It sounds as if Hillary is semi-officially out of the running for VP

Although it was fairly clear that Hillary was not favored to be chosen as Barack's VP, the simple fact that she is now scheduled to speak on Tuesday evening of the convention strongly suggests that she won't be speaking Wednesday evening when the VP nominee would be speaking.

The fact that Bill is now scheduled to intro the VP speaking slot on Wednesday evening also suggests that he was chosen for that slot to help reinforce the impression that the Clinton's are on-board for a Barack/<whoever> ticket.

But with Hillary effectively acquiescing to go quietly into the night, you have to wonder what quid quo pro Barack has offered her in return for "being a good sport." My suspicion is that Barack will let her effectively take charge of crafting and shaping the health care reform package.

-- Jack Krupansky