We are closing in on the party conventions. While there is chatter about the party platforms, most people don’t pay any attention to those pieces of paper. The big political news in the next week and a half will be Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s choices for vice president.

The lists have been narrowing, but for the opposite reasons. Trump’s list keeps shrinking because potential candidates do not want to be associated with him. Future political viability is at stake, so only folks with nothing to lose politically are interested. So we have a scandal-plagued, unliked-in-his-home-state-governor, Chris Christie; a socially liberal right-wing general, William Flynn; a has-been politico, Newt Gingrich; and an incumbent governor who is in danger of losing his re-election this year, Michael Pence. The talking head consensus seems to center around Pence, but with someone as erratic as Trump making the decision we probably cannot rule out Sarah Palin or John Miller.

No one seems to be running away from the possibility of being Hillary Clinton’s VP choice, but the list is narrowing as the vetting process closes out. Three Senators appear on the short list: Sherrod Brown of Ohio; Tim Kaine of Virginia; and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. One House member makes the list: Xavier Becerra. There are two potential candidates with cabinet experience: Tom Perez and Tom Vilsack. Brown, Kaine and Perez seem to be the most likely. Options out of left field are highly unlikely for Hillary.

There is no need for this blog to get any deeper into the resumes, the positives and the negatives of the prospective candidates. That stuff is being covered ad nauseam by the networks and the columnists. So I thought I’d do something different today.

Below you will find two polls, one for the potential Republican VP candidates and another for the Democratic options.

I believe that the readership of this blog is a pretty sophisticated group representing a good cross section of opinion leaders in Western New York and some parts beyond, including Republicans, Democrats and independents.

What I am asking you to do is to take less than a minute to indicate which of the listed candidates you think will be chosen by the parties as their vice presidential candidates. I am not asking who you would prefer, but rather who you think Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will choose.

My guesses:  Pence and Kaine.

Thanks in advance for those participating. Check back on the website (www.politicsandstuff.com) as often as you like to see how the polls develop.