ATLANTA -- Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn -- mentioned in some circles as a vice presidential contender himself -- praised Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden to be his running mate.

Nunn said Wednesday that Biden, of Delaware, will help Obama with working-class voters in Georgia that could be critical to him winning the state.

"Joe Biden helps him in that regard," Nunn said.

"Georgia will be an uphill fight but it is in play."

He said Obama will need a huge turnout from minorities and young people who have made up his base.

Georgia Republicans have said that Obama can’t win in Georgia, which has voted reliably Republican in recent years. They said Georgia voters will continue that trend and select GOP nominee John McCain in the November general election. His pick of Biden merely reinforces his liberal credentials, something that won't play in the conservative South, Georgia Republicans argued.

But Nunn called such labels "totally outmoded" in this year's election where Obama has been stressing the need for a new kind of politics. He said Biden's Catholicism wouldn't hurt him in Georgia, noting that John F. Kennedy was a Catholic "from up north" and won the state in 1960.

Nunn has been advising Obama on national security and foreign affairs and had been talked about as a possible vice presidential pick for the Illinois senator. Like Biden, he was seen as complimenting Obama's lack of experience on the international stage. Nunn's Southern roots were also seen as a plus.

But Nunn said Wednesday he doesn't believe he was under serious consideration, despite his name popping up on a multitude of speculative lists.

"I was clearly mentioned by the mentioners," Nunn said.

But Nunn said his finances were never vetted by the Obama campaign as they were for others on the short list.

"The only serious intrusive questions I got about my finances were from my wife," he quipped.