BIDEN RUNNING INTO TROUBLE – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  The Dems swear it's a done deal, that Joe Biden will be on the Obama ticket this year.  But Biden is running into trouble in the polls, and there's still room under that bus, where Obama has thrown other friends who are no longer useful.  From Andrew Malcolm at IBD:

For the first time since then-Sen. Barack Obama begged then-Sen. Joe Biden to become his vice presidential running mate, Americans have developed a negative view of the %#&*(+$ guy.

A new Gallup Poll just out finds that for the first time since the summer of 2008, the scales of favorability have tipped against old-timer Biden, who became a senator when Barry Obama was on the sixth-grade playground. Forty-five percent of Americans now view Biden unfavorably, while 42% still feel favorable.

The poll was taken after Joe stole the president's liberal applause line by announcing on "Meet the Press' that he favored same-sex marriage. After days of PR damage control and an overwhelming vote against same-sex marriage in North Carolina, host state for Democrats' national convention this summer, Obama said he agreed with Joe.

And Obama said he felt so strongly about gay marriage, that he was going to vote Present and leave the issue up to individual states, 30 of which have now voted in one way or another to ban gay marriage. The other 27 20 states allow it or haven't decided.

That of course is a reference to Obama once having said that America had 57 states.

Given Obama's own slumped numbers, some Democrats have called for a game-changing VP switcheroo this summer, inserting Hillary Clinton for JB, especially if Republican Mitt Romney selects a female running mate. The secretary of States is five years younger than Biden, who turns 70 this year, and her poll numbers are much higher than the president's.

Historically, such a switch hasn't happened since 1944 because it's a tacit admission the president made a mistake with his initial choice. And when's the last time you heard a Harvard grad publicly admit a mistake?

COMMENT:  I don't think a switch will happen.  I can't imagine Obama feeling comfortable with Clinton on the ticket.  Among other things, he'd have to add a food taster to his staff.

May 24, 2012