By Chad Pergram

It's said that all 100 senators arise each morning and see a man or woman capable of being president staring back at them in the mirror.

It's unlikely that House members do the same, even when it comes to the vice presidency.

After all, Gerald Ford was the last sitting House member to graduate to the vice presidency. And the last congressman to be directly elected to that job was House Speaker John Nance Garner, D-Texas, under President Franklin Roosevelt.

Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-N.Y., was Walter Mondale's unsuccessful pick for vice president in 1984. As for the Republicans, you'd have to scrape all the way back to 1868 and House Speaker Schuyler Colfax, R-Ind., to find a GOPer whom voters drafted to move from the House to the vice presidency.

Bottom line: the House isn't a bastion of vice presidential timber.

Except this year.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain are on the precipice of tapping their running mates. The conventional wisdom indicates they'll tap someone like Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh or Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, respectively. And that's probably accurate.

But for the first time in years, a couple of sitting House members seem to be in the running.

The McCain camp long ago vetted Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. Cantor is the chief deputy whip in the House (the assistant GOP vote counter). Known as a climber on Capitol Hill, Cantor is barely known outside of his central Virginia district. But that didn't stop Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., from trumpeting his Virginia colleague's credentials in a letter last month to McCain campaign chief Rick Davis.

Goode told Davis that McCain should "look right and not left" in selecting his running mate and described Cantor as "a consistent conservative" who would "energize the Republican base." Goode also suggested that the selection of Cantor would guarantee a win for Republicans in his battleground state. It's voted for the GOP nominee every election since 1964.

No fool when it comes to the power of suggestion, Goode even included a "visual aid" for Davis: a campaign button featuring McCain and Cantor's mugs. "John McCain for Prez," reads the red button, "Eric Cantor for Veep."

Another representative barely on the national radar but a player on Capitol Hill is Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. Pence unsuccessfully challenged House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, in internal party leadership elections two years ago. But Pence is a favorite of the right. Telegenic and eloquent (he's a former radio talk show host), many conservatives believe Pence would strike the perfect balance to McCain's moderate politics.

And then there's the House Democrat. If you thought no one outside the Beltway had ever heard of Cantor and Pence, they really haven't heard of Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas.

Edwards is a darling of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. And she's been quietly peddling the Texas Democrat to the Obama campaign since June.

Edwards is a survivor. And a formidable one at that. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, D-Texas, tried to marginalize Edwards' electability when he redrew the state's congressional boundaries several years ago. DeLay infused more GOP voters into Edwards' territory. But the congressman held on.

When President Bush flies down to Crawford to clear brush, he does so in Edwards' congressional district. And even though Bush carried the Edwards district in 2004 with 69 percent of the vote, Edwards still garnered 58 percent.

On Capitol Hill, Edwards is known as a "Cardinal."

"Cardinals" are some of the most powerful people in Congress. They command that designation when they chair a powerful Appropriations Subcommittee, because they hold such eminence over the federal purse strings.

Edwards presides over the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs panel. And from that post, he decides how much money to fork out to any given program. Right down to the nickel.

As a moderate from the south, he is seen by some Democrats as someone who could counterweight the liberal Obama.

Yes, vice presidential picks usually come from the tiny Washington suburbs of Potomac, Md., where the senators live. Or state capitols, where the governors live.

They don't usually come from humble addresses occupied by members of the House.

Take 514 Crown View Dr. A modest brick home with a swimming pool out back, it rests off a slight hill near Janneys Lane in Alexandria, Va. It's walking distance from where I live. Usually a couple errant copies of the Washington Examiner or Washington Times dot the driveway and rot inside their plastic sheaths.

The place is unremarkable. And you'd never know a president lived there.

But that's where Ford hung his hat for almost 20 years, before moving into the White House.

Talk about movin' on up.

Vice presidents don't usually come from the House. But this is a zany election season, and who knows?

Maybe our next running mate will come from a place like 514 Crown View Dr.