Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine believes it’s "very unlikely" that Barack Obama will chose him as his vice presidential running mate.

"It’s just what my gut is telling me," Kaine said in an interview on Saturday at the Fauquier Campus of Lord Fairfax Community College.

Media reports place the 50-year-old governor on a short list of possible vice presidential candidates.

But Kaine, who in February became the first governor to endorse Obama, can deliver only 13 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency.

"Obviously, that would be a factor" working against him, he said. "But [Obama)]has got to look at a lot of factors. He's got to look at elections. He's got to look at other states that are in play, and there are a bunch of them. He's got to look at governance and working relationship. And at the end of the day, the only person who can analyze it all is him."

Next week Obama, a first-term U.S. Senator from Illinois, will receive the Democratic nomination for president during his party’s national convention in Denver.

He also soon will pick a running mate.

Kaine offered no specific explanation for why he believes Obama probably won’t pick him for the No. 2 job. "It’s just one of those things you might dream about but that probably wouldn’t happen," he said. "I don’t analyze the feeling. I just have the feeling."

Kaine said he expects nothing from Obama, 47, in exchange for his support of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

"I did not endorse the senator to get anything, be appointed to anything or do anything, other than to help him win and help him be good," he said. "So I don’t want the focus to be on me. I want it to be on him."

Kaine refused to say if he has discussed the vice presidential nomination with Obama. "I don’t really talk about my conversations with him or the campaign," he said.

He declined to discuss whether he’s on a short list of vice presidential candidates or even if one exists.

In answer to a question, Kaine also wouldn’t say when he first learned he might be under consideration for the job.

"All I will acknowledge is that I’ve been mentioned in the media as a potential" nominee, he said.

So are such reports merely media hype?

"I think I would just rather leave that be," Kaine said.

E-mail the reporter: ddelrosso@timespapers.com