Washington, DC, USA. Some governors on the shortlist of potential picks for vice president could turn their states upside down politically if they actually got the nod.

If picked to serve in an Obama administration, at least three Democratic governors would have to leave their states to Republicans, who are now second in command. A McCain presidency could mean at least one “red’ governership going Democratic “blue.”

While many people assume that lieutenant governors are of the same party as the state’s No. 1, that is not always the case. In 18 states, voters elect the governor and lieutenant governor separately, a situation that can lead to a split ticket. Democrats currently hold 28 governorships to 22 for the Republicans.

Democratic Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas are often mentioned by political and media analysts as contenders for the No. 2 spot or a Cabinet post under the presumed Democratic nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama. But the consequences could cost the party locally.

Lancaster, PA, DC, USA. On the campaign trail, one of Hillary Clinton’s favorite quips was the one about it taking still another Clinton to clean up the messes of yet another Bush. John McCain, who will soon be running hard in Pennsylvania, isn’t known to seek advice from Hillary, but he might well adapt her tidy formulation to his uphill race in the state. In McCain’s case; however, both Hillary’s logic and her phrase are reversed; for McCain it won’t be another Clinton cleaning up the problems of a Bush, but rather adopting another Bush’s political game plan to finish up what a Clinton started.

The Bush in this case is Bush 41, George Herbert Walker Bush, and the last Republican presidential candidate to win in Pennsylvania. And the Clinton is Hillary herself, whose April campaign against Obama in Pennsylvania revealed the Democratic presumptive nominee’s grievous weaknesses among culturally conservative working class white voters. To win Pennsylvania McCain needs to pick up where Hillary ended, and he needs to follow Bush’s 1988 political map to get there.

More specifically, the argument for McCain in Pennsylvania is three-fold:

Charleston, SC, USA. High turnout among African-Americans and younger voters supporting U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) could reshape the Southern political landscape this fall. But with a few exceptions, Democrats may find gains in statewide contests thwarted by bad timing and a potential conservative backlash.

Democratic and Republican strategists agree that African Americans and young voters of all backgrounds in the South stand ready to come out in droves in November to back Obama now that he has clinched the Democratic nomination — just as they did for the recently concluded presidential primaries.

Some Democrats hold out hope that Obama could actually win one of the six southern states that he won so convincingly during the primary season — Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina — all of which have voted strongly Republican in recent presidential elections.

But while it’s an outside possibility in North Carolina, most analysts believe Obama’s likelihood of picking off any of the other five southern states is a long shot.

More plausible, though, is a November scenario in which the voters Obama dr