The conservative punditocracy is abuzz (is it ever anything else?) with talk of how a Joe Lieberman pick might affect John McCain's chances of winning the presidency.

In addition to CQ VP Watch's past observations on a Lieberman candidacy -- bipartisanship, piety (or unctuousness, depending on your bent) and hawkishness vs. liberalism on hot-button social issues such as abortion and gay rights -- McCain and Lieberman have a long history of working together on issues outside the Iraq war.

There's their climate change bill, a measure aimed at implementing the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, legislation to establish a commission to curb federal subsidies for corporations, a measure to close the "gun show loophole" that was criticized by both sides, and others.

And there would be no shortage of video clips of Democrats praising Lieberman like the ones of Democrats praising McCain that were spliced together in this recent ad.


There's also no doubt that there would be significant dissatisfaction in the GOP ranks (not to mention revulsion from many Democrats) were McCain to run with the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

But here's a sample of what conservatives are saying about the pros of a McCain/Lieberman ticket.

The National Review's Rich Lowry:

"To placate Republicans and maximize the political impact of his selection, Lieberman would have to join the ticket as part of a McCain pledge to serve just one term. Both McCain and Lieberman would promise not to run for president in 2012, removing any possibility of Lieberman becoming a successor or putting his imprint on the Republican Party. Their administration would be above electoral politics, a high-minded exercise in competent governance and bipartisan compromise ...

McCain-Lieberman is a more desperate move than McCain should feel compelled to make right now. But check back after Denver."

Tim Pawlenty, John Thune, Joe Lieberman, Rob Portman and Mike Huckabee appear to be humming the same vice presidential tune -- or reading from the same talking points -- these days

"I don't expect to be asked," they have all said recently about their vice presidential ambitions.

The quintet represents a fraction of the names bandied about as possible running mates for John McCain but they are all frequently mentioned and are among the most serious candidates.

Sure, the sentence is only six words long, and others have uttered it in relation to the vice presidency, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on the Republican side and several Democrats. But anytime you hear several politicians use precisely the same words, it's worth wondering whether they are simply staying on a message delivered to them by someone else.

Here (with research help from Zach Beauchamp) is at least one instance of each saying what might be the magic words for a short-lister:

• Pawlenty at a Chamber of Commerce meeting June 18: "I'm honored to have my name mentioned. The fact is, I haven't been asked, and I don't expect to be asked."
• Thune on KELO television in South Dakota July 9: "I don't have, as I said before, any intentions on that job. And I don't expect to be asked."
• The same day Portman said to me: "I appreciate being on some of the lists ... I really don't think I'm going to be asked." A couple of weeks earlier he told FOX News "I don't expect to be asked."
• Huckabee told Radio Iowa July 12: "I don't expect to be asked. I really don't.   It's pretty clearly obvious that what I'm doing -- I'm not sitting around waiting on the phone to ring and right now it would really mess up a lot of things I have going."
• Lieberman in today's New York Times: "I'm not really interested, and I don't expect to be asked."
  

The Associated Press reports that Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman and former presidential candidate Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has been asked for information by Barack Obama's vice presidential search team.

"There's been some inquiries, yeah," Dodd said, according to AP's Nedra Pickler. "They ask for a lot of stuff. I'll leave it there." A little more than 40 years ago, the senator's father, Connecticut Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, was mentioned as a possible running mate for Lyndon Johnson.

CQ Beyond the Dome blogger David Nather writes about Dodd, the rest of the Vice Squad, and the FISA vote.

Kathleen Sebelius is no longer denying that she is being vetted by Barack Obama's campaign.

The 60-year-old Kansas governor told me on Thursday that she was never vetted for the vice presidency in 2004 but declined to make the same pronouncement about this year's process.

Asked whether Team Kerry ran the traps on her, she flatly said "No." Asked about this year, she said "Any discussion about this process is being done by the campaign itself."

Just last month, Sebelius told McClatchy Newspapers that she had not yet been vetted.

"There has been no discussion with me or anyone else on my team about serving as vice president," she said at the time.

Her reply Thursday is not exactly a smoking gun, but "no" is such an easy answer when it's true -- and she has given it before. It is at least an opening of the door and probably a hint that she is being vetted.

An Obama spokesman did not reply to a request for comment on whether Sebelius was being reviewed by Veep vetters Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder.

But even if the campaign is quiet, Obama can hardly say enough positive things about the second-term governor, who first delivered a Republican state into Democratic hands in 2002.

"I love Kathleen Sebelius," he recently told a FOX affiliate, praising her competence and integrity before pulling back a bit.

The role of The Oft-Mentioned is an unusual one for elected officials -- particularly governors -- who are accustomed to making the decisions that affect their own lives and those of others. Sebelius noted the difference in our conversation.

"It is like having an experience that someone else is driving and talking about," Sebelius said. "It's not like being involved in a campaign where we're actually doing something and taking actions."

Sebelius, who remembers her father, former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan, preparing for a 1976 presidential bid before he was unseated in 1974, said it is "flattering" to be among the mentioned.

But she is not always sure who is doing the talking.

"It's a little bit of an experience of watching a lot of the pundits talk to each other and just continuing to do my work here in Kansas," she said.

Still, all the chatter has earned her street cred at home.

"My son talked to me about -- I didn't know this existed. I guess there are brackets that were set up like the Final Four -- he was thrilled. He said, 'Mom, I'm so glad you are a No. 1 seed,' and he had to introduce me to this bracketology."

Yes, Sebelius was a No. 1 seed in CQ's VP Madness, which Gen. Wes Clark won. Sebelius bowed out in a quarterfinal matchup against Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the eventual runner-up. It was the same round in which Hillary Clinton was defeated.

Some folks already have designs on a ticket featuring Kansas' favorite grandson and favorite daughter.

For now, Sebelius says she gets her information on the vice presidential search from newspapers.

"I know about as much as everyone else does," she said.