option and is reinventing the premise: now, two powerful figures from the opposition party stand ready to take up residence, and the Right is going into conniptions in anxious dread and trepidation...

The following commentary was submitted to ePluribus Media with permission to reprint. It is by Dan Coen, the "foremost expert on U.S. Vice Presidents" who has been interviewed by media such as NBC Nightly News, BBC Radio, and NPR. He is the author of "Second String: Trivia, Facts and Lists about the Vice Presidency and its Vice Presidents" and the Publisher and Managing Editor of VicePresidents.com, an online news magazine dedicated to the like.

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So many interviews about whether Hillary and Obama will be an item in November, 2008. Let me lay to rest the questioning by providing the answer: It will NEVER happen.

Here's why.

1. Barack Obama does not need Hillary Clinton's backage. Does he really want Bill and Hillary and their gang to take over his campaign for President?
2. Hillary Clinton does not want to be upstaged. Obama communicates better, looks better and gets more out of a crowd. Ask John Kerry. No fun having a younger and more electric VEEP.
3. The Dems' want to WIN in 2008. The country may not be ready to vote for this radical a ticket. Or, maybe it is. But the Dems' don't want to guess and hope for the best.
4. They do not complement one another. Both are Senators. The ticket needs somebody with executive experience. Both lean toward the left. The ticket needs somebody in the middle. Both stall on the foreign policy front, much better on the domestic front. The ticket needs a credible entity to help with Iraq.

Plenty of terrific choices ahead for either Hillary or Obama. We don't see them selecting each other!

Dan Coen, VicePresidents1@yahoo.com