Governor Kathleen Sebelius visited the University of Kansas on Monday to encourage students to caucus for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at the Democratic caucuses Tuesday evening. Sebelius’ visit further supported rumors online that the she may be Obama’s running mate in the presidential election if he were selected as the Democratic candidate.

Sebelius denied having discussed the matter with Obama, but she did not say she had not considered it or whether she would accept the position if Obama offered it to her.

“Right now, I’m focused on Kansas’ issues,” Sebelius said.

Sebelius also said Obama had to be selected as the Democratic candidate before he could consider a running mate and that she was doing everything she could to make that happen.

Sebelius has made several political appearances across Kansas on behalf of Obama in the past week. Since then, multiple political blog sites, including Gristmill.org and Showmeblog.com have said Obama might consider Sebelius as a running mate because of her popularity. Bloggers said Sebelius could help Obama win over Republican voters, especially in Kansas and Missouri. Many sites equated an Obama-Sebelius ticket to the Clinton-Gore presidency.

This is not the first time it has been rumored that Sebelius would appear as the vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ballot. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Sebelius was said to have been one of John Kerry’s choices. Sebelius told reporters then that it was not her time.

Lawrence Bush, a Lawrence resident who is a self-described political blog junkie, said there was also a rumor circulating in the summer of 2006 that Sebelius would be on John Warner’s ticket if he ran for president and received the nomination. Warner is the governor of Virginia.

Bush said he had not heard any recent rumors regarding Sebelius and the vice president position, but that her support of Obama so early in the race could be a foreshadow of the announcement.

“I would have thought Sebelius would be more neutral,” Bush said. “I wouldn’t have thought she would come out and support someone until the actual election.”

Bush also said it was telling that Sebelius did not support Hillary Clinton. He said he would have expected a woman to support another woman, especially after the backlash Oprah received for supporting Obama.

Sebelius said at the University she chose to support Obama instead of Clinton mostly because of Obama’s popularity among young voters.

Several blogs have said Sebelius would be a good addition to Obama’s campaign because she is a woman, but Bush said he did not think Obama would select Sebelius for the same reason.

“It seems to me, the safe bet would be to have an old, white guy. Someone who doesn’t take away from the ticket. Someone boring,” Bush said. “If Obama put Sebelius on the ticket, it would make a splash.”

Bush said he thought it was interesting that the Democrats chose Sebelius to respond to the president’s State of the Union address. Bush said she was very emotionless and her response did not impress a lot of people. He said it could cause Democrats to reconsider Sebelius’ heightened role in national politics.

Sebelius said she knew people would have liked to see her attack the Bush administration in her response speech, but that she did not think that would have been helpful.

“I chose to take a more inviting tone,” Sebelius said.

During Sebelius’ speech at the University, she stressed the importance of a candidate’s ability to govern, even though Obama has never been a governor. When a student asked Sebelius what Obama would do to get the moderate Republicans and independents on his side, Sebelius stressed Obama’s ability to put together a coalition that will get things done regardless of red state or blue state, Democrat or Republican.

Clarissa Unger, state coordinator of Students for Barack Obama, said she did not have any information on the issue but that students had approached her about the topic. She said she thought students were receiving the information from blogs and comments made by political commentators.

“I think Sebelius would be an incredible vice president candidate,” Unger said. “I think with all the Obama and Hillary Clinton stuff, it would be nice to see a woman in office, but I don’t think Hillary Clinton is the kind of woman we want in office. I think Kathleen Sebelius is the kind of woman we want in office. She’s a strong, incredible leader.”

­—Edited by Mandy Earles