As we await the official word as to who will be Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick, I would like to make my prediction. I believe Obama will pick Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Here are my reasons:

• Recent developments in the republic of Georgia may have had an adverse impact on the polls for Obama, which may reinforce the need to have a vice president with strong foreign policy experience. Senator Joe Biden is well known for his leadership as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In addition, it will be very hard for John McCain to counter Senator Biden’s knowledge and expertise of foreign policy.

• Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner was tapped to give the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. He is also a candidate for the U.S. Senate. This makes it unlikely that Obama will pick either Virginia Gov. Tom Kaine or Virginia Senator Jim Webb as a running mate. It would make the convention too Virginia-heavy.

• Joe Biden recently visited Georgia to assess the situation there. While this was deemed as a fact-finding trip, it may also have been a way to strengthen his understanding of the issue when it comes to the upcoming debates.

• Picking a vice president from a battleground or Red state doesn’t automatically mean that the state goes to that particular candidate. When Al Gore ran in 2000, he lost in his own state of Tennessee. John Kerry picked former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and that did not yield a victory in Edward’s home state. In 1988 when former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis picked Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, that did not yield a victory in Texas. All of this makes it less likely that Obama will pick Indiana Senator Evan Bayh who is considered to be on the short list.

• Senator Hillary Clinton is already confirmed to speak on August 26, thus making it less likely that she will be the pick.

When you put the puzzle together, it points to an Obama-Biden combination. Let’s see if my prediction turns out to be correct. If yes, New Jersey would have a neighboring state as the home of the Democratic vice presidential candidate . . . it’s just that some thought it would be New York, but instead it may be Delaware.

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