Is her heart really in it?  Hillary’s that is.

The tightly controlled Obama organization–whose secrecy at times would be the envy of the Mafia-has let it be known that Hillary Clinton will be hitting the road on Barack Obama’s behalf, visiting several states, including Nevada and Florida.

They did stage–and it certainly was that–that “Unity” rally shortly after Clinton threw in the towel and recognized Obama as the probable Democratic Party presidential nominee.  But this will be a solo act for the New York Senator and former First Lady.

Well? Will She Or Won’t She?

Clinton supporters could care less about her campaigning for Obama…all they want to know is whether or not Obama will ask her to be his Veep.

Most press reports are saying that is increasingly unlikely, though, God knows, during this campaign season the news media have not had a good batting average.

The key thing many point to that would seem to suggest Hillary will not be on the ticket is that she is scheduled to speak to the convention in Denver on a night before the Veep candidate usually addresses the crowd. But, except for Obama himself, who the heck really knows?

Obama is not getting the bounce he wanted from his trip to Europe and the Middle East and more and more journalists are asking the question Clinton did during the primaries: Can he close the deal? Can he win a general election against John McCain?

While early on there was much talk about a landslide for Obama, nothing in the polling thus far indicates that will happen. In fact, the polls suggest a tighter race than anyone thought only a few weeks ago.

So, a strong case can be made that Obama needs Clinton on his ticket now more than ever. And, Obama has proved that he can change positions on lots of things if he thinks it practical to help him win the election.

Hillary backers, keep your fingers crossed and keep your eyes on the polling numbers. The better the polls look for Obama, the less likely Clinton will grace the ticket. The worse the polls look for Obama the more likely. But time is running very very short.