From the moment that Barack Obama secured his party's presidential nomination, we have been very skeptical about the prospect of the Illinois senator choosing Hillary Rodham Clinton as his vice presidential ticket mate.

And, we remain nearly certain that when Obama sees fit to let the world know who he has picked -- please make it soon Senator! -- it won't be Clinton standing by his side.

But, should it be?

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll provides startling evidence of a continued reluctance of a significant chunk of Clinton backers to line up behind their party's soon-to-be-formal nominee.

Just 52 percent of self-identifying Clinton supporters say they are backing Obama while 21 percent are siding with John McCain and 27 percent are undecided or are looking for some other candidate to support.

That tepid support from a significant chunk of the Democratic base is as responsible as any other factor for the fact that Obama and McCain are essentially deadlocked -- 45 percent for Obama, 42 percent for McCain -- in the general election head-to-head matchup.

For today's Wag the Blog question, we want to know whether you think those poll numbers are overwhelming evidence that Obama needs to pick Clinton as his vice president in order to win the White House in the fall. Why or why not? (Don't forget to revisit our "Case For" and "Case Against" Clinton as veep pieces from earlier this summer.)

The most thoughtful/insightful comments will be featured in their own post later this week.