For all the lengths Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have gone to in keeping their hunt for a vice president under wraps, their deliberations are in some ways being conducted in plain sight.
As the process unfolds, strategic imperatives for the two candidates have become clearer.
Members of both parties said Obama, 46, should not be looking to make any risky moves that would divert attention from his role as the would-be head of a new generation of leadership seeking to make a clean break from the politics of the past.
By contrast, McCain, 71, has good reason to look for a choice that would change the landscape.
"Republicans need to do something to shake things up," said Steve Elmendorf, who played a significant role in the vice-presidential search as a deputy campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee in 2004. "Barack is in a different situation, and he needs somebody who can be safe and steady."
Democrats said they thought it was less likely now than it was a month ago that Obama would choose Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Should McCain decide he wants to shake things up, his options appear to be limited. Many of the biggest brand names in the Republican Party - Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida - are politically tarnished or have no interest.
If the campaigns have their way, the real lists are not likely to leak out.
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