GOLDEN, Colo. –

Awaiting Barack Obama here at the jam-packed Colorado School of Mines.

And though the Obama campaign rails constantly about GOP attempts to make a big election “about small things,” this morning the campaign and the DNC are enjoying gales of laughter at the expense of John McCain’s economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

In a session with reporters today, Holtz-Eakin was asked:

Q: “What has he (McCain) done on (the) Commerce Committee (which McCain chaired from 2003-2005) that will convince Americans he understands financial markets?

Holtz-Eakin:  “He didn’t have jurisdiction over financial markets, but first and foremost he did this (Holtz-Eakin holds up his BlackBerry), telecommunications of the United states, the premier innovation in the past 15 years comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.”

Q: Did he regulate the industry?

“He both regulated and de-regulated the industry as appropriate.”

Privately, McCain’s camp knows this a significant gaffe, eerily reminiscent of Al Gore’s much-maligned (though contextually within bounds) assertion that through his work to boost federal research he helped create the internet.

The only saving grace for McCain is that he didn’t say it on camera.

There’s now an effort in McCain-land to portray Holtz-Eakin as bungling an attempt at humor. Those present say there was no sense Holtz-Eakin was trying to be funny, even allowing that a former director of the Congressional Budget Office might be uniquely able to disguise a joke.

Bill Burton, spokesman for Obama, said the following via e-mail sent to BlackBerries across the land:

“If John McCain hadn’t said that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong’ on the day of one of our nation’s worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week.”

A senior adviser to McCain, Matt McDonald, said that the senator “laughed” when he Holtz-Eakin’s  comment.

“He would not claim to be the inventor of anything, much less the BlackBerry,” McDonald said. “This was obviously a boneheaded joke by a staffer.”

It wasn’t obvious to those who witnessed Holtz-Eakin’s BlackBerry brandishing. What is obvious is that “small things” in this campaign clearly are in the eye of the beholder.

BATTLE CREEK, Michigan — Based on the crowd reaction to recent attacks from Barack Obama and Joe Biden about John McCain’s tax policy, the Republican nominee may have something to worry about.

Obama and Biden drew huge crowds, I saw them myself, in Beaver, Pa. (8,000 people on Friday night), Dublin, Ohio (19,000 people on Saturday night) and here in Battle Creek (17,500 people) tonight.

The crowds roar with approval when Obama and Biden describe their plans for a middle class tax cut and boo loudly at statistics showing how McCain’s continuation of the Bush tax cuts favor the wealthy. Of course, these are partisan Obama crowds. But it would be unwise for anyone seriously backing McCain to dismiss their full-throated roars for Obama-Biden on an issue that historically has favored the GOP nominee.

Interestingly, the smallest crowd Obama and Biden drew was in the the most Democratic territory they visited on their three-state tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. Beaver County (in which the city of Beaver is situated) backed John Kerry over President Bush 42,146 to 39,916.

The city limits of Dublin, Ohio, touch three counties: Franklin, Delaware and Union. Franklin County is home to the capitol of Columbus and Kerry carried it 285,801 to 237,253 over Bush (a margin of 48,548 votes). But Bush carried Delaware and Union counties by 35,300 votes over Kerry (69,013 to 33,713). In other words, Bush used victories in two counties to take away most of Kerry’s natural advantage in Franklin County. For Obama to win Ohio, he must roll up votes in Franklin, which he will, but also roll them up in counties like Delaware and Union (which, judging by the hordes who stood in the sun for nearly four hours waiting for him, he just might).

Battle Creek isn’t really a suburb, sitting as it does on the edge of a triangle that has Grand Rapids to the north, Kalamazoo to the west and Ann Arbor to the east. But this is not harshly anti-Bush terrain. In 2004, the president out-polled Kerry in Calhoun County (in which Battle Creek is situated) by 2,202 votes (32,093 to 29,891). In neighboring Kalamazoo County to the east, Kerry beat Bush by 4,315 votes (61,462 to 57,147). In Jackson county immediately to the east, Bush beat Kerry by 9,004 votes (40,029 to 31,025). In the three counties, Bush beat Kerry 129,269 to 122,378.

The point of these county portraits is two-fold. One, to show Obama and Biden are traveling to swing territory and drawing huge crowds and undeniable enthusiasm. Two, that the Obama tax message appears to be working in areas where the issue has been a plus for the GOP.

Add to this the mounting evidence that McCain’s TV commercials assailing Obama’s tax policy contain serious distortions, if not out-right lies.

On Aug. 8, FactCheck.org, published this report on a spate of new McCain TV spots on Obama and taxes.

Read it here: www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html

That report followed one in July that raised similar concerns about the truthfulness of the McCain attacks on Obama. Read it here: www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_32000_question.html

And today The Washington Post published this blistering editorial that comes as close as any Beltway publication can to using the word “lie” to describe McCain’s criticism of Obama’s tax policies. Read it here:

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083001681.html

The Post editorial specifically mentions a side-by-side analysis of McCain and Obama tax policies by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Here is the link to the center’s updated comparison posted on Aug. 28: www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=411750

Both McCain and Obama would cuts taxes, but Obama’s tax cuts would be targeted to the middle class and partially offset by higher taxes on the wealthy (those earning more than $250,000).

But on the stump this weekend, when either Obama or Biden (they both hit the issue) said they would cut taxes for “95 percent of those who earn a pay check,” the crowds in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan shouted their approval.

The tax debate has just begun and McCain is losing credibility among the non-partisan bean counters and the larger media organizations that have done their own compare and contrast exercises.

With more than two months to go, the Obama camp will have plenty of time to script TV ads accusing McCain of distortions. For all these reasons, McCain may have more to worry about on the tax front than any Republican presidential candidate in a generation.

DUBLIN, Ohio –

Barack Obama and Joe Biden just held an impromptu press conference here to underscore the seriousness of Hurricane Gustav. Both urged residents in evacuation areas to flee the projected path of the killer storm.

Obama said he’d spoken directly to Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal, FEMA Director David Paulison, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Sen. Mary Landrieu (who left the DNC convention in Denver Wednesday to attend to hurricane preparations).

“Obviously this is a very serious situation. Every indication is that this storm is bearing down on the Louisiana coast and it is potentially a very powerful storm . I think the main message that Gov. Jindal, Mayor Nagin, Mary Landrieu and other officials wanted to communicate is for the public in those areas that are potentially in danger to take the evacuation seriously.

Even if you’ve ridden out this storm before, even if you think that it may pass over, even if you think that you can wait until last minute, this is going to be, potentially, very, very serious and, you know, for your own safety and your family’s safety, people have to follow the instructions of the officials there to make sure that this evacuation is going smoothly.”

Of Gustav, Biden said: “…this could be worse. It may not be worse. But Katrina wasn’t the – it was the worst storm ever hit it but it’s not the worst storm that could have hit New Orleans. And the back end of this storm, if the east end of this storm, which is the tough side, ends up being the place that goes over, over New Orleans, this could be, this could be gigantic in terms of its consequences. But those folks who rode out, do not ride out again, ride out of town. Get out of town. Do what the governor is suggesting, what the mayor is suggesting, what the senators are suggesting. Get out of town.”

Obama refused to say whether President Bush should attend the first day of the Republican convention in St. Paul, saying he did not “want to wade into the White House decision-making at this point.” Obama also said he has no plans to travel to Louisiana or Mississippi (also in Gustav’s path) because his entourage of staff, press, and Secret Service amounts to a “long tail.”

“We want to make sure that we are monitoring the situation and that we can be useful,” Obama said.

Obama and Biden could not have been more sober in their statements about the potential danger Gustav poses.

That cannot be said of enthusiastic Obama supporter and award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore. Before the Pennsylvania primary that Obama lost to Hillary Clinton, Moore used his blog to urge Pennsylvania Democrats to support Obama. Read the post here: www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=225

Today, Moore is attracting considerable attention for saying that Gustav’s projected landfall at the beginning of the GOP convention proved Providence favored Democrats.

Watch the Moore comments here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lrAf_TE-1I

Moore’s comments prompted this response from freshman Rep. Congressman Steve Scalise, who represents Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District.

“I demand an immediate apology from Michael Moore to the people of south Louisiana for his offensive and inappropriate comments” Scalise said hours before announcing his departure from the GOP convention to return to Louisiana. “People in Louisiana, regardless of political affiliation, are making plans to leave to protect their families from this serious storm, and the God I know would not share Michael Moore’s glee for our plight.”

Moore’s comments have nothing to do with Obama’s campaign. I am not suggesting they do.

I highlight them because Katrina was not only a massive natural disaster and human tragedy but a political lever Democrats used against the Bush White House (and in the minds of many, deservedly so). Moore’s comments are likely to fan a long-simmering debate about who was MOST to blame for the Katrina disaster. Gustav’s likely landfall when the GOP convention opens will raise questions anew about who failed and how much before and immediately after Katrina.

That so much of the work now before Gustav is being carried out by state and local officials — not the federal government — indicates (as many after-action Katrina reports did) that the key players in such situations are governors and mayors — not presidents.

Did the federal government fail massively, conspicuously, and heart-breakingly after Katrina? Yes. Did the Bush White House pay a massive political price for that? Yes. Was that unfair? No.

But Gustav is different. Louisiana officials, led by Jindal, are handling it differently. If there is a different result in terms of human suffering, those plans will teach different lessons. A different result may also serve to re-frame the historically one-side portrayal of Bush failure as the decisive factor in the catastrophe known as Katrina (remember: it was the state emergency plan to stage hurricane victims at the Superdome and the convention center, not the federal governments and no one is being staged at either venue now).

DUBLIN, Ohio – Barack Obama’s campaign this morning released this new TV ad, airing on national cable, about the John McCain-Sarah Pailin ticket.

Watch it here:

http://my.barackobama.com/nochange_ad

Moments later, John McCain spokesman, Ben Porritt, released this response:

“Barack Obama has proposed job killing tax increases while our economy is already hurting and his campaign launched dismissive political attacks against Governor Palin’s executive state house and small town experience, despite his own lack of either. Americans know that’s ‘more of the same’ bad judgment from Barack Obama, and it proves he’s just not ready to lead.”

While Obama and running mate Joe Biden make their way here to Dublin-Coffman High School for tonight’s rally, his campaign also responded to President Bush’s Saturday radio address. Obama’s team attacked Bush’s pre-Labor Day assertion that the U.S. economy is “beginning to improve.”

Here is the relevant excerpt from Bush’s radio address:

“The American workforce continues to be the marvel of the world. Yet many working families have been weathering tough economic times. There are families across our country struggling to make ends meet. There is an understandable concern about the high price of gas and food. And many Americans are worried about the health of our housing and job markets.

These welcome signs indicate that the economic stimulus package that I signed earlier this year is having its intended effect. The growth package will return more than $150 billion back to American families and businesses this year. Many Americans who received tax rebates are spending them. Businesses are taking advantage of tax incentives to purchase new equipment this year. And there are signs that the stimulus package will continue to have a beneficial impact on the economy in the second half of the year. “

To listen to the full Bush radio address click here: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/08/20080830.a.mp3

Here’s the reaction, with economic data supplied as backup, from Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

“Days after John McCain declared that ‘the fundamentals of the economy are strong,’ President Bush used his Labor Day radio address to say that our economy is ‘beginning to improve.’ But for the Americans who’ve seen their jobs disappear, their personal incomes plunge, their home values plummet, and gas prices skyrocket, nothing could be further from the truth. When it comes to being out of touch with what middle-class Americans are going through, George Bush and John McCain are two of a kind. No wonder they’re meeting in the Twin Cities this week.”

CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND DATA ATTACHED TO BURTON STATEMENT:

· The economy has lost jobs each of the last seven months, and over the past seven and a half years job growth has been weaker than in any economic expansion on record. In July, the economy lost another 51,000 jobs, bringing the total jobs lost this year to 463,000. Over the past seven and a half years under President Bush, job growth has been weaker than in any economic expansion on record. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008]

· Families have lost an entire decade worth of raises, as real weekly earnings fell below their August 1998 level. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month that weekly wages adjusted for inflation were $272.85 in July 2008. That is below the $273.54 level of real weekly wages in August, 1998. That means that, because of stagnant wages and growing inflation, workers are making less now than they were a decade ago. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008].

· Working-age households have lost more than $2,000 under President Bush. The Census Department reported this week that real incomes for working families fell from $58,555 in 2000 to $56,545 in 2007 – a decline of $2010. This is the first economic expansion on record where household incomes have fallen in real terms. [U.S. Census, 2008]

. Inflation reached a 17-year high. This month we learned that prices jumped 5.6 percent in July over a year earlier. That is the largest year-over-year increase in inflation since January 1991, when the economy was in recession. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008].

· Housing prices have fallen a record 15.9 percent over the past year. While President suggested that the housing market is looking up, just this last week the respected S&P/Case-Shiller index showed that housing prices in 20 major metropolitan areas fell 15.9 percent over the past year, the largest one year drop on record. More than 2.5 million homeowners are expected to face foreclosure this year – an average of 7,000 per day.

Obama’s convention speech focused intensely on current economic anxieties and what he intended to do about them. At pre-convention town halls earlier this week and at last night’s rally in Beaver, Pa., one statistic stood out when drawing applause and knowing nods from the audience: the comparison of household income gains in the Clinton years and the declines in the Bush years (see item above).

On the last night of the convention, I bumped into former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. The revised second quarter growth numbers had just been released and I asked him if he thought they indicated a stronger economy than other data suggested. Summers said he would need to analyze the underlying data on exports and see if other non-export sectors of the economy had grown and, if so, by how much.

As to the politics of the economy, Summers said it would be extremely difficult for Republicans to argue the economy had turned around or wasn’t as bad as most people imagined. He said the growth numbers obscured deeper human anxiety about inflation, health care, energy and college tuition costs.

The Obama campaign believes this to its core. As I’ve posted here before, the two most important numbers in any state or national poll for team Obama are these: the advantage over McCain in who can improve the economy and the advantage over McCain in who is viewed as “an agent of change.”

With Bush’s radio address, Obama will no doubt add another layer of criticism to the Republican portrait of the economy. During the GOP convention, Obama and his Democratic allies will push the “out of touch” message on the economy, believing that to be the best antidote to GOP charges that Obama is an “elitist” or “celebrity.”

Speaking of polls, today’s Gallup National Daily tracking survey has Obama holding an eight-point lead. Here is the link: www.gallup.com/poll/109900/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Continues-Lead-49-41.aspx

BEAVER, Pa. –

Reporters covering Barack Obama heard the news aboard Obama 1 (the campaign for the first time chartered a second plane for the swelling press corps), just before takeoff. We were briefly assured by senior Obama traveling staff that neither Obama nor running mate Joe Biden would have any on-camera comment about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s historic elevation as John McCain’s running mate.

So we dialed up the Obama press shop and found ourselves in the middle of a ripe field of dismissive comments about Palin’s lack of experience, her tenure as mayor of a small town, a row that’s now the subject of state investigation into pressure to fire an ex-brother-in-law, and other choice morsels that sought to portray Palin as something of a political midget.

These various split-second digs took full form in an official campaign statement moments later from spokesman Bill Burton:

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”

That statement arrived just before takeoff (about 9:30 a.m. MDT). Not 30 minutes later, senior adviser Linda Douglass, reading from her Blackberry, gave the traveling press a very different statement, this one from Sens. Obama and Biden:
“We send our congratulations to Governor Palin and her family on her designation as the Republican nominee for vice president. Her selection is yet another encouraging sign that all barriers are falling in our politics and while we obviously have differences over how to best lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign.”

What happened?

Did the campaign suddenly regret failing to take note of Palin’s unique place in American history as the first woman tapped by the Republican Party as a vice presidential nominee? Did it regret missing an opportunity to tell women (especially Hillary Clinton loyalists) across the country that Palin deserved at least a cursory compliment before being subjected to the natural rough-and-tumble or presidential politics? Did it regret a swift descent into the negative, back-and-forth politics that Obama has so earnestly railed against?

It would appear so.

Upon arriving in Pennsylvania, Obama went out of his way –in word and deed — to praise Palin as the GOP vice presidential nominee and welcome her to the political big leagues.

“You know, I haven’t met her before. She seems like a compelling person, obviously a terrific story, personal story,” Obama said to the TV pool while touring a bio-diesel plant outside of Pittsburgh. “And you know, I’m sure that she will help make the case for the Republicans. Unfortunately, the case is more of the same. And so, ultimately, John McCain is at the top of the ticket.

As I indicated in my speech last night, I think that he wants to take the country in the wrong direction. I’m assuming Governor Palin agrees with him in his policies. But the fact that she’s been nominated I think, or soon will be nominated, I think is one more indicator of this country moving forward. The fact that you’ve got a woman as the nominee of one of the — (as) the vice presidential nominee of one of the major parties — I think is one more hit against the glass ceiling and I congratulate her and look forward to a vigorous debate. I’m pleased with my choice for vice president, Joe Biden. I think he’s the man who can help me guide this country in a better direction and help working families.”

Asked about the stark difference in tone and substance from his campaign’s statement and his, Obama said the following:

“You know, I think that, you know, campaigns start getting these hair triggers and that statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments.”

At 4:50 p.m. EDT Obama called to congratulate Palin from his campaign bus. According to senior adviser Robert Gibbs, Obama told Palin she would be “a terrific candidate and that he looked forward to seeing her on the campaign trail.” Gibbs also said Obama wished Palin “good luck, but not too much luck.”

The facts speak for themselves.

I will leave to others the judgment as to whether the first day of the Obama-Biden messaging on Palin could not A) Get off the ground properly or B) Found the need to reverse itself before stepping aboard the first day of a three-day bus tour.

INVESCO FIELD AT MILE HIGH STADIUM –

As he fought to achieve gains in civil rights and the setbacks were many, Maritn Luther King Jr.  said ”the arc of history bends toward justice.” It was meant to reassure those for whom the struggles of the civil rights movement felt heavy, possibly too heavy for them to endure. The message – injustice now will give way to justice eventually — and sooner, if those who seek it persevere in it s pursuit. 

Barack Obama used to refer to quote this line of Dr. King frequently. He has so less recently. I suspect we will hear it again tonight. When Obama used that line, it was when his campaign appeared fresher than it does now, more vibrant, confident and in search of something.  

The question mark back then, in snowy Iowa and New Hampshire, was could Obama assemble a campaign worthy of the monumental task of defeating the “inevitable” Hillary Clinton. The excitement Obama triggered was genuinely rooted in a long- suppressed sentiment that politics could be different – that it could sound different, be different. Policy was less important than the gravitational pull of Obama’s non-partisan rhetoric and the embryonic hope that maybe, just maybe, politics could change, that motivation could run deeper than red-state or blue-state loyalties.

Never was that feeling more evident than when Obama suffered his first big defeat, one that threatened to derail his campaign. When Obama lost in New Hampshire, a defeat every single poll failed to predict, he took the stage in a high school in Nashua and gave a speech that made it sound as if he had actually won. That speech, in its own way, was a rhetorical elegy to Dr. King’s “arc of history” prediction. It was in that speech that Obama reassured his unsettled followers that, despite this painful loss, new victories would emerge. His slogan was simple, poetic and forceful: “Yes, We Can.”

Watch the speech here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms

Will.I.Am’s video soon made the speech and the slogan a cultural touchstone. http://www.dipdive.com

We will see that slogan again tonight, featured prominently in the Obama video produced for tonight’s acceptance speech.

And we will hear it again in Obama’s speech as he consciously tries to recapture the spark of his early days on the campaign trail. At this stage of the campaign, Obama sometimes visibly carries the weight of a national campaign and the crushing question that now hangs over his pursuit of the presidency: is he ready.

To answer that question, Obama must remind people — and himself — why people were drawn to his message in the first place. With that enthusiasm rekindled, Obama can then make the case that he has the fortitude and vision to lead the country. But his first priority tonight is to re-animate the dormant sense that this campaign — with its reliance on individual contributions, yes, even those from rich people, some of whom were once lobbyists or who have lobbyist friends — can change the way politics acts, sounds and governs.

There will be no shortage of ways Obama can link himself, his campaign, and the “moment” to broader historical trends in America — to distant dates that somehow now seem amazingly relevant.

This is the 44th convention for the Democratic Party. The first one was held in Baltimore in 1832. The first Democratic convention ever held in a western state was held in Denver in 1908. That was the first national political convention that allowed a woman to participate as a delegate. If elected, Obama will be the nation’s 44th president.  And today, as everyone should now know, is the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. 

That the 44th Democratic convention might produce the nation’s 44th president on the 45th anniversary of the King speech leaves one wondering about what else the arc of history can do.

DENVER — 2 p.m. EDT

At Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium and will file a post shortly about last night and tonight, the history, the content and new polls showing an Obama bounce.

But first, please remember this about The Bourbon Room. I have to approve each and every comment. I have to do this in between everything else I do for the network — live shots, gather news, write packages, write and file radio reports, conduct interviews, and post on this blog. I don’t have my computer with me at all times and there are times, such as last night, when I choose sleep over approving comments (that choice is especially tempting after little sleep all week and an 18-hour work day).

I’m not asking for sympathy. It’s just an explanation. I can’t always approve your comments as rapidly as you want. If that means you give up on The Bourbon Room, that’s a reality we must live with.

As is clear from the comments I do approve, virtually nothing is out of bounds. I only screen for mindless vulgarity, racism and sexism directed at other participants in the conversation. It’s clear by now I approve everything directed at me.

I always try to approve these as fast as I can. And will continue to do so.

Another post soon.

KANSAS CITY, MO. — 1 a.m. EDT

Traveling with Barack Obama but aware of goings-on in Denver.

Have received word that top Clinton strategists, gathered by Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager Maggie Williams, met privately late Monday in Denver to plot convention strategy. The main topic: what to do about Wednesday’s roll call vote.

At the meeting Williams, The Bourbon Room was told, emphasized Clinton’s message earlier in the day that she hopes her delegates will support Obama.

At the meeting were Clinton’s top field organizers from the campaign as well as some of the Clinton’s most ardent supporters in state delegations. These supporters are, in many cases, convention delegates. More importantly, they serve as leaders within their state delegations and could hold the key to whether rank-and-file delegates support Obama or not.

During the question-and-answer session, a person who attended the meeting informs The Bourbon Room, Williams said delegates still loyal to Clinton, even after her appeals to support Obama, should “vote their conscience.”

A Clinton ally who was not at the meeting but who spoke to Williams directly said the context was the delegates should vote their conscience if they felt they had no other choice. Meaning, if Clinton’s appeals weren’t enough, they must follow their deeply held beliefs. Williams explained after the meeting that it would have been insulting to tell delegates anything else. Williams said her “vote your conscience” line should not be interpreted as an act of sabotage against Obama, but merely a recognition that some Clinton supporters will do what they feel they must.

This is not the interpretation of the person who attended the meeting and heard Williams. The witness to the meeting left with the perception that Williams gave delegates permission to vote for Clinton and against Obama.

Such is the stuff of the internal Clinton discussions about what to do with and about their hyper-loyal delegates. Even those on the same team (Clinton’s) can’t agree on what the phrase “vote your conscience” means literally or figuratively. This makes it difficult to discern team Clinton’s true wishes, intentions and directives. This has been a beguiling and befuddling reality for Obama advisers for some time.

But even Clinton forces who want to play nice lament the fact that Obama’s team waited so long to sort out things like the roll call vote. The delay has forced a story about process, hurt feelings and imagery of discord into the convention’s opening day.

To patch things up, Clinton and Obama aides hit the convention floor tonight to obtain signatures to formally place Clinton’s name in nomination for Wednesday’s roll call vote. This was a defensive move, designed to overwhelm a rump group of grumpy pro-Clinton delegates who had already obtained the 300 signatures necessary to call for the vote.

With a roll call a procedural certainty, the Obama and Clinton camps swiftly arranged to hit the floor to gain even more signatures than the rump group had.

The two camps are still trying to negotiate an abbreviated roll call that will allow for the counting of an as-yet unknown number of Clinton delegates before the convention nominates Obama by acclamation.

Clinton’s speech is still being written.

And though many pundits and commentators are likely to say Clinton must use Tuesday night’s speech to persuade her delegates – and the vast audience of Clinton loyalists watching at home — to back Obama, top Clinton officials have had enough of this kind of pre-speech pressure .

The emerging consensus in Hillary’s camp is that Clinton can not be asked to solve Obama’s problem. They say it’s up to Obama to make the case for his economic policies and respond to persistent questions about his experience, toughness and vision.

According to Clinton allies, no speech from Clinton or anyone else can do for Obama what he most needs to do for himself.

CHICAGO, IL – 9:15 p.m.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose early endorsement catapulted Barack Obama in the primaries, will fly to Denver Sunday and participate in a delegation breakfast Monday and witness a convention tribute on the event’s opening night, Fox News has confirmed.

A long-time Kennedy associate tells Fox that Kennedy, who is recovering from brain surgery and is no longer receiving chemotherapy, will join niece Caroline at the Denver hotel housing the Massachusetts delegation.

Caroline Kennedy was part of the team that helped vet and select running mate Joe Biden. Biden and Kennedy have served in the Senate together for 36 years.

The plan is for Kennedy to attend Monday night’s proceedings and witness a video tribute directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

Fox has been told one aspect of the tribute shows Kennedy at the helm of a sail boat, his family riding along and responding to his “orders” to set the vessel on course.

Kennedy’s health is described as fragile but not deteriorating. His appearance will bear few of the tell-tale signs of the toll chemotherapy sometimes takes on cancer victims.  But throughout his trip and virtually every hour he is in Denver, the Kennedy family, led by wife Vicki, and longtime political allies will keep close by to monitor his energy level and overall comfort.

The video tribute to Kennedy, who challenged President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and set fire to the liberal wing of the party, is expected to be a highly emotional moment.

A capstone could be Kennedy’s appearance on stage after the video tribute concludes. There are no plans for such a moment, but it’s visual and emotional impact would be shattering among convention delegates.
In fact, Kennedy’s schedule is not set in stone and all movements are subject to his energy and comfort level, the Kennedy associate says.

SPRINGFIELD, IL – 1:10 a.m EDT

Fox News has learned from a Democratic official that Delaware Senator Joe Biden has been chosen as Obama’s running mate.  The campaign will announce their selection Saturday morning via text message.