Sometimes you can tell more...

...about a candidate by the questions they evade than the questions they answer. It seemed pretty straightforward to me. The ABC reporter asked the Doctor "Which Democrats out there do you admire the most?"

But since our 'straight talkin' guy' never seems to ask a question or give an answer without an agenda, a straightforward answer was just too much to hope for.

Immediately assuming a hidden agenda on the part of the reporter, Dean replied "That's a great backhanded way of asking me who might be on the short list. I haven't started done any serious thinking about that at all. I don't have a single vote in the primaries yet and to start talking about a short list before I have a single vote in the primaries would be presumptuous, premature and I'm not going to do it."

Ummm, Doc, he didn't ask which Democrat would make the best VP. In fact, the best choice for VP might not be someone on your 'most-admired' list at all, and maybe shouldn't be. There were a lot of names you could have offered that no one would have seen as a VP short list. There are, for instance, two living Democratic past Presidents. There are senior Senators like Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy. There are House members and DNC activists and no doubt hundreds folks you've met on the campaign trail that might be considered worthy of your admiration, some of whom have been working their butts off for you for months.

It's a softball, Doc. A chance to reach out to some of the wings of the Party you've been attacking for over a year by citing some of their heroes as some of yours, or to toss a crumb to folks who've put their lives on hold to advance your cause.

Instead, we're left wondering if you can't recognize a straight question because you can't give a straight answer.

Or even an honest one.

Let's face it, in less than 100 days, this nomination is going to be locked up. If there's a question left after March 5, it's going to be what the bottom of the ticket looks like, not who's name is on top. Anybody who hasn't "done any serious thinking" about who they might want to run with hasn't done any serious thinking about winning the Presidency. If you don't have a list, you're not a factor, and even I admit that Dean is a factor.

But he seems to have a little trouble dealing with facts.