Jack Reed won't be veep

Yet another prominent Democrat has taken himself out of the vice presidential derby.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a West Point grad set to accompany Barack Obama on a tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, called the vice presidential slot a "position which I have no interest in." Not that he necessarily was really in the running. According to the Associated Press, Reed said he wasn't asked for any inside information that the Obama camp could use to vet him for the job.

In dodging the nomination for the No. 2 spot, Reed follows such other big-name Democrats as Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.

-- Stuart Silverstein