Newsweek's Howard Fineman and Politico's Roger Simon handicapped the VP race on Hardball this afternoon. Here's a rough transcript of where they came down:

Joe Biden
Fineman - "He can help in Pennsylvania, which is where his family is from. He knows foreign-policy. Nobody has a better sense of the world than Joe Biden. ... The downside is he's a senator who's been used to hearing himself talk for many years and sometimes likes it too much.

Simon - He's terrificly knowledgeable. He's very good on the stump. Vice presidents really have only one duty and that's to hold one debate. One suspects he'd do very well in that debate"

Evan Bayh
Fineman - "There's no safer pick...Was a Hillary Clinton supporter and a very prominent one, which would help Obama heal the wounds in the party. ... He's a favorite of supporters of Israel in this country. A whiter candidate there is not. Downside? I don't see a lot of downside."

Simon - "It'd be great if he could put Indiana in play. The downside is ... let's say an Evan Bayh and a Tim Kaine, why don't we go for the guy who endorsed us instead of the guy who endorsed Hillary? There is such a thing as loyalty in politics."

Tim Kaine
Fineman - "Virgini'a definitely in play. Kaine's a very popular governor. He also happens to be Catholic, which matters in the demography in America. ... I don't think Kaine helps very much on the foreign-policy side. ... I would maybe take a chance on Jim Webb."

Simon - "Tim Kaine in on my immediate short list... Virginia is really crucial to Barack Obama's victory. The only slight negative ... Tim Kaine has a personal choice -- a faith-based opposition to abortion, as calls it."

Chuck Hagel
Fineman - I think that's an interesting choice ... It would make a lot of sense [for Obama's campaign message]. I think a lot of Democrats migth be a little confused by it, because a lot of the rst of Hagel's voting record is pretty conservative."

Simon - "Too dramatic a choice. Both nominess are going to go for someone who's dull and safe and not dramatic."

Tim Pawlenty
Simon - He's a safe choice. He's not going to overshadow anybody... A very solid choice.

Fineman - "He has a working-class background ... very close to the Evangelical leaders... I think McCain might need somebody with a little more experience, and a little more heft in terms of national policy."

Rob Portman
Simon - "He's from Ohio...But he's very closely tied to the George Bush administration. If John McCain wants to avoid being called the third term of George Bush, picking Portman wouldn't be the way to do it."

Fineman - "As [Bush's] budget director he was the hawk [on spending] .. and he didn't win the argument a lot of times."

Bobby Jindal
Simon - "Young, very young, almost too young to run... But if you're John McCain and you know you're going to get an x percentage of votes based on race, do you pick a dark-skinned vice presidential candidate who some people are going to say -- wrongly -- is black, is a Hindu converted to Catholicism? .. Is it a safe choice? .. I think McCain is going to go with a safer choice than that."

Fineman - "I certainly think McCain is intrigued by Jindal ... McCain is going to make this decision based in part on personal factors... he wants somebody he's comfortable with and he really like Jindal. The problem being that Jindal is literally half his age. That maybe be a little strange for a guy who wants to emphasize the commander-in-chief role."

Mitt Romney
Simon - "If this race is going to get down to a bad economic climate in America,... Mitt Romney is a good choice. ... Again, it's a dramatic choice [because of Romney's Mormonism] and I'm not sure either nominee wants drama."

Charlie Crist
Simon - "He gave him a crucial endorsement before teh Florida primary... McCain owes him."

Fineman - [His support of off-shore drilling] was just as important politically as endorsing McCain to begin with. Chris is definitely a team player."