Well, one thing you can say for her. Had she been chosen as VP, Kathleen Sebelius would have been on-message.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius accused Republicans on Tuesday of injecting race into the presidential campaign, arguing that they are using "code language" to convince Midwesterners that Democrat Barack Obama is different from them.

"Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American?" Sebelius asked with sarcasm. "(Republicans) are not going to go lightly into the darkness."

Sebelius was responding to a question from the audience at the Iowa City Public Library about the tenacity of Democrats and whether they would fight for victory as hard as Republicans in the closing weeks of the election.

She did not elaborate on her comment.

Obama has twice used similar statements on the campaign trail, first offering this explicit reference to his race in Florida in June, without offering any examples of Republicans having levied this attack.

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’"

In August, Obama used a similar line, obliquely referring to his race by saying Republicans would try to scare voters by saying he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills." At that time, the campaign first tried to weasel out of the statement by claiming Obama was referring to his relative youth, before chief strategist David Axelrod went on "Good Morning America" and conceded the remark referred to race.

Since then, the campaign has steered clear of the race card, but Obama has continued to use the "funny name" line on the stump.