Meanwhile …

Democrats swooning over the possibility of an Obama-Clinton dream ticket got a glass of cold water in the face last week when Sen. Edward Kennedy dismissed the idea.

"I don't think it's possible," Sen. Kennedy said in a interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt."

Barack Obama, Sen. Kennedy said, should pick someone who "is in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people. ... If we had real leadership -- as we do with Barack Obama -- in the No. 2 spot as well, it'd be enormously helpful."

Ouch. Guess Hillary can cross Teddy off the Christmas card list.

Sen. Kennedy isn't alone in his antipathy toward an Obama-Clinton pairing. Liberal columnist Alexander Cockburn seemed positively disgusted with such talk.

"What does it take to keep the Clintons clear of the White House?" he wrote last week. "A stake through both their hearts?"

Perhaps garlic and a crucifix might also be helpful.