Woody Allen did not have Tim Kaine's vice-presidential ambitions in mind when he cracked that "90 percent of life is just showing up."

Virginia's governor has been propelled to the cusp of a national candidacy by making little, if any, effort.

Don't be fooled: The lad is running -- in place, for now -- for VP. Whether he leaves the blocks is for Barack Obama to decide. Until then -- while vetters probe, spinners manipulate and the national press takes to the evolving Kaine myth like cats to the cream -- the voters endure his occasionally saccharin displays of humility.

This is an audition; it's the bread and circuses of politics. Part of being a candidate is not being one -- until cued. In other words: Demonstrate through artful, sonorous ways of saying nothing that one can to stick to another's script.

Unlike Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard," Kaine, whose arching left eyebrow recalls Gloria Swanson's, is not ready for his close-up, Mr. DeBama.

But what if the Kaine boomlet is a smoke screen, a ruse, a Wizard-of-Oz-like curtain behind which Obama picks someone else?

Who saw Spiro Agnew coming? Or Dan Quayle. Or Dick Cheney?

It's not quite a "Seinfeld" campaign, to use the metaphor invoked by Kaine when blaming the GOP for the General Assembly's do-nothing transportation session. But Kaine is conducting a noncampaign campaign.

It's quite a contrast with the efforts and impulses of six gubernatorial predecessors who, since 1932, were promoted for, or pursued, the presidency: Harry Byrd Sr., Chuck Robb, Doug Wilder, George Allen, Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner.

Byrd was interested yet hesitant, with his Virginia apparatus run by a columnist for the old Richmond News Leader. Because Robb was the son-in-law of Lyndon Johnson, few believed him when he said he had no designs on the presidency.

Wilder's brief candidacy, steered, in part, by Warner, was an embarrassment but a model of efficiency compared with his mayoralty. Allen tried to disguise his White House bid as a Senate re-election drive. Both collapsed when he stepped in macaca.

Gilmore's candidacy never made it beyond Jim Who? Warner's got further -- his exploratory campaign landed him on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. Then Warner decided he didn't have the gumption. Now he's playing third fiddle to Jim Webb and Tim Kaine.

At the core of the Kaine candidacy is the man himself.

Kaine is independent and loyal. He demonstrated both by endorsing Obama early, a week after the senator declared in 2007, and sticking with him against the Clinton tide.

Kaine's greatest talent, fellow ink-stained wretch Michael Paul Williams suggested during a recent bull session, may be that he's ambitious but doesn't come across that way.

Kaine is not a passive participant in this striptease. He is not the Harvard Law-educated equivalent of Forrest Gump, a sweet-natured smart guy swept up in the great events of the day.

It was no accident Kaine, as speculation reached full boil last week, found time for a chit-chat with PBS' Charlie Rose. Kaine showed that he can do high-brow. What about hijinks?

Guest shots on Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart-- that may be ultimate proof Kaine's on the ticket.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com. Watch his video column Thursdays on inRich.com. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE radio (88.9 FM).