Karl Rove, on the August 9 Face the Nation, predicted that Obama was going to make an expedient, political, cynical Vice President choice:
I think he’s going to make an intensely political choice, not a
governing choice. He’s going to view this through the
prism of a candidate, not through the prism of president; that is to
say, he’s going to pick somebody that he thinks will on the margin help
him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He’s not going to
be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities of president.
Rove went on to say that if Obama picked Tim Kaine, who Rove said has three years’ experience as Governor of Virginia, he would be putting electoral concerns above the national interest:
So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely
political choice where he said, "You know what? I’m really not, first
and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president
of the United States? What I’m concerned about is, can he bring me the
electoral votes of the state of Virginia, the 13 electoral votes in
Virginia?"
via Talking Points Memo.