Desperation or just wishful thinking?

Newsweek's Anna Quindlen makes a desperate plea for Hillary to convince Sen. Barack Obama to be her running mate. Desperate, there, being the operative word. Still 16 months from the election, isn't it a bit early for anyone to be talking about running mates? Isn't it a little early for anyone to suggest that Obama's aims for the Presidency this time around are a lost cause? Also, let's be honest here - Obama's chances of winning the Presidency as a candidate on his own are much higher than his chances of winning the Vice Presidency along side a candidate that more than half the voting public dislikes.