WEST LAFAYETTE, In. -- Under repeated questioning from reporters at a press conference here, Democratic Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and former Georgia senator Sam Nunn made clear they would not decline the vice presidency if asked.

"Certainly I would talk to Senator Obama if he wanted to talk about that," Nunn said, after he and Bayh attended a national security event with the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Replying to the same question, Bayh said, "I love serving the people of Indiana" and called questions about joining the ticket "good for my ego." Neither would say what contacts he has had with the Obama campaign.

With their years of experience in government, both offer some strengths to the Obama ticket, and also hail from states that the Obama campaign is targeting to turn blue. Both are older, white men -- which might reassure some voters about Obama -- and neither is any threat to outshine him on camera.

Both also seemed ready to turn any question into a way to praise the the presidential candidate -- a requirement for the vice presidential post.

Asked if Obama would need either man to bolster his security credentials, both raved about the Illinois senator's own judgment on those issues.

"I personally think his credentials on those issues are pretty strong on their own," Bayh added.

Bayh was even more fulsome in his praise at the event itself. There, in his concluding remarks, Bayh said he he had seen video of Obama stealing the ball from someone while playing basketball during the run-up to the primaries here in May, and that the candidate's moves would help win in this hoops-obsessed state.

"He's strong on defense in a whole variety of ways," Bayh joked.

By Perry Bacon Jr., The Washington Post, July 16, 2008