'Oprah for vice president'

2008-01-25 12:05

North Charleston - White House hopeful Barack Obama joked on Thursday he would name billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey vice president if Democrats picked him for the top spot on the ballot.

In a tongue-in-cheek chat with comedian David Letterman on his late night talk show, Obama also said he would name Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney "Secretary of Good Taste", in non-partisans deference to Romney's elegance.

Obama promised to rename the 10th month of the year "Barack-tober" and to reintroduce at the White House a correct pronunciation of the word "nuclear", which President George W Bush invariably mangled.

The joke about Winfrey was a loaded one, since the United States television talk show diva had boosted Obama's White House hopes by openly endorsing him, bringing her celebrity wattage and the attention of her millions of fans to his campaign.

Winfrey appeared with Obama at several campaign stops in Iowa, which he won, and in South Carolina, which hold its Democratic primary on Saturday.

- AFP