Fresh from an appearance on Tuesday night's "Late Show" in which he exchanged some barbs with David Letterman, this morning, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced that he has begun the search for his running mate. Speaking with radio talk show host Don Imus, McCain said, "We just started this process of getting together a list of names and having them looked at, and I don't know how long it takes." McCain said that he wanted to choose his vice-presidential candidate before the Republican convention in September and told Imus, "I'm aware of [the] enhanced importance of this issue given my age."

We're not the gambling sort (especially with our miserable showing in NCAA tourney brackets -- Georgetown, how could you?), but fortunately, the New York Times is already speculating for us. The Times article lists Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as four of the most likely candidates to be McCain's running mate.