Like many TPM readers I’ve been entertaining myself by tossing around VP ideas.  The person Obama runs with should bring qualities to the table that serve to round out his candidacy.  Things like executive and/or military experience come to mind.  Also an appeal to the regular, working class folks would help counter the “elitist” misnomer.  A woman candidate would appeal to the die hard Hillary feminists.  Several names are being thrown around as VP hopefuls, all of which have some of the qualities above.  Upon looking a little closer a firecracker of a guy popped out at me.

Gov. Schweitzer (D. MT) is an intriguing character.  Although the state doesn’t bring much for electoral votes Schweitzer is popular in the mountain west and represents a new breed of Democrat that is rising there.  He has a folksy and authentic appeal.  <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08governor.html&amp;OQ=_rQ3D1&amp;OP=1e699b86Q2FQ7BQ3DvwQ7BUQ5B_mRQ5BQ5BQ5EQ7DQ7BQ7DbbNQ7BQ3FbQ7Bb)Q7BjTVTQ26cIvQ7Bb)VQ5B0vRIQ5BRBdQ5EjY">Mark Sundeen writes for NYT in 2006: </a>
<blockquote>As soon as Schweitzer was elected in 2004 — the same night that George W. Bush carried Montana by 20 percentage points — pundits began declaring him the future of the Democratic Party…………No fewer than four recent books by Democratic strategists have mentioned Schweitzer as the kind of guy Democrats need to win back rural America.</blockquote>
Several of Gov. Schweitzer’s positions dovetail nicely with Obama’s.  He didn’t take any PAC money for his campaign and enjoys going toe-to-toe with lobbyists.  He also spoke out against the war from the start.  Other qualities round out the package.  He’s more of a centrist and as an executive has a track record of lowering taxes while building a surplus.  He opposes gun control while being a strong proponent of alternate fuel sources.  And he reached across the isle by choosing a Republican as his running mate.

And then there’s the intangible.  He’s just plain likeable, campaigns well and doesn’t take any crap.  He cut’s to the chase and speaks in terms the sound bite crowd responds to.

“Schweitzer has the ability to reduce a complicated issue to a few sharp lines, reframing it with themes of patriotism and underdog know-how” says Sundeen.  When asked if he was sufficiently tested in his first session Schweitzer told the reporter
<blockquote>It was my first day on the job, and I was working with lobbyists and legislators who’d been there for years. We had a State Assembly that was deadlocked. But I pushed through the most progressive legislative agenda in the country. It was not easy. I took on the lobbyists. I wrestled them to the ground, and now I’m kicking them in the ribs.</blockquote>
There’s another quality he has that brings to mind Obama.  From the article:
<blockquote>"I’m just a rancher who ended up governor of Montana,” he likes to say. But Schweitzer is not a politician only in the sense that the young Cassius Clay was not a boxer; by the time his opponent realized he’d been hit, he was already on the mat.</blockquote>
Take a <a href="http://bademus.wordpress.com/">look for yourself</a>, I think your gonna like this guy.