The New York Times has details on Kerry’s veep-announcement plans, which should begin rolling into action less than two hours from now:

John Kerry’s advisers said Monday that he was planning to announce his running mate on Tuesday morning and that he was orchestrating an elaborate rollout of the Democratic ticket first on the Internet, then at a rally here and finally in a multistate tour beginning in Ohio and ending later this week in the vice-presidential candidate’s hometown. …

Mr. Kerry, said one associate familiar with the plan, intended to begin calling the major candidates in contention around 7 a.m. Tuesday to give them the news of his choice.

The first public word of Mr. Kerry’s selection is to be conveyed after the phone calls in an e-mail message to supporters who signed up on the Web site johnkerry.com, aides said. More than 150,000 people have enrolled on the site since Friday, when Mr. Kerry first promised to release his decision this way, his spokesman, David Wade, said.

If all goes according to plan, Mr. Kerry will appear at a big morning rally in Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh and announce his choice at about 9 a.m. Tuesday, aides said, before flying to Indianapolis to address a convention of the A.M.E. Church. He will then return to his wife’s farmhouse in Fox Chapel, Pa., in the critical electoral turf of Allegheny County, to await the arrival of his new No. 2 for an overnight visit.

At some point Tuesday afternoon Mr. Kerry and his running mate are to appear for a wave to the cameras, which would provide, in time for the evening news, the first post-selection images of the two men together.

A few aides cautioned that given Mr. Kerry’s penchant for secrecy, he could still delay the announcement in reaction to news accounts of his deliberations. …

Mr. Kerry’s most senior aides said he had not divulged his decision to them as of Monday evening, in keeping with what one adviser described as Mr. Kerry’s “obsession” with ensuring that the rejected candidates hear it from him personally rather than from the news media, as Mr. Kerry did when Al Gore passed him over four years ago. Some aides said Mr. Kerry could still change the plan that had been put together but described that as unlikely. …

Speculation increasingly centered on Mr. Edwards, Mr. Kerry’s longest lasting serious rival in the Democratic primaries, because of a meeting held Thursday night between him and Mr. Kerry at the Georgetown home of Madeleine K. Albright, the former secretary of state, Democratic officials said. Mr. Edwards interrupted a family vacation in Florida for the session. Mr. Edwards’s advocates said they were increasingly hopeful on Monday. But aides to Mr. Kerry cautioned that too much should not be read into the late-night meeting, noting that the Democratic presidential contender had held similar unannounced sessions with Mr. Vilsack, Mr. Gephardt and other Democrats he has been considering over the last three months. …

As Mr. Kerry kept his own counsel, his entire campaign was on high alert over the holiday weekend, preparing a precision operation that was being secretly planned down to the last press release and camera angle. Teams of aides were waiting to swoop into action to proclaim, promote, defend, prepare, inform, support, transport, care for and feed whomever Mr. Kerry selects - all on a moment’s notice.

One aide said that signs designed for the losing candidates “are going to be worth a lot on eBay one day.”