Ted Strickland

The popular Ohio governor and onetime Methodist minister would increase Obama's chances in the key swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and even help in Kentucky, where Clinton routed him. Strickland's roots in rural southern Ohio make him popular with white working-class voters, and his record of cutting taxes and the cost of education get him surprisingly high marks among both liberals and conservatives. But the former Congressman is a blank slate on foreign policy and national security, and as a first-term governor, he has barely more executive experience than Obama.

by Massimo Calabresi, with reporting by James Downie/Washington