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LARRY O'BRIEN, 55, outgoing Democratic national chairman and now national campaign chairman in the McGovern campaign, master political tactician, architect of the Kennedy 1960 victory. O'Brien has never held elective office, but he made a good impression on the voters by his skillful handling of the Miami Beach convention, and he would serve as a bridge to the old-line party establishment.
KEVIN WHITE, 42, mayor of Boston, on McGovern's original list of vice-presidential prospects but dropped because Massachusetts delegates threatened to boycott the convention if McGovern picked him. They objected because White was a pro-Muskie, old-school politician. He would give the ticket an Eastern, urban balance.
SARGENT SHRIVER, 56, first head of the Peace Corps, later chief of the Office of Economic Opportunity and U.S. ambassador in Paris, brother-in-law of Ted Kennedy. He has never run in an election, though he once considered trying for Governor of Maryland.
If McGovern does drop Eagleton, the process of confirming a successor could get messy. One group of Democratic National Committee members, allocated to the various states on the same basis as convention delegates, would ratify McGovern's choice of a replacement for Eagleton. The trouble is that the D.N.C., like the convention, is operating under new rules; about 25 of the 161 members who would vote on a new No. 2 nominee have not even been selected, and, as at the convention, some of the delegations could be challenged. Probably in practice the problems would not be great, since the Democrats well know that the last thing they need in 1972 is one more intraparty fight. McGovern's choice would doubtless be quickly endorsed.