Obama's VP Vetter Vanishes

One of the three VP vetters for Barack Obama has stepped down (even though Obama said he wasn't working for him):

Jim Johnson, who had been leading Obama's VP search committee, has stepped down from the campaign.

"Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept," Obama said in a statement. "We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process."

*** UPDATE *** NBC's Chuck Todd adds,
This isn't a minor deal, and it, frankly, could set back Obama a bit on the vetting process. Johnson has done this for some time, not just for Obama this year, but also for Kerry. He had plenty of institutional knowledge in place like, for instance, on a person like Evan Bayh.

In the macro sense, it also allows McCain to push the idea that Obama is inexperienced and mistakes like this will happen, potentially, when the stakes are higher.

But this also is a good reminder that what Obama wants to do -- keep lobbyists and corporate types out of his potential administration -- is difficult, since so many supposedly qualified people have ties to corporate boards or lobbying firms. You can't run a government based academics alone.

That just leaves Eric Holder, the former Deputy Attorney General who organized the pardon of fugitive zillionaire Marc Rich on the last day of Clinton's term, and Caroline Kennedy, wildly unqualified for this task. Mr. Judgement doesn't seem to have much when it comes to picking staff (or pastors, or churches, or policies....).