O'Malley jokes about 'Vice President Kaine,' serious about Ehrlich and spying

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D)Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) played the jester in a joint appearance with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) and Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty on WTOP's 'Hands Across the Potomac,' a show that brings regional leaders together to talk about shared issues.

And while local issues took precedence this morning, host Mark Segraves and Gov. O'Malley could not ignore the elephant in the room: media buzz about Kaine's prospects as a the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

The front page of today's Washington Post listed the Virginia governor as at the top of Barack Obama's shortlist for potential picks. Politico has also reported that he "ranks very, very high on the short list," according to someone close to a senior Obama aide.

O'Malley was first to broach the subject with a joke. Kaine was talking about a Metro funding summit to reduce traffic congestion when his fellow governor chimed in, "We're confident that Vice President Kaine will be a terrific advocate for this at the federal level."

For the most part, Kaine was coy on how serious his talks with the Obama campaign are.

"I have been on board with the campaign since February of '07, but I don't talk about my conversations with the campaign," he said. "I didn't endorse Senator Obama to get anything or to get appointed to anything. I endorsed him because I thought he would be president and should be president."

Kaine said he is aware of all the speculation, especially because of his mother.

"My mom loves it. She calls when she sees it."

Putting an end to the back and forth between Kaine and the host, O'Malley assured them, "I think I can make some news today."

"I think in deference to Tim Kaine's candidacy, I am willing today to pull myself out of consideration," he deadpanned.

The governor said he is "whole heartedly supporting" Obama since his preferred candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), dropped out of the race in June. He said the state Obama operation is running a great campaign and used the opportunity to plug tomorrow's Victory '08 Unity fundraiser for the state Democratic Central Committee, which will feature both Kaine and Fenty.

But the radio show was not all fun and fundraisers. Questioned about revelations of State Police spying on peace and anti-death penalty activists in 2005 and 2006, O'Malley took a serious tone.

He said that many in the state were "rightly disturbed" by the program's disclosure and stressed that it happened under his predecessor, former Gov. Bob Ehrlich.

"We're putting guidelines in place that will hopefully give the public some assurances this will not happen in the future," he said.

On whether there should be a federal investigation into the program, as some members of Congress have called for, O'Malley said, "If people feels there's a need for one, we certainly won't resist it." He said if they do, he hoped those involved would be called in to talk about it, including his former -- and possibly future -- political rival, Ehrlich.