By Denise Ross

South Dakota’s junior US Senator, John Thune, is the Washington Post’s No. 2 pick in the current book-making on who GOP prez candidate John McCain will choose as his side-kick.

(Maybe if Thune steps up his Dwight Schrute game, he’ll move up to No. 1.)

Says The Post’s Chris Cillizza:

The phrase “central casting” can easily be applied to the senator from South Dakota. Thune is handsome, articulate and comes across as a moderate despite his very clear conservative voting record. Thune is also a hero in conservative circles thanks to his defeat of then Sen. Tom Daschle (S.D.) in 2004. The one knock on Thune is that he hails from a state that is already well in hand for Republicans. But, a look at recent veep picks (John Edwards, Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman) shows that the traditional “geographic” consideration may be fading in importance when it comes to picking a number two.

There’s just one glitch. The link in Cillizza’s report on Thune’s name takes readers to the official website for Rob Portman, which - aside from being the wrong link - the Portman page, brought to us courtesy of the Bush White House - is quite confusing as to what exact trajectory Portman’s career has taken of late.

The little balloon that pops up calls him “Ambassador Rob Portman,” and that sounds right, but then the page itself identifies him as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, but then the text makes it clear, complete with resignation date, that he is the “former” OMB director. Plus he was an Ohio congressman. To fellow 30 Rock fans, hopefully they at least gave this guy pens.

Meanwhile, Tom Daschle did not make Cillizza’s list as a potential Obama VP. So it goes.

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