The Olympics start on Friday. So, today's question of the day is: Will Obama announce his vice presidential pick before then?

The general view is that the Olympics will suck all the available media coverage for its duration, so Obama's window is closing. While I think this is giving the Olympics too much credit -- what time zone is China in again? -- at least the first few days of the Games will be heavily covered by all the networks. So I think it's fair to say that either Obama will announce in the next couple days, or he'll wait and announce a week before the DNC Convention, which begins on Aug. 25. Either way, the announcement will be sure to generate plenty of headlines and coverage and provide the campaign with whatever bounce it might get.

UPDATE: The Tribune's John McCormick is seeing some movement inside the campaign:

The whiteboard inside Patti Solis Doyle's office lists four key dates and corresponding notations: Aug. 4, V.P. staff arrives; ?, Announcement; Aug. 25, Convention begins; Oct. 2, V.P. debate in St. Louis.

That question mark for when Sen. Barack Obama will name his running mate is just one of the many unknowns inside the office of the Chicago native who will be the top staff member for the person ultimately picked.

Amid seemingly endless speculation about who Obama will select, a group of new employees arrived Monday at his Chicago headquarters to help prepare the campaign apparatus needed to support the vice presidential candidate. More than a dozen employees are now in place as part of a staff ultimately expected to total 30 to 40.

With a second campaign plane at the ready, they are a staff in waiting, just like the rest of the nation's political junkies who are eager to see what signals the Illinois Democrat and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) send with their selections.