The other half of the Hagel trip is RI Sen. Jack Reed, who, as TNR's Jonathan Cohn notes, was mentioned on "Meet the Press" yesterday as a possible Obama VP. Writes Cohn:

Not a lot of people know much about Reed. Heck, not a lot of people even know who Reed is. But he's got an impressive biography. He grew up in a working-class Catholic family. His father, Joseph, was a World War II veteran who worked his way up from school janitor to custodial supervisor of the Cranston school system; his mother, Mary, was a housewife whose hopes of education beyond high school died in the Great Depression. Both parents emphasized education and learning, making sure to buy the Encyclopedia Britannica despite their limited means; young Jack became a history buff and, inspired in part by the example of John F. Kennedy--and in part, one suspects, by his father--decided to pursue a life in military service. In 1969, he won admission to West Point.

Reed would go on to become an Army Ranger and paratrooper--picking up a master's in public policy along the way--until leaving the military, as a captain, in 1979. That's when he entered Harvard Law School. From there, a short stint in private law led to a career in Rhode Island politics, where he worked his way up from the state Senate to the U.S. House and, eventually, the U.S. Senate--effectively breaking a grip on that office held, previously, by the state's political aristrocracy.

Reed's military background is very important. Obama can mute much of the criticism of his national-security deficit by choosing a military guy (or gal) for his running mate. Unfortunately, with the loss of Webb, Obama's choices have become somewhat limited on this front.

Some argue, persuasively, that voters don't give the VP nominee as much thought as the media likes to think. But with Obama that's likely to be a little different. Many voters want to like Obama, if only because they can't stomach the thought of voting Republican again. For these voters, easing their concerns about Obama's inexperience is the way to get them.