On Aug. 4, when Gov. Ed Rendell visited Erie to announce state-funded economic development projects, he spoke to me about his preferred choices for Sen. Barack Obama's running mate.

Now that Obama has chosen Sen. Joe Biden, it's seems like an appropriate time to revisit the relevant part of that interview.

Rendell, who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primary and now supports Obama, said then that Clinton would have been his first choice.

"She would be the strongest in terms of ready to govern, and strongest in terms of helping with the electoral map,'' Rendell said.

Rendell said without Clinton, he would go with Biden.

"Joe is tremendously skilled in foreign affairs and terrorism (issues),'' Rendell said

"He’s smart, he’s ready to be president and he would help in Pennsylvania,'' he said.

"He was born in Scranton, and since Delaware has no TV stations of (its) own, we’ve seen his ads in southeast Pennsylvania for 31 years -- so he’d have an impact in Pennsylvania,'' Rendell said.

-- John Guerriero