The signs of the times point to one inescapable fact. We're in the Last Days -- of vice presidential speculation.

Signs and wonders are everywhere. A creature that looks suspiciously like an in utero version of the monster from "Cloverfield" washed up on a Montauk, Long Island, beach earlier this month. A two-headed turtle whose twin heads compete with each other for food was stolen from a Brooklyn pet shop.

And not to be outdone in the annals of apocalyptic adorableness: A black cat with four ears was passed around a Chicago bar by drunken patrons before someone found a decent home for it.

And on the eve of the most important week of his charmed political career, Barack Obama is fighting a head cold.

Imagine that! The candidate that many believe can walk on water is sneezing ferociously, driving home the incontrovertible fact of our shared humanity.

Who knows what all of this means? The only thing we understand for sure is that by this time tomorrow, we'll know the identity of Barack Obama's running mate. (Or, maybe we'll know by the time this column is published. Just covering my bases.)

It will either be an occasion for inspiration or for massive disappointment for Democrats, who were feeling wobbly in the knees even before the sneezing and nose blowing began.

New polls have rattled the faith of even the staunchest Obama supporters. John McCain up by 5 points? In what universe is that even possible given his cranky determination to continue the policy trajectories of the Bush administration?

Among Democrats, fear is beginning to creep into conversations about November. Once-heretical notions are finding acceptance in polite company.

Folks who once celebrated the implosion of Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign are flirting with the idea that she makes sense as the under card for the Obama ticket.

That's how badly Democrats want to win this thing. A lot of born-again pragmatists are insisting that the official mantra of the 2008 Obama campaign should be: "Win Now -- Deal With the Drama Later."

"I try to surround myself with people who are about getting the job done," Mr. Obama told Time, "and who are not about ego, self-aggrandizement, getting their name in the press, but ... focus on what's best for the American people."

At first glance, this would appear to exclude the Clintons, but not necessarily. In what could be interpreted as a hint that he's willing to have a veep who used to taunt him mercilessly, Mr. Obama went on to say that he isn't a believer in "a government of yes-men."

If it wasn't for the fact that he's already said how much he enjoyed Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Lincoln's cabinet, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," I'd dismiss the notion of an Obama-Clinton ticket out of hand.

Personally, I wouldn't mind putting up with the Clintons' return to Pennsylvania Avenue as supporting players as long as the rest of the Obama White House reflected his agenda and priorities.

There's no reason to treat the Clintons like pariahs just because they played hardball during the primaries. The Clintons were abiding by the rules that usually hold sway in a Machiavellian world.

Frankly, we're at a stage in this presidential race where I wish Barack Obama could express half the righteous indignation and ruthlessness the Clintons exude naturally without betraying his own values.

Mrs. Clinton's presence on the ticket would make for an ideal division of labor on the campaign trail. She understands how to talk to working-class whites who happen to be the biggest voting bloc in America. There's no learning curve there. Barack Obama could then stay positive while making a larger case for a fundamental break with the failed policies of the Bush administration and its spiritual heir, John McCain.

And let's face it: Barack Obama would be on his toes 24/7 with Hillary Rodham Clinton on board. Every day, he'd be inspired to reach for bolder and more dramatic critiques of his Republican rival.

"John McCain is like the two con men who recently claimed to have found the frozen body of Bigfoot in the Georgia mountains," I can almost hear Mr. Obama saying.

"It looked like the real thing to a lot of gullible people. But after it was sold for a sizeable sum of money, closer inspection revealed it to be an ape costume filled with animal entrails. We owe it to ourselves to stop John McCain from selling the American people a similar bill of goods."

Signs and wonders, indeed.