Obama may unveil VP choice Saturday in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gave his clearest signal yet that he has settled on a running mate when he announced Tuesday he would appear Saturday in this city where he launched his campaign.

Presumably, the running mate will appear with Obama when he shows up in front of the former state Capitol where Abraham Lincoln once served. The last time Obama appeared there, he announced he was running for president.

The Obama campaign's announcement said only that the Illinois senator would begin his trip to the party's national convention at the Saturday event. The Democratic National Convention begins Monday in Denver.

But the candidate and his aides said nothing explicit about his decision on a running mate.

Those believed to be on Obama's short list also were keeping mum. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, rumored as a possible choice, professed no inside knowledge of when word would come.

During an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday morning, Obama praised Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman thought to be among the contenders, for proposing an additional $1 billion of reconstruction projects in the Republic of Georgia after the Russian invasion.

Then Obama headed off for a bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia to discuss economic issues. He planned to campaign Wednesday with former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and on Thursday with the state's current governor, Tim Kaine, who is also mentioned as a possible running mate.

The list of potential running mates is widely believed to have come down to Sebelius, Biden, Kaine and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. Obama's major rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, was seen by some Democrats as a longshot pick.