Just looking at the presidential race through the lens of the electoral map as I’ve set it out below, I’d say Richardson of N.M. is Obama’s best choice of the conventional lists. New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada are “in play” as battleground states and that’s 19 electoral votes total from the three (Ohio has 20 and Michigan has 17, to give you perspective).

With Richardson’s ability to shore up Obama’s Latino vote (Bush got 40% of Latinos in ’04 and McCain is currently polling about 30%), the N.M. Gov. can also play a little mischief in Texas and if not win that state, at least make McCain spend scarce money in what should be a very red state.

If the Latino vote in the Southwest (as opposed to Puerto Ricans in New York and Cubans in Fla.) is 85% Dem, then even McCain’s home state of Arizona goes into play.

Just mentioning the Florida Cubans reminds me that a poll has now shown an Obama lead down there, but it’s mostly seen as an “outlier”, an unreliable result. That result, however, may look more real once Floridians start thinking about Gulfshore beaches exposed to offshore drilling, as McCain proposed this week.