Signs point to Thursday or Friday for Obama Veep Announcement
ORLANDO, FL – 1 a.m. EDT
Amid a flood of feverish speculation, all of it pumping up the level of drama behind the announcement, numerous Democratic sources tell Fox that Barack Obama will announce his choice for a running mate on Thursday or Friday.
Officially, the Obama campaign remains tight-lipped and playfully coy about the pick as they savor the massive media hunger for any morsel of detail that might suggest the identity of Obama’s choice or the timing of his or her national introduction.
Close aides to Obama refuse to say whether the choice has been made, though they concede the window of opportunity is closing to finalize the choice – if it hasn’t already been made.
Obama aides traveling with the senator waved reporters off speculation the announcement would come Tuesday. A senior Democratic official familiar with the situation and Obama’s deliberations said it was extremely unlikely the running mate choice would be revealed Tuesday or Wednesday.
Democrats close to the situation expect the announcement to come Thursday. The common speculation — and it’s nothing more than that — is that the unveiling will occur in Chicago. The theory behind this notion is that a Chicago event near the campaign’s headquarters would minimize secrecy-sapping trips by advance staff to lay the groundwork for the elaborate event.
The names most commonly associated with Obama’s choice are: Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Joe Biden of Delaware, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts; Governors Tim Kaine of Virginia and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; and former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia.
Hillary Clinton no longer appears a viable option, though many Democratic strategists say they won’t rule her out entirely – despite numerous signals it won’t be her – until the decision is announced.
Other Democratic sources caution that the running mate could be a wild card whose name has yet to surface and suggest a prominent figure from the business world or a retired military officer could be chosen.
The person Obama chooses, Democrats say, is almost taking a backseat to how the selection will serve as a metaphor for how Obama sees his own campaign progressing in this massively pro-Democratic political year.
“They have many things to do before the convention and sharpening the message against John McCain is only part of it,” a top Democratic strategist said. “The pick will tell us how Obama thinks he’s doing.”
Some Democrats believe if Obama picks any of the established U.S. Senators it will suggest his campaign is lacking Washington experience and gravitas and – in the case of Bayh, Biden and Kerry – needs to bolster the ticket’s credibility on foreign policy and national security. This would also be true if Obama selected Nunn, a southerner who carved out a reputation as a national security thinker and innovator.
In other words, if Obama dips into the pool of senatorial skill, it will be viewed by some Democrats as a sign of caution about the state of his campaign that signals some political holes need to be filled.
“Caution has been their approach all along and I see no sign they will deviate from that,” said one Democratic strategist involved in several presidential campaigns but not linked to Obama’s camp.
If Obama taps Kaine or Sebelius or a so-called wild card, Democrats say it will reflect Obama’s near-boundless confidence in his ability to transcend concerns about his inexperience. In essence, Democrats say, the selection of a young governor, as a running mate would dismiss the straightjacket of Washington calculations and in look, voice and resume, evoke the central and unshakable Obama themes of “change” and “hope.”
Lastly, Democrats expect Obama’s choice to affect GOP rival John McCain’s selection of a running mate. Democrats sense McCain – who will unveil his choice on Aug. 29 in Dayton, Ohio – is waiting for Obama, to see how his choice could counter Obama’s push for an advantage in the Electoral College calculations. By this reasoning, McCain would counter a Kaine pick with Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor in order to keep Virginia in play. Similarly, if Obama picked Bayh, they assume McCain might go for former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to keep McCain competitive in the industrial Midwest where Bayh has a sizable profile (at least in Indiana and parts of Ohio).
The layers, therefore, of speculation run much deeper than the traditional who and when. The layers go to a near-existential examination by Obama of the state of his campaign and a three-layered chess game with McCain about the composition of both presidential tickets.
f OBAMA does not ask CLINTON to be VP, he is throwing away what would surely be a huge landslide victory for us as DEMOCRATS.
Everyone should take a moment and think rationally about this situation. Half of the AMERICANS who took place in the nomination process supported CLINTON, half supported OBAMA. If either one of these candiates did not offer the VP slot to the other, an equally supported candidate, then we as AMERICANS might conclude that a nominee who would do that does not have the best interests of the party, the country and overall, the world, in mind.
Hopefully OBAMA does what makes the most sense for the party, the country and once again, the world, and asks CLINTON if she will consider being be VP.
What should have been CLINTON/OBAMA to begin with had better at least turn out to be OBAMA/CLINTON or DEMOCRATS chances in NOVEMBER are stunted miserably.
COME ON DEMOCRATS – do the obvious and support a landslide victory in NOVEMBER.
OBAMA/CLINTON ‘08
Posted by: amandaGALAXY | August 19, 2008 2:06 AM
Why I don’t support McCain? Well for starters he supports every major Bush policy. And McCain lies to much, he lies about his record all the time. He lied about supporting women equal pay, McCain in fact on every vote has voted against helping women get equal pay. I am also a very big family person, and watch the recent Faith Forum, Obama consistently mentioned how he loved and supported his family while McCain didn’t mention his. I’ll also mention that McCain has called his wife a C—, and cheated on his first wife.
Maybe he should go on O’Reilly on Friday night, that’s a great time for news coverage. See what it did for Edwards?
john kerry is the best #2 on the list. If I found a #2 in my pool, it better smell like kerry.
Second paragraph: “Officially, the Obama remains tight-lipped…”
What’s with the definite article?
Obama has enormous ego and when he gets criticized, correctly, for inexperience, he must think the critic is stupid, or has no knowledge. If this governs his thinking he may chose Wesley Clark, or even Colin Powell as VP, making it a two-black-man ticket. I don’t think Powell would be very interested, but it is an interesting speculation.
If the two-black-man-ticket is appealling, he may even pick a relative unknown because Obama’s ego is so important that he could not imagine someone stealing any thunder away from him — as if anyone could.
All the Senators and Wahington insiders seem like non-starters since picking an insider puts the lie to the attraction that he is not a Washington politician like all the others. And, he may believe he is headed for a landslide so he does not need any ticket enhancing VP — just to get votes.
His handlers must be very upset that Obama tell lies, like being on the Senate Judiciary Commitee, and having voted for welfare reform in the Illinois Senate when he voted against it.
How could a major political party nominate someone the other party can accurately describe as a liar, and someone who is not clever enough to lie only about things which are not facts on the public record?
“Those the Gods would destroy …”
Sam Nunn
Sounds like it could be anybody. The so-called “three layered chess game” of political calculation in picking a running mate doesn’t come off as very inspiring but I wouldn’t be surprised if it all boils down to something as sterile as that. It’s funny the way so much attention is given the choice, because unless the president is incapacitated, the vice president just sits around twiddling his or her thumbs while being ignored. There have been a couple of exceptions in the last few decades, of course. LBJ thought of himself as far more competent and gutsy than Kennedy, and as a result, he got us almost inextricably mired in Vietnam. I wonder if he ever realized that his predecessor was a much better man than he’d thought? I hope Obama doesn’t make the same mistake JFK made and pick a Southerner or a macho cowboy like George Bush who thinks he knows all. The president has enough trouble resisting the “irrefutable wisdom” of the military brass, you know, the guys who think they know everything and aren’t satisfied until they get us into yet another long-term, no-win war. It’s like Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay insisting that all we needed to do to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis was to take out the missile bases and invade Cuba. Little did he know about all those Soviet troops armed with tactical nuclear weapons. Had Kennedy listened to that big bag of wind, we wouldn’t be here talking about the next election. We’d have blown ourselves and the Soviets off the face of the earth, quite possibly along with most of the rest of humanity.
The pick is Bill Richardson. It gives the outsider experience a bit and foreign policy and a southern state as well. Shores up the Latin American vote as well. Bill Richardson must have been his pick all along as he went after the Clintons early.
If Obama picks Colin Powell for his VP, then McCain should pick Hillary Clinton.
Clinton is VP favorite among Dem delegates
Obama not selecting Clinton shows continued poor judgment for the Democratic Party!
REALCLEAR POLITICS;
Senator Hillary Clinton, without doubt, would be the ultimate and qualified VP surprise. She would be a big-league pick for Obama, and a gesture designed to unify the Democratic Party. She still polls higher against Mccain than Obama even after June. If you scroll down Obama’s list of choices, the analysis hasn’t really changed: Obama with anyone other than Clinton doesn’t seem to add much at all, while an Obama-Clinton “Dream Ticket” would be nearly unstoppable. Eight weeks ago Obama probably felt like he didn’t need her. Eight weeks later, he probably needs her more than he’s willing to admit, and certainly more than she needs him. If Obama wants to win, and if his ego will allow it, he should pick Clinton.
CBS:
Senator Hillary Clinton is by far the favorite choice for the number two spot on the Democratic ticket, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll of delegates to the Democratic convention. By more than five to one, 56 percent superdelegates think putting Clinton on the ticket would help Obama win the election. Other people mentioned by at least 2 percent of delegates as possible Obama running mates include retired General Wesley Clark, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Virginia Senator Jim Webb, and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
New York, Aug.19:
At least 28 percent of the delegates likely to attend the Democratic Convention in Denver, want Hillary Clinton to be Barack Obama’s running mate. Six percent favor Delaware Senator Joe Biden, and four percent mention two other unsuccessful Democratic candidates: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Support for Clinton as the first choice for the vice-presidential nomination is universal. Sixty-one percent of delegates pledged to Clinton name her as their choice for vice presidential candidate.
# of votes % of votes
Sen. Evan Bayh 32
4.8 %
Gov. Tom Kaine 51
7.6 %
Sen. Joseph Biden 175
26.3 %
Sen. Hillary Clinton 247
37.1 %
Some other person 160
24.0 %
John Kerry!!!! Where did you come up with that? That will never happen. Neither will Tom Ridge for McCain’s VP.
I heard it from a good source that Obamamama’s VP selection is none other than … “Uncle” Joe Stalin!!!!
STRAITJACKET
[...] Signs point to Thursday or Friday for Obama Veep Announcement. [...]
I was looking for the poll regarding Obama’s choice for VP.. Didn’t see that, so thought I’d just like to say that I’m just one of MANY who would only considering voting for Obama IF Hillary Clinton was chosen as his running mate. Besides my loyalty to Hillary and my beliefs about her capabilities, I sincerely do not think Obama will be able to win the election in November without her on the ticket. I’m not excited about choosing a Republican, but…. am giving it serious consideration.. unless I just don’t vote for the first time in my life!
“Officially, the Obama remains tight-lipped,” so says Major Garret.
This says it all doesn’t it?
[...] former rival Senator Hillary Clinton is considered a longshot but a favorite of many. Incredibly, FOX News includes Massachusetts Senator John Kerry as a possible [...]
Sam Nunn is not only a foreign affairs expert, he is THE expert when it comes to Russia and Russian policy. At this point in time, there is no better choice to complement Obama and counter McCain than Sam Nunn.
And Nunn was against BOTH wars in Iraq, to boot.
Sam Nunn would give Obama the confidence of swing voters – and the election.
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