August 2008 - Posts
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger Sarah Palin gave essentially the same speech today as she has twice before, one big thing was missing -- any reference to Hillary Clinton .
Palin, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, spoke alongside McCain and two former Republican presidential challengers -- Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney -- at a minor league baseball stadium here.
She began her speech by talking about her trip to Mississippi earlier in the day, and calling on people in the Gulf region to obey warnings to evacuation.
“To the citizens of the Gulf Coast area, your lives and many others are in balance,” she said. “And success of law enforcement and emergency workers and our great National Guard depends on your cooperation.”
After that, she went back to the stump speech she delivered on Friday and Saturday. But she skipped the entire section in which she highlighted the achievement of having a woman on the ticket -- as well as her praise for those who came before her, Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton. Yesterday, when campaigning in Pennsylvania, she received some boos from the audience when Clinton’s name was mentioned.
It is unclear why the campaign cut the paragraphs, which were widely praised Friday for appealing to Clinton supporters who may feel disenfranchised by the Obama campaign, especially after Clinton was passed over for the vice presidential nomination.
From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
There were the initial Iowa and New Hampshire contests. Then Nevada and South Carolina. Super Tuesday. Chesapeake Tuesday. Wisconsin. Junior Super Tuesday (Ohio, Texas). Pennsylvania. Indiana and North Carolina. West Virginia. Kentucky and Oregon. Puerto Rico! And finally Montana and South Dakota.
That long -- and exhausting -- nominating process enabled Obama to win a majority of pledged delegates, then more superdelegates, and finally the nomination.
But during Wednesday's roll-call vote at the Democratic convention, which was capped when Clinton moved to nominate Obama by acclamation, this thought came to mind: None of those contests actually mattered, at least when it came to the eventual numbers.
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro McCain on Nightly News tonight if Palin was the best choice given that he's a 72-year-old cancer survivor.
McCain defended the choice, citing Palin's experience, including being a governor, mayor and even working on the PTA.
“Facts are funny things,” McCain said, adding that she's “been in office longer than” Obama .
He added, in fact, it's “almost ludicrous to compare her experience with his -- it's no contest.”
Williams followed up and asked, though, if she was the best choice.
“Oh sure,” McCain said, “in every way.” He went on to again cite her “executive experience.”
“Frankly, it inspires me,” he said.
From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro The Republicans have canceled most activities for tomorrow, the first day of its national convention, because of the approaching Hurricane Gustav -- expected to hit the Gulf region tomorrow.
Republicans will hold only a procedural session from 4 p.m. ET to about 6:30 pm ET to call the convention to order and also vote on rules and the platform.
All speeches are canceled and campaign manager Rick Davis called for a halt on political rhetoric.
McCain spoke via satellite to a packed room of reporters at the Republican National Convention. He encouraged Republicans to take off their “Republican hats” and put on their “American hats.”
The activities that will occur tomorrow:
All else -- what happens on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; whether McCain and Palin will be present to accept their nominations; who might speak on the remaining days; is all still to be determined, Davis said.
The storm, its strength and its aftermath will dictate what the Republicans do.
Davis said in the news conference that he is encouraging Republican donors present at convention to contribute to to-be-determined Gulf charities and wants all delegations to be respectful and sensitive to the situation.
From NBC's Ben Weltman and Domenico Montanaro
The most obvious thing when walking in the hall -- after the giant screen waving American flag on stage -- are the plethora of “Country First” slogans engulfing the arena.
In fact, “Country First” appears prominently in 23 places around the arena at varying sizes and on LCD screens.
There are two American flags draped from high podiums that are about 20-feet long, and there are seven waving ones on LCD screens, including the huge one on stage, which is about 30-feet high.
The seating is perhaps a window into the states the McCain campaign thinks are important. Hint: It's not Guam or the Northern Marianas Islands. They are way in the back and the Northern Marianas sign is barely legible and covered over by a black drape.
The states with preferential seating -- front and center: Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado; on either side of the stage: Arizona (McCain's home state), and battlegrounds New Hampshire, Missouri, Michigan, Virginia, Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Minnesota.
And interestingly, we did not see anything that said Palin on it, except for a few stickers you could count on one hand.
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Biden is already conceding one thing to Sarah Palin .
“Well, there's obvious differences,” he joked during a roundtable discussion on the economy this afternoon. “She's good looking.”
Biden was trying to make a serious point about the different perspective he said each ticket has on the economy, but the crowd began to chuckle when he said there was a “gigantic” difference between Obama and McCain and himself and “my vice presidential opponent.” After complimenting Palin's looks, someone in the crowd shouted back that Biden was “gorgeous.”
“Oh, I tell you what! Would you make sure Jill hears that?” he replied. “I haven't heard that in a long, long, long time.”
He added that hanging out with a “lean, young-looking” Obama was starting to make him “feel pretty old.” But he continued on with his intended message, which was that the Democratic team would work to give the middle class a “fighting chance.”
“John McCain looks to the past,” he said, saying he'd give tax breaks for corporations and oil interest instead of working people. “John McCain's proposal -- he leaves out 100 million American families without a single red cent,” he said. “Barack Obama's going to give 95 percent of the American people a tax cut.”
“These folks have been through, you know, they've been through hell, and pray God this Gustav decides to take a turn or something, but it doesn't look real good now,” he said.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones TOLEDO, Ohio -- At an economy town hall here Sunday afternoon, Obama said his rival's pick for vice president was against equal pay for equal work.
“We're gonna make sure that equal pay for equal work is a reality in this country,” he said. “You know, John McCain 's new VP nominee seems like a very engaging person, a nice person, but I've got to say, she's opposed like John McCain is to equal pay for equal work. That doesn't make much sense to me.”
When asked what Obama was basing that line on, campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki linked Palin to McCain's agenda.
"Sen. McCain has a clear record of opposing equal pay and as his running mate Gov. Palin is tasked with promoting his agenda,” she said.
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From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama kept the focus on Hurricane Gustav during a brief press conference here, telling reporters he was prepared to mobilize a network of volunteers to help the victims of the storm once it was clear what kind of aid was needed.
“I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary,” he told said, according to a pool report. “So it becomes a question of what people on the ground need and once we determine that then we can activate our email list of a couple of million people who want to give back."
Obama said he was monitoring the situation and that officials in the area were doing everything they could “to execute a effective evacuation, but we need people’s cooperation so that’s the message I’m going to be sending throughout the day.”
He said donations from his millions-strong email list of volunteers and donors could include cash, and he responded to the news that John McCain , his wife Cindy , and his running mate Sarah Palin were traveling to Mississippi today at the invitation of Gov. Haley Barbour .
"A big storm like this raises bipartisan concerns, and I think for John to want to find out what's going on is fine,” he said. "The thing that I always am concerned about in the middle of a storm is whether we're drawing resources away from folks on the ground because the Secret Service and various security requirements sometimes it pulls police, fire ,and other departments away from concentrating on the job. I'm assuming that where he went that wasn't an issue. We’re going to try to stay clear of the area until things have settled down and then we'll probably try to figure out how we can be as helpful as possible."
Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden went to a Catholic Church, St. Brendan’s in Hilliard. The two were set to meet up in Toledo to host a discussion on the economy.
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell McCain said that with Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast, the GOP convention will change from a party to a call for action, according to the pool report.
“We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans," McCain said. "We’ll change our program and I’ll be announcing details of it in the next few hours. But there’s very little doubt that we have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action, action to help our fellow citizens in this time of tragedy and disaster, action in the form of volunteering, donations, reaching out our hands and our hearts and our wallets to the people who are under such great threat from this great natural disaster. I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary, throughout our convention if necessary, to act as Americans not Republicans, because America needs us now no matter whether we are Republican or Democrat."
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell McCain advisors say the senior officials are hunkered down working on plans to determine what is "most appropriate" for this week.
They expect Rick Davis to provide details some time this afternoon.
It is expected that Cindy McCain will still travel to St. Paul today.
Her schedule for tomorrow is in flux.
There are plans for Gov. Palin to go home to Alaska briefly -- she only packed for a couple days last week. Her schedule may change too.
After they settle on an initial plan, they expect to reach out to party leaders and donors as well.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
Wrights spoke glowingly of Obama while preaching at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, as part of a message that God takes "the ordinary and turns it into the extraordinary."
The former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, whose sermons created a political firestorm around Obama during the primary season, struck a conciliatory tone, as he talked about the Democratic nominee's achievement in a riff that included references to the racial injustice that has been a part of America's history.
"Twenty years ago, a scrawny little kid with a pointed nose and big ears -- mama from Kansas and daddy from Kenya," he began. "An ordinary black boy raised in a single-parent home. The boy walked into my office 20 years ago to talk about his dream for a community that concentrated on things that we could achieve in common, things that united us rather than to focus on all the problems and the issues in the community about which we disagree or the things that divided us."
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro ***
A split-screen convention: As the day wears on, we should be getting more detail on what the GOP convention will look like tomorrow with Hurricane Gustav approaching the Gulf Coast. Already this morning, we have confirmation that President Bush will most likely not be attending. Now that doesn't mean he won't address the gathering; it just means he's not coming to Minnesota in person. McCain and Palin are headed to Jackson, MS, at the invitation of Gov. Barbour, giving McCain another opportunity to not look like Bush. In many ways, while some may think Gustav is some sort of bad GOP omen, it's also an opportunity for McCain to show himself to be more attentive to a situation like this than Bush was during Katrina. The McCain camp knows they have a fine line to walk, needing to show compassion and leadership while also not trying to look like they are taking some political advantage. The fact is, the GOP convention is going to get some attention and the attention they get will likely be focused on recovery efforts and that could go a long way to healing the wounds caused by Bush during the Katrina fiasco.
***
Off the radar: While many folks are wondering how the GOP ticket is going to break through Gustav, it appears they'll get more attention than Obama-Biden right now. Attention to the Dem ticket is nearly nil. They are getting plenty of local coverage during their initial tour and will get some major play on "60 Minutes" tonight. But since the announcement of Palin and the strengthening of Gustav, coverage of Obama-Biden has slowed to a trickle. What this means for any convention bounce is unclear. There was always going to be a weird vibe to the post-convention trip for Obama-Biden simply because attention was going to go to McCain so quickly. With the naming of Palin, it accelerated the drying up of Obama-Biden national coverage.
***
So why Palin? Neil Newhouse, the GOP half of the NBC/WSJ poll, has put together some interesting charts that may clue folks in as to why McCain had to pick a woman. Among white women in the August NBC/WSJ poll, Obama led McCain 43%-42%. Four years ago, Bush won white women over Kerry, 55%-44%. Clearly, McCain is underperforming among white women right now. More than one in three of the undecided voters in our last poll were white women. In addition, the enthusiasm gap between base Obama supporters and base McCain supporters has been cavernous. Anecdotally, the GOP is seeing an excitement in the last 48 hours over Palin -- particularly among social conservatives -- that has them believing they may just yet get close to equally the grass-roots activism they propelled Bush to a second term in 2004. By the way, Palin, speaking in Pennsylvania yesterday, was booed when she mentioned Hillary by name. Maybe that was a good thing to say during the announcement speech but maybe mentioning Ferraro and Clinton in the stump ought to end.
***
McCain's decision-making process: With the news that McCain met Palin once before making the decision to tap her as his No.2, it's bringing a new focus on McCain's decision-making. Clearly, as he's written, he makes many decisions from the gut, and this one is no different. But can the Obama campaign turn how McCain made this decision against him, while not looking like they are pouncing on Palin? It may be the best way the Obama camp can go after this pick. In addition, it's hard to figure out what this pick means when it comes to figuring out how McCain will govern. Does it mean he'll always be a president who makes gut decisions? (Just think again back to that Sunday New York Times piece on McCain’s reaction to 9/11.) It's certainly a counter to how Obama went about his vetting process.
***
Palin's previous presidential support: There's been a lot of speculation, fueled by Pat Buchanan, that Palin was a supporter of Buchanan's in 1996 or in 2000. In '99, she was photographed at a Buchanan even in Wasilla, wearing a Buchanan button. Well, here's a letter to the editor Palin wrote that year after that photo appeared. Palin: "As mayor of Wasilla, I am proud to welcome all presidential candidates to our city. This is true regardless of their party, or the latest odds of their winning. When presidential candidates visit our community, I am always happy to meet them. I'll even put on their button when handed one as a polite gesture of respect. Though no reporter interviewed me for the Associated Press article on the recent visit by a presidential candidate, the article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Wasilla. As mayor, I will welcome all the candidates in Wasilla."
***
On the trail: McCain and Palin go to Mississippi before campaigning in O’Fallon, MO. Obama and Biden begin their day with a discussion on the economy in Toledo, OH and later hold a rally in Battle Creek, MI.
Countdown to GOP convention: 1 day
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 65 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 142 days
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Advisers say McCain will go to Mississippi today at the invitation of the governor to be briefed on plans for Gustav, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports. These advisers say McCain has talked to Secretary Chertoff and governors Barbour, Riley, Jindal, and Crist. They also say amid contingency planning for the convention, "the gavel will come down" and "business will be done" but "we are not having a party."
Per NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli, Obama yesterday called the threat posed by Hurricane Gustav “a very serious situation,” and Joe Biden warned that the storm could be worse than Katrina, as the two running mates warned residents of the Gulf Coast to heed all warnings. “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,” Obama told reporters after a campaign event in Dublin, OH. “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.”
Obama said he and Biden had spoken with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, FEMA director Hank Paulson, Sen. Mary Landrieu, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Biden said that because the eastern, more powerful half of the storm may pass over New Orleans, the impact could be more severe than Katrina’s. “Those folks who rode out, do not ride out again -- ride out of town,” he said. “
With the storm forecast showing it could make landfall just as the Republican National Convention is set to begin, Obama was asked if he thought President Bush should still attend. He said he didn’t “want to weigh into the White House decision-making,” and said the priority has to be on monitoring efforts on the ground closely. He also said he did not want to be a “distraction” himself when asked if he would visit the region. “I will do whatever is required that is useful but right now the main thing that's useful us letting everyone evacuate out there now; please evacuate the area,” he said.
The
Los Angeles Times says Gustav “is predicted to make landfall west of New Orleans as early as Monday, just days after the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But National Weather Service officials cautioned that the hurricane's path could shift and that it could strike anywhere from Texas to Florida in the next few days. Apart from humanitarian concerns, the GOP's image-makers are mindful of the public relations and political cost if the party appears to be partying in Minnesota while Americans are battling to survive a devastating hurricane.”
CONTINUED >>
Per a new
USA Today/Gallup poll , 51% say they have never heard of Sarah Palin, while 22% have a favorable impression of her and 7% have a negative one. “There is also wide uncertainty about whether she's qualified to be president. In the poll, taken Friday, 39% say she is ready to serve as president if needed, 33% say she isn't, and 29% have no opinion. That's the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988. In comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18% after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week.”
That said, the Palin pick has “electrified conservative activists,” the
Politico’s Martin writes. “By tapping the anti-abortion and pro-gun Alaska governor just ahead of his convention, which is set to start here Monday, McCain hasn’t just won approval from a skeptical Republican base -- he’s ignited a wave of elation and emotion that has led some grassroots activists to weep with joy.”
Maureen Dowd writes, “The legacy of Geraldine Ferraro was supposed to be that no one would ever go on a blind date with history again. But that crazy maverick and gambler McCain does it, and conservatives and evangelicals rally around him in admiration of his refreshingly cynical choice of Sarah, an evangelical Protestant and anti-abortion crusader who became a hero when she decided to have her baby, who has Down syndrome, and when she urged schools to debate creationism as well as that stuffy old evolution thing.”
The
New York Times notes that McCain’s choice of Palin has forced both campaigns to recalibrate their messages and electoral strategies. “Mr. Obama’s campaign does not plan to go directly after Ms. Palin in the days ahead. Instead, it is planning to increase its attacks on Mr. McCain for his opposition to pay equity legislation and abortion rights - two issues of paramount concern to many women - as it tries to head off his effort to use Ms. Palin to draw Democratic and independent women who had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
“Mr. McCain’s advisers said that rallying wavering women would be one of Ms. Palin’s main jobs in the weeks ahead. They said her campaign schedule would take her to areas in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania where there were pockets of women who had supported Mrs. Clinton in the primaries.”
CONTINUED >>
The
Boston Globe focuses on McCain circa 1975 to 1977. "Elements of the John McCain voters know today were evident during his command of the unit, a shore-based squadron known as VA-174 that trained pilots and maintained roughly 50 A-7 Corsair II attack jets. He answered to his own code of morality and justice. He showed empathy for people's hardships and personal failings. He was warm toward Navy men and women on his good side, and could explode at those who weren't. In many cases, his creative approach to solving problems paid dividends; but his volatile personality, and his freewheeling social life, rubbed some people the wrong way."
From one football stadium to another… Two days after Obama and his running mate Joe Biden spoke before a crowd of some 85,000 people at the home of the Denver Broncos -- and a television audience of more than 38 million -- they brought their ticket yesterday to a high school football stadium in Dublin, OH, NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones reports.
The Bidens and the Obamas were on the second day of a bus tour through battleground states, after which the senators will split up to campaign separately. They are working to win over voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan -- all places where Obama lost to Clinton in the primary season - with their focus on kitchen-table issues and an appeal to middle and working class voters. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown and former Sen. John Glenn each gave brief remarks at the event.
While Brown said John McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin showed poor judgment, Obama made no direct mention of the governor, instead speaking about a state his campaign had hoped to make competitive and focusing on what he saw as his own running mate's strengths. “After 19 months of traversing this country, traveling to every state except Alaska, which now that I think about it, I’m gonna have to go up there now," he said, sparking laughter. "In the remainder of this journey, I am gonna have with me one of the great statesmen, a man who knows how to talk to world leaders, but also knows how to treat the conductors on the Amtrak train that he takes home every night."
From NBC's Patti Culhame The White House has confirmed the speculation that President Bush is unlikely to go to the RNC convo. Tthey are working on alternative plans but don't have anything to announce yet. Expect details mid-morning.
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger WASHINGTON, Pa. – Palin’s nod to Hillary Clinton may not go over well everywhere, because at a rally Saturday, the mere mention of her name brought a chorus of boos.
Palin was lauded for speaking of Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro in her speech Friday in Dayton, acknowledging the role their candidacies had played for other women, including herself. It was seen as a smart political gesture toward winning over some of the Clinton supporters who feel disenfranchised and may not vote for Obama in November.
She gave essentially the same speech today at a minor league baseball stadium outside of Pittsburgh. But when she said Saturday that Clinton “showed determination and grace in her own campaign,” there were an audible boos smattered amid the cheers. Palin ignored the boos and continued on with her speech.
McCain and Palin were joined there by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who was himself a vice presidential prospect. Palin acknowledged Ridge, whom she said she hadn't met but was a fan of.
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell McCain advisors say meetings have been underway to consider options for the RNC program due to Hurricane Gustav.
Advisors say no decisions have been made.
Sources say options could include changes to the speakers schedule and/or the addition of "service projects" to assist those affected by the storm. One idea being floated is turning the convention into a hurricane telethon.
The campaign points out that Senator McCain spoke to this concern today saying it would be "inappropriate" to have "festivities" if the situation is as dire as forecasts suggest.
For the purposes of getting McCain's name and Palin's name on the ballot, the convention must take place this week; lots of ballot deadlines hit very soon.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro *** The case for Palin : For McCain, the biggest thing Sarah Palin brings is buzz. It's something the campaign has been seeking for some time. In fact, it has bothered Team McCain that it doesn’t get the same "gee whiz" kind of coverage that Obama gets. Palin changes that discrepancy -- for now. She also helps McCain re-introduce himself as a change-reform candidate. Palin's whole shtick in Alaska is reformer; it's what got her into the governors mansion. Indeed, the Palin pick may signal that the McCain folks have concluded that "experience" as a message isn't a winning one, even though they spent the entire summer developing that argument. So they are hoping Palin helps redefine GOP ticket as change. What's more, she brings a historical first to the McCain campaign. And finally, there's Palin's gender, which the McCain folks hope reopens some of the Clinton-Obama wounds that the Dem convention seemed to heal.
*** The case against Palin . The biggest negative about the pick is that on its face, it looks like a political gimmick, a political calculation. And McCain's supposed to be anything but a calculating or gimmicky pol. Indeed, as the Los Angeles Times wonders, isn’t McCain supposed to be the guy putting “country first” and not playing politics? The fact that McCain doesn't know Palin and spent all but a couple of hours getting to know her before making his pick is going to invite A LOT of judgment criticism. The perception is going to be that McCain panicked and wanted to do something radical to shake up the race. Well, he may have shaken up the race, but at the cost of undermining his best asset: that he was ready to lead. This decision doesn't look like it was well thought out, even as Palin has made a tremendous first impression.
*** The vetting question . Just how well was she vetted? There's going to be a race to define Palin, and while the McCain has bought time by shocking the world with the pick, there's going to be a lot of interest by the press to dig around in Alaska. And this “Troopergate” story is perhaps just the beginning. What's more, since she isn't well know, any little thing could get blown up pretty quickly.
*** The age factor : Did anyone notice that there were more mentions of McCain's age yesterday than we've seen in months? Sure, yesterday was his birthday, and the VP pick was always going to serve as a reminder that McCain was seeking to become the oldest first-term president in history. But McCain's age has been an under-the-radar negative for him for some time (just check out any recent poll on the topic). Palin -- being an absolute unknown -- is going to get put through the "is she ready to be commander in chief?" test a little bit more than your average VP pick, simply because of McCain's age. And the more focus there is on McCain's age, the more political danger the campaign faces.
*** The bottom line: Palin has made a good first impression. She appears to be very engaging and has a great story to tell. But her pick signals that the McCain camp wasn't happy where things stood with this race, despite their public posture and their standing in the polls. And they felt the need to throw the long ball. The good news for McCain: Palin will have low bars for every moment she's on center stage (her speech yesterday, her convention speech on Wednesday, and her debate with Biden). But wow -- is this a gamble! Then again, McCain loves to gamble, he's actually someone very fond of dice games, and there's no doubt he's rolling the dice with Palin. A word of warning to Dems, courtesy of Peter Hart: Don't get overly gleeful about all the downsides of this pick. If anything, realize McCain may be falling in a 20-year pattern of shocking picks that end up not backfiring, like Spiro Agnew in '68 or Quayle in '88. Palin may actually be the GOP's destiny. Go figure.
*** Obama’s response ad : The Obama camp is up with a TV ad arguing that while Palin might be McCain’s VP pick, McCain’s real running mate is President Bush. The ad goes: “Well, he's made his choice. But, for the rest of us … there's still no change. McCain doesn't get it, calling this broken economy ‘strong.’ Wants to keep spending ten-billion-a-month in Iraq. And votes with George Bush 90% of the time. So, while this may be his running-mate … America knows this is John McCain's agenda. And we can't afford four more years of the same.” On the trail: McCain and Palin head to a rally in Washington, PA. Meanwhile, in Ohio, Obama and Biden attend a memorial service for Stephanie Tubbs Jones in Cleveland and later do a rally in Dublin.Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
The New York Times’ analysis points out that McCain “spent the summer arguing that a 40-something candidate with four years in major office and no significant foreign policy experience was not ready to be president. And then on Friday he picked as his running mate a 40-something candidate with two years in major office and no significant foreign policy experience.”
“‘The question is,’ [GOP lobbyist Ed] Rogers continued, ‘what does it do to the argument that Obama’s not ready?’ The question is particularly acute for Mr. McCain, who turned 72 on Friday and would be the oldest person elected to a first term as president if he won in November. His campaign now needs to convince the public that it can imagine in the Oval Office a candidate who has spent just two years as governor of a state with a quarter of the population of Brooklyn.” LA Times : “Though John McCain clearly concluded that Palin could attract female voters and grab his campaign some Barack Obama-style media buzz, he also is taking a risk that in elevating a largely unknown figure, he undermines the central theme of his candidacy that he puts ‘country first,’ above political calculations.”
“For a candidate known to possess a quick temper and an unpredictable political streak, the decision raises questions about how McCain would lead -- whether his decisions would flow from careful deliberations or gut checks in which short-term considerations or feelings outweigh the long view.”
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post reports, “Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is an ethics reformer under an ethics investigation that is plowing through private domestic matters. Palin is under investigation to determine whether she pressured and then fired the state police chief in July because he refused to dismiss her former brother-in-law. At the time, the governor's younger sister was involved in a bitter divorce and child custody dispute with the man, a state trooper. A bipartisan committee of the state legislature voted unanimously to hire a retired prosecutor to investigate. His report is due in October.”
More: “Gov. Palin's husband, Todd Palin, met with Monegan [the fired state police chief] in January 2007, a month after his wife took office, to say that the trooper was unfit for the force. Monegan also said the governor sent him e-mails, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to the independent prosecutor. Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire Wooten. She said she had raised the matter with Monegan just once, relaying the allegation that Wooten made a death threat against her father. But this summer, Palin acknowledged that a half-dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials
And: “Monegan, 57, a former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview Friday that during his 19 months on the job the governor repeatedly mentioned Wooten but ‘never directly asked me to fire him.’ Monegan said Todd Palin told him that Wooten ‘shouldn't be a trooper.’ ‘I've tried to explain to him,’ Monegan said, ‘You can't head-hunt like this. What you need to do is back off, because if the trooper does make a mistake, and it is a terminable offense, it can look like political interference. I think he's emotionally committed in trying to see that his former brother-in-law is punished.’”
“Since long before she became Alaska's youngest -- and first female -- governor 20 months ago, Sarah Louise Heath Palin has been making her mark as an unlikely upstart,” the Washington Post writes. “Yesterday, she did it again, accepting Sen. John McCain's surprise offer to be his running mate. Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five who hunts caribou and was once a beauty queen, rose to the statehouse by challenging the corruption that has become endemic in Alaska, even if it meant taking on the Republican establishment there, including the former governor and the state's congressional delegation.”
The New York Times : “Though indisputably Alaskan, she rose to prominence by bucking the state’s rigid Republican hierarchy, impressing voters more with gumption, warmth and charm than an established record in government.”
USA Today focuses on her decision to have a child with Down Syndrome.
And here’s an October 2006 Anchorage Daily News profile.
"38 million turn TVs to Democratic convention for Obama's acceptance speech." "Nielsen Media Research said more people watched Obama speak Thursday night than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol," or the Academy Awards this year. Obama talked before a live audience of more than 84,000 people in Denver."
The New York Times covers Obama and Biden stumping in western Pennsylvania yesterday. “As the glow of their nominating convention was quickly overtaken by the announcement of the new Republican ticket, the two Democrats stayed purposely low key. They toured a biodiesel plant, stopped for ice cream and staged only one public event on their first day together as they returned to their task of trying to persuade voters beyond the Democratic activists in Denver to support their campaign.”
“One day after Mr. Obama spoke before 80,000 at the stadium, and a television audience of at least 40 million, the ticket’s arrival here was considerably different from recent postconvention trips. There was no Mississippi River boat tour that Al Gore conducted eight years ago, and the bus tour was far shorter than Senator John Kerry’s bus tour four years ago.”
From NBC's Chris Donovan Before exiting Invesco Field Thursday night, Oprah Winfrey stopped and answered a few questions from reporters.
She said the night was extraordinary and explained, "I have never experienced anything like that."
She said she had re-read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech in the morning and referencing King's line about making real "the promise of democracy," she said that tonight "that promise was fulfilled."
Before leaving with an entourage that included Gayle King and Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, she said she hoped Americans would "rise to the moment" and support Obama.
From NBC's Mark Murray and NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain camp has just released a tick-tock of how the Palin pick came to be. And according to it, McCain had met her just one time prior to yesterday.
The tick-tock from McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker:
"Later that morning, John McCain departed for Phoenix and Governor Palin departed with staff to Flagstaff, Arizona. Governor Palin, Kris Perry, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter proceeded to the Manchester Inn and Conference Center in Middleton, Ohio. They were checked into the hotel as the Upton Family. While there, Governor Palin’s children, who had been told they were going to Ohio to celebrate their parents’ wedding anniversary, were told for the first time that their mother would be a nominee for Vice President of the United States of America."
"Today, John McCain was proud to announce that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a proven-reformer, will share a partnership with him to shake things up in Washington and to make government more effective for American families."
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama reacted to his rival's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate and walked back a statement put out by his campaign that called the governor inexperienced.
"I haven't met her before. She seems like a compelling person, obviously a terrific story, personal story. And you know, I'm sure that she will help make the case for the Republicans," he told a small group of reporters on Friday. "Unfortunately, the case is more of the same. And so ultimately John McCain is at top of 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 Gov. Palin agrees with him in in his policies."
He said the fact that a woman had been chosen as the vice presidential candidate of a major party "is one more hit against that glass ceiling."
"I congratulate her and look forward to a vigorous debate," he said. "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."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Doug Adams Ted
Stevens , the grand-daddy of Alaskan politics, has a wary relationship with the new Republican VP pick -- Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin .
When Palin was running for governor in 2006, she ousted long time Alaska fixture Frank
Murkowski in a hard fought primary. Stevens and Murkowski are long time friends and Palin was able to defeat the sitting governor by running on ethics and clean government reformist platform.
Stevens ultimately came to endorse Palin, but it was late in the game. He endorsed her less than three weeks before the general election, although he did cut a television advertisement for her.
In July of last year, Palin shocked and angered Stevens by publicly criticizing him for his role in the VECO scandal and called for him to speak out about it.
"I think I join others in wanting to know of the senator's innocence," Palin said. "Right now, we're not hearing anything."
When Stevens was indicted last month for month on corruption charges, Palin said the indictment "rocks the foundation of the state" and added that she shares with others "dismay" and concern.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube Gov. Sarah
Palin 's son, Track, enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and is now stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Private First Class Track Palin is an infantry soldier, assigned to the 1-1 Bravo Company, 52nd Infantry Regiment. (We are checking whether PFC Palin's company is deploying to Iraq later this fall with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Wainwright.)
Joe
Biden’s son, Beau, is also scheduled to be heading to Iraq before the end of the year.
NBC’s Carol Eggers adds that the
LA Times points out: “When prenatal genetic testing of their fifth child showed he had Down syndrome last spring, the couple went ahead with the birth in May and now talk of him as the joy of their life. … One of ...... their other four children entered the Army and deploys to Iraq next month."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Earlier this month, Gov.
Palin praised parts of
Obama 's energy plan. The
link to the press release was not working as of 12:30 p.m. ET. But
Google saves everything .
Includes Alaska's Natural Gas Reserves Print Now Printer Friendly
No. 08-135
August 4, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy plan put forward by the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
"I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska's natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs, " Governor Palin said. "The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs."
In a speech given in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama called for the completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline, stating, "Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process."
Governor Palin also acknowledged the Senator's proposal to offer $1,000 rebates to those struggling with the high cost of energy. "We in Alaska feel that crunch and are taking steps to address it right here at home," Governor Palin said. "This is a tool that must be on the table to buy us time until our long-term energy plans can be put into place. We have already enjoyed the support of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and it is gratifying to see Senator Obama get on board." The Governor did question the means to pay for Obama's proposed rebate - a windfall profits tax on oil companies. In Alaska, the state's resource valuation system, ACES, provides strong incentives for companies to re-invest their profits in new production.
"Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production. Without new supplies from American reserves, our dependency and addiction to foreign sources of oil will continue," Governor Palin said.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The
McCain campaign’s release on Palin:
"U.S. Senator John McCain today announced that he has selected Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice
president. Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated
during her time in office that she is ready to be president. She has
brought Republicans and Democrats together within her Administration
and has a record of delivering on the change and reform that we need in
Washington. Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil
companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources.
She leads a state that matters to every one of us -- Alaska has
significant energy resources and she has been a leader in the fight to
make America energy independent.
"In Alaska, Governor Palin challenged a corrupt system and passed a
landmark ethics reform bill. She has actually used her veto and cut
budgetary spending. She put a stop to the 'bridge to nowhere' that
would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars.
As the head of Alaska's National Guard and as the mother of a soldier
herself, Governor Palin understands what it takes to lead our nation
and she understands the importance of supporting our troops.
"Governor Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others
can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is
exactly what is needed in Washington today."
The Obama campaign’s response:
"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," said Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The pick of
Sarah Palin caught almost everyone by surprise. Most signs
last night seemed to point to
Pawlenty , but the McCain camp proved it can
keep a secret REALLY well.
This was a bold move in this historic election, and a
play for those Clinton supporters. Palin is a social conservative, and
her views on abortion won't play well with most Democratic women. But
this election has been a case study in identity politics. We'll see if
she peels away some women.
The potential to grab some of those women voters is perhaps the best
asset Palin brings to a
McCain ticket. She also reinforces McCain's
maverick image. She bucked her own party, launching an
ethics investigation into the state party chairman with regard to his
dealings with oil companies in the state. And being from Alaska, she's
the
ultimate outsider. She also reinforces McCain's drilling message -- though she's for drilling in ANWR; McCain is not. She also represents the next
generation of Republican leaders -- she's a fresh face.
But there are some potential pitfalls as well. Palin is currently under legislative investigation herself,
accused of firing the state's public safety
commissioner for not firing her former brother-in-law.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Senior source involved in the process tells NBC Senator McCain has selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
NBC's David Gregory also confirms from a senior person in McCain camp.
More to come...
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro DENVER -- John McCain's done it. He's got the political world buzzing like crazy about a surprise VP choice. Here's what we know: Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman all appear to be out of the running. Of course, these three candidates were the short list, remember? Shows how well the McCain campaign is keeping secrets. The hot name of the morning is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, someone who has been governor less than two years. The pros of her candidacy: conservatives love her and she's known as a hard-core reformer, defeating ethically challenged GOP Gov. Frank Murkowski in '06. She is WILDLY popular in Alaska. The Cons: Does she pass the commander in chief test? Perhaps Palin is a head fake yet again and we should be looking at folks like Tom Ridge or Rob Portman or even Meg Whitman. Bottom line: maybe the Obama campaign should have put the McCain campaign in charge of their VP rollout since they can keep a secret a lot better than Team Obama.
***
Obama punches back: After the first three days of the Democratic convention, there were two things that some Democrats thought were missing: substance and punch. While it was obvious to most, Obama would handle the substance in last night’s acceptance speech, it was surprising that Obama decided to add so much punch. He went after McCain by tying him to Bush, bringing up Phil Gramm, arguing that he’s out of touch (“he doesn’t get it”), contending that he hasn’t done the right things to bring justice to Osama bin Laden, and even using the word “temperament.” In short, Obama wanted to convince Democrats that he was no Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, of John Kerry -- he was going to be a fighter in his campaign against McCain and the Republican Party. The speech also served to inoculate Obama as much as possible from next week’s GOP convention, where he will become the obvious punching bag. Four years ago, the Democrats holding their convention first turned into a disadvantage when John Kerry played nice while the GOP followed by playing tough. But this time around, with as aggressive as Obama was, could going first be an advantage?
***
A disjointed response: The McCain response seemed disjointed. "Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Sen. Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm's way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President." Considering how aggressive the campaign was all week before Obama’s speech -- unveiling a new attack ad almost every day except yesterday -- to see the campaign left almost speechless shows that they know on this one night they were topped.
***
Blurring the lines: From the policy proposals to the McCain attacks chronicled above, there was something for almost everyone in Obama’s speech without it getting too cluncked up. But to us, what also stuck out was the issue blurring for social conservatives who might be ready to vote Dem on economic issues. He talked about the need to keep unwanted pregnancies down, as well as upholding “the 2nd Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.”
***
Over to you, GOP: As we mentioned at the start of the convention, Obama and the Democrats had three goals, and it appears they met them all. Sell Obama and his family to voters, check. Help unite the party, check. And draw clear contrasts with McCain, check. Indeed, after the speeches by Michelle, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Obama - as well as the mesmerizing roll call vote -- this week’s Democratic convention might prove to be a hard act to follow. So how does the GOP respond? They'll probably continue to push the fluff argument, as it's worked this summer. And they will obviously play up McCain’s maverick credentials and military heroism. But it will be a big challenge for the GOP to match the speeches, the enthusiasm, and theatrics of the past four days.
***
On the trail: McCain holds a rally with (most likely) his new running mate in Dayton, OH. Meanwhile, Obama and Biden (as well as their wives0 campaign in Beaver, PA.
Countdown to GOP convention: 3 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 67 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 144 days
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The
New York Times’ Nagourney and Zeleny : “The speech by Senator Obama, in front of an audience of nearly 80,000 people on a warm night in a football stadium refashioned into a vast political stage for television viewers, left little doubt how he intended to press his campaign against Mr. McCain this fall.
In cutting language, and to cheers that echoed across the stadium, he linked Mr. McCain to what he described as the ‘failed presidency of George W. Bush’ and - reflecting what has been a central theme of his campaign since he entered the race - “the broken politics in Washington.”
The
New York Times’ Healy : “Mr. Obama showed real fire, and directed memorable fire at his opponent, even on Mr. McCain’s signature issue, national security.”
NYT’s Leibovich : “The occasion was part coronation, part organizing meeting, part Woodstock. Inside the stadium, the home of the Broncos, chants of “Eight is enough,” referring to President Bush’s tenure, broke out, and big delegate hats outnumbered face paint (usually preferred at a football game). To some extent, the event resembled a Broncos game, though without beer sales, no discernible opposition and Mr. Obama in the spotlight role of John Elway (the Hall of Fame Broncos quarterback).”
The
Washington Post’s Balz’s lead: “Barack Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night was what many nervous Democrats were hoping for: a forceful challenge to John McCain and the Republicans, and a restatement of the message to change Washington and the nation that propelled him to the nomination.”
The
Washington Post : “In a speech filled with policy specifics and some of the toughest swipes he has taken at his opponent in the campaign, Obama took on the sharp criticisms the GOP has leveled against him in recent months and at the same time exhorted the nation to look beyond politics as usual.”
CONTINUED >>
"Addressing tens of thousands at Invesco Field, Gore said that when he ran against Bush, some people saw
little difference between them and thought the outcome wouldn't matter much. 'But here we all are in 2008 and I doubt anyone would argue now that election didn't matter.'"
The Minneapolis Star Tribune : "The Republican vice presidential watch picked up ever-more intensity Thursday, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty right in the middle of it. As reports swirled that John McCain would appear with his choice for a running mate at a rally today, Pawlenty, who had been in Denver to help deliver the GOP response during the Democratic National Convention, canceled interviews Thursday and returned home."
The
NY Times : “Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota said in a radio interview on Friday morning that he planned to be at the Minnesota state fair on Friday, not here in Dayton with Senator John McCain.”
Talking Points Memo reports that the Obama campaign’s response ad is overwhelming the American Issues Project’s Bill Ayers hit. “On August 26th -- the last date for which info is available -- the American Issues Project, the group behind the spot tying Obama to the former Weatherman, ran the ad 304 times in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Virginia. On that same day, the Obama campaign aired its response ad some 550 times -- nearly twice as many times -- in those same four states.”
From NBC's Mark Murray Hillary Clinton's statement: "Barack Obama’s speech tonight laid out his specific, bold solutions and optimistic vision for our nation and our children's future.
“His speech crystallized the clear choice between he and Senator McCain . Four more years of the same failed policies or a leader who can tackle the great challenges we face: revitalizing our economy and restoring our standing in the world. I am proud to support Senator Obama, our next President of the United States and Joe Biden , our next Vice President of the United States."
From NBC's Mark Murray Said
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds in a statement: "Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of
Barack Obama . When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm's way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President."
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama discussed specifics about his economic policies. And he talked plenty about change and bringing Americans today. But what Obama's acceptance speech will be remembered for were the strong words he delivered at McCain .
This is on the conservative side, but I counted at least eight tough lines directed at McCain, according to the prepared remarks. So much for that Monday-night criticism from some pundits that the Dem convention wasn't tough enough against McCain and the Republicans...
1) TIES TO BUSH . "John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change."
2) PHIL GRAMM . "He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
3) DOESN'T GET IT . "It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."
4) TEMPERMENT : "If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have."
5) BIN LADEN . "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."
6) IRAQ . "And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war."
7) MORE BUSH . "If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need."
8) WE ALL PUT COUNTRY FIRST . "So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama's speech tonight. In it, he will talk about the challenges facing the nation: “Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay and tuition that is beyond your reach. These challenges are not all of government’s making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed presidency of George W. Bush."
"America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.”
He will draw contrasts with McCain: “Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we’ll also hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need. But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90% of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 905 of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”
He will lay out his economic agenda: “Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship our jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America. I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow. I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class. And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East."
And he say this on foreign affairs: “We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are to restore that legacy."
“As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home."
From NBC's Mark Murray McCain announces his VP pick -- much of the political press corps will depart here to Minneapolis-St. Paul for next week's GOP convention.
And to get reporters ready for Minnesota, the Democratic National Committee yesterday passed around a travel kit containing a few gags targeted at McCain and the GOP. For starters, there's a button that reads, "Ask Me How Many Houses I Own." There's also a press credential featuring McCain's now-famous embrace of Bush ("More of the same," it says). And there are two candy bars -- 100 Grand and Pay Day -- obviously reminders of the folks who will be attending the GOP convention.
This is the latest gag that the political parties have sent reporters. A few weeks ago, the Republican National Committee mailed tire gauges to the press corps to poke fun at Obama. The DNC also sent "Exxon-McCain '08" paraphernalia to reporters.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Mark Murray McCain camp has been hyping a new TV ad all day. On MSNBC's Morning Joe, communications director Jill Hazelbaker told Mika Brzezinski: "Well, Mika, this is a historic ad. I think this is the first of its kind. Sen. McCain is going to speak direct to camera to Barack Obama . I’m not going to give away many more details than that. But suffice to say it’s going to be a very exciting ad, and I think it’s going to get a lot of attention."
Would McCain attack Obama in the ad? Would he announce his veep pick?
Well, we finally saw the ad. And in it -- drum roll, please -- McCain congratulates Obama. "Sen. Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed," McCain says to the camera. "So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations. How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight senator, job well done."
The McCain camp says the TV ad will run on national cable and in "key states."
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
“He’s a real hero,” the Delaware senator told members of National Guard units stationed outside of Invesco Field. “We’re going to have our disagreements, we’re going to have our disagreements on policy. The one thing that we kind of disagree on, that is, what do we do now for you to be able to do the job we’re asking you to do.”
He praised the work of guardsmen who have encountered more in recent years than the probably bargained for, saying, “This isn’t your father’s National Guard.” He also noted that his own son, Beau, is going to be deployed to Iraq soon, and asked the group to keep an eye out for him if they returned.
“He’ll keep an eye out for you guys,” he added. “Keep the faith, go get ‘em.”
Biden also spoke to a group of firefighters at the site, talking about his great personal affection for the bravest who helped save the lives of his two sons, and his own when he suffered an aneurism.
“Look us over,” he urged the group. “If you don’t like what we’re doing, pick up the phone and holler at my campaign.”
Biden spent about 15 minutes meeting with the two groups, shaking hands and posing for pictures as well. As one guardsman asked for a photo, he gladly obliged.
“If I had your hair I’d be president, you know what I mean?” he told him. “I wouldn’t be screwing around with this job.”
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann DENVER -- Where in the world is Tim Pawlenty ?
With the Minnesota governor in Denver to continue his role as a GOP surrogate during the Democratic convention here, reporters were bent on determining where he stands -- or rather where he'll be standing tomorrow morning.
Pawlenty, a much talked-about vice presidential prospect, said that he is "scheduled to be and plans to be" doing a weekly scheduled radio show from the Minnesota State Fair tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. He told reporters that he will be leaving Denver this afternoon, bound for his home state.
The interest in Pawlenty's whereabouts comes amidst news that McCain will debut his vice presidential pick in Dayton, OH tomorrow.
The Minnesota governor would not answer any questions about the vice presidential process, including a volley of queries about how recently he has spoken with his party's presidential nominee. "I refrain from answering any questions relating to the VP selection process," he said. "We're going to allow Sen. McCain to make that announcement."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Joe Biden made light of Obama’s relative youth as he joked about his own early start in politics.
Biden said that after he was picked as Obama’s running mate, he asked his staff to look up the speech he made when he announced his candidacy for the Senate in 1972. And reading it, he found great similarity between his message than and Obama’s today.
“The truth of the matter, it’s a natural fit,” Biden said. “Barack Obama could have made that speech were he alive in 1972.”
He laughed, and quickly clarified that Obama was, in fact, alive at the time.
“By the way, if I hear one more time he was 11 years old when I went to the Senate, I’m going to smack somebody,” he continued.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Cherelle Kantey Hillary’s advice would be to her delegates. As a delegate from a district where a majority of her constituents voted for Clinton, she came to the “Friends of Hillary Delegates Reception” yesterday at the Colorado Convention Center looking for guidance.
“I came to the convention ready to follow her lead,” said Crouch. “And now I think I can vote the Democratic ticket with confidence.”
She says hearing Sen. Clinton tell her delegates to vote their conscience and ultimately releasing them was a courageous move that would bring unity to a divided party. “I respect her so much,” said Crouch. “On the national level, she’s done so much trailblazing for women. To tell people to vote their heart will bring the party out of here united.
The crowded room filled with Hillary supporters flocked to get a peek at the former first lady as she exited the stage, while a few Obama supporters lingered toward the back of the room.
Christopher Stampolis, 42, is a superdelegate from Santa Clara, California who today threw his support to Sen. Obama. Even with the divisions created with an extended primary, he says voting for a Democratic president is in the best interest of the nation.
From NBC's Chris Donovan After weeks of media speculation about potential drama at the convention, the only soap opera that was evident inside the Pepsi Center Wednesday night was the appearance of longtime "Days of Our Lives" actress Deidre Hall (aka Dr. Marlena Evans). Hall, attending her first convention, was sitting with the California delegation, cheering on Biden, and chanting "
John McCain , more of the same." She said she wholeheartedly supports
Obama . And when asked how long she's been an Obama supporter she said, "Once I heard
Michelle speak at UCLA, I knew she was the woman I wanted in the White House."
from NBC's Luke Russert Three young Muslim Democrats who support Barack Obama talk about how they feel about the political process.
WATCH VIDEO
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** The Clintons owned the Pepsi Center : Well, for the part of the convention that took place in the Pepsi Center, the Clintons arguably gave the two best speeches, with Michelle Obama and Ted Kennedy both deserving of the top two spots as well. There were a couple of others that stood out, including the stem-winder delivered by Brian Schweitzer on Tuesday night. All of this is another way of saying, the bar is not too high for Obama tonight. But it's also another way of saying that Biden speech fell a tad short of expectations. (You could tell that having just three or four days to prepare for a big convention speech was a tall order. But the Obama folks don't expect him to deliver big speeches. They expect him to deliver on the stump.) In short, the Clintons owned the Pepsi Center; it's now up to Obama to own Invesco.
*** A split-screen day? Drudge was the first yesterday to shout this news: “McCain has decided on his running mate" and will unveil that choice tomorrow. Other news organizations soon followed. Indeed, it could be a split-screen news day with half the press corps desperately trying to break the McCain VP news before tomorrow. Just like last week, there's a contingent of the press corps that believes the short list of Pawlenty, Lieberman, and Romney may NOT be the end of the list. Speculation that a woman is being considered has created separate credible rumors today about Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sarah Palin, and Meg Whitman. McCain is more capable of a surprise than Obama. Then again, McCain wants to be respectful of the short list, since he spent his fair share of time on it in '88, '96 and even '00. The general consensus today seems to be that Romney's stock is down; Pawlenty's is steady; and Lieberman's up.
*** Mother Nature against the GOP? As if the Republican Party didn't have enough going against them, Mother Nature does not look like a political ally as the possibility of a serious hurricane bearing down on the US coast during the GOP convention. There's no way of speculating about what it means other than to say -- it is what it is, and nobody can do anything about it other than prepare citizens for the storm. But the last thing McCain needs is a reminder of Hurricane Katrina, whose three-year anniversary comes tomorrow.
*** Today’s convention schedule : Thursday’s theme is “Change You Can Believe In.” The featured speaker, of course, is Obama. Other notable speakers include (in order): Gov. Bill Ritter and the Colorado congressional delegation, Howard Dean, Rep. John Lewis (as part of a tribute to the 45th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream speech), Gov. Bill Richardson, Gov. Tim Kaine, Al Gore, and then Sen. Dick Durbin, who introduces Obama. Also, Jennifer Hudson sings the National Anthem and Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson gives the Pledge of Allegiance.
*** The RNC’s response : Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Jon Kyl, former US Treasurer Rosario Marin, and Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams hold an RNC-sponsored press conference to argue that Obama is wrong on national security.
*** Also in Denver : There’s a unity breakfast with civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton, to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the "I Have A Dream" speech, at 9:30 am ET at the Colorado Convention Center.
*** On the trail : McCain arrives in Vandalia, OH in advance of his big rally tomorrow in Dayton. Obama delivers his address accepting the Democratic nomination.Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
The New York Times looks at some of the potential risks of tonight’s speech before 75,000 at Invesco Field. “With daunting challenges of logistics, style and substance, the plan was hatched before the Republicans began a concerted drive to paint Mr. Obama as a media sensation lacking the résumé to be president. Now Obama aides are feeling all the more pressure to bring a lofty candidacy to ground level, showing that Mr. Obama grasps the concerns of everyday Americans.”
“On Wednesday, workers were still making changes to Invesco Field, home to the Denver Broncos, so it would feel more intimate, less like the boisterous rallies that served Mr. Obama so well early in the primaries, but also created the celebrity image that dogs him. They were still testing camera angles, so Mr. Obama would appear among the giant crowd, not above it. They took steps to reduce the echo effect, familiar to football fans, of speaking in such a cavernous space. Planners scrapped their idea to turn the audience of 75,000 into a giant phone bank, in response to fears that the cellphone system would crash (people will instead be asked to text-message friends and neighbors to support the campaign, program aides said would be effective nonetheless.)”
A Democratic senator told MSNBC’s David Shuster that Obama's speech tonight might be a bit different than what some may be expecting in a big stadium. Per this senator, Obama himself said the speech will not have the kind of soaring rhetoric some may be expecting.
The New York Post goes to the extreme with Obama's speech set up for tonight, which has some Roman columns. Its cover: " 'O' my God." But as Politico's Ben Smith points out, "Republicans who are mocking Obama's appearance haven't mentioned it, but George W. Bush accepted his own nomination in 2004 on a set with a similar neoclassical theme, with columns rising on either side of him… Indeed, the Bush set and the Obama sets currently look strikingly similar, with the podium set well in front of the columns, and connected by a path."
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post’s lead story: “Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois completed an improbable and historic journey here Wednesday when he was nominated by acclamation as the Democratic candidate for president, becoming the first African American to lead a major political party into a general-election campaign. Obama, who just eight years ago attended his first Democratic National Convention and who four years later shot to national prominence with an electrifying keynote address at the gathering in Boston, was given a final symbolic boost Wednesday by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who moved from the convention floor to suspend the roll call of the states and formalize her former rival's nomination by acclamation.”
The New York Times says that Obama’s nomination “brought to an end an often-bitter two-year political struggle for the nomination with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who, standing on a packed convention floor electric with anticipation, moved to halt the roll call in progress so that the convention could nominate Mr. Obama by acclamation. That it did with a succession of loud roars, followed by a swirl of dancing, embracing, high-fiving and chants of ‘Yes, we can.’”
However, it’s worth pointing out that Obama will officially be the "nominee" until the conclusion of his acceptance speech," per the language of the Democrats' "Call to Convention.”
Clinton biographer David Maraniss of the Washington Post says that Bill Clinton’s speech last night “framed the case for Sen. Barack Obama and against the Republicans in a way that no one at this convention had done before. Only a day earlier, when there was some unease among Clinton's associates about whether he was being straitjacketed in what he could say in his speech, Obama tried to defuse the situation by saying Clinton could say whatever he wanted. Good call, as it turned out.”
“Perhaps not even Obama himself could have conjured up an oration so powerful on his behalf. Not only did Clinton utter the words ‘Barack Obama’ 15 times, they came in his first sentence and his last, and there were long riffs about the candidate in between.”
CONTINUED >>
The New York Times reports that McCain “has decided on his running mate, two Republican strategists in contact with Mr. McCain’s campaign said Wednesday. He is expected to reveal his choice at 11 a.m. Friday at a rally at a basketball arena in Dayton, Ohio… Republicans close to the campaign said that the top contenders remained the same three men who have been the source of speculation for weeks: former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and, possibly, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut.”
Speaking of Lieberman, Politico’s Martin writes that Karl Rove called the Connecticut senator to urge him to withdraw his name from VP consideration. “Lieberman dismissed the request… Lieberman ‘laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details. ‘Rove called Lieberman,’ recounted a second source. ‘Lieberman told him he would NOT make that call.’”
NBC/NJ’s Matthew E. Berger yesterday wondered if McCain’s three-day VP swing (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) actually rules out Lieberman since he famously doesn’t campaign on the Sabbath. Yet Berger notes that the McCain schedule has the campaign leaving Dayton en route to Pittsburgh by bus on Friday beginning at 2:00 p.m. It is a four-and-a-half hour drive, so they would be able to arrive in Pittsburgh before Shabbat begins at 7:38 p.m., according to chabad.org, if they leave close to on time.
The McCain campaign released a Web video hit against Obama that’s reminiscent of one he unveiled against Romney before the New Hampshire primary. It contains images of violence and terrorism and questions Obama’s ability to lead.
From NBC's Luke Russert While Joe Biden's speech was no doubt important, Bill Clinton was once again the story of the night. Greeted by throngs of boisterous supporters who did not stop clapping for five minutes, Clinton delivered a speech that many felt he was incapable of giving, a speech praising his wife's former opponent Barack Obama.
The most significant line of the night was: "Sixteen years ago . . . we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief." By directly comparing himself to Obama, he reversed the past seventeen months of casting doubt on Obama's readiness to lead. Personally, Clinton amazes me. No matter what he does or whom he upsets, he always manages to come back and be accepted. By ripping Obama for the past seventeen months, Clinton had burned many bridges. Amazingly they were rebuilt tonight.
On to Biden. To me, the speech sounded like an intervention. My colleague Domenico Montanaro gave me the title, "an intervention for the country." And that is what the speech was. It wasn't fiery or loud. It was calm, cool and almost pleaded for a Republican-free America.
The star of the night was Beau Biden . Maybe I'm biased towards sons who talk about their fathers, but Beau Biden straight dominated and owned the room. He was personable, authentic and came across as a leader. I'll say tonight: Beau Biden just launched his 2014 Senate campaign. Obama came out at the end and looked hip with the mike in his hand and not speaking behind the podium. Obama gave a little teaser to the adoring crowd but clearly all was saved for tomorrow's performance.
Well, I got up at 3:15am this morning to do the Today show, so I am checking out. I'll be back tomorrow, live from Invesco Field for one of the most highly anticipated speeches of the 21st century.
REGISTER TO VOTE IF YOU ARE 18.
You can see more of Luke's reporting on the iCue Web site.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Barack Obama surprised the crowd in the convention hall Wednesday night, appearing on stage after running mate Joe Biden's speech.
"Hello, Democrats!" he shouted to applause. "I want everybody to now understand that I am so proud to have Joe Biden and Jill Biden and Beau Biden and Mama Biden and the while Biden family with me on this journey to take America back."
He praised the Delaware senator for his speech and again complimented his wife and his former rival Hillary Clinton, as well as Bill Clinton, who spoke earlier in the night
"I think Pres. Bill Clinton reminded us of what it's like when you've got a president who actually puts people first," he said. "Thank you Pres. Clinton."
Obama closed by saying the convention was moving to Mile High Stadium to "make sure that everybody who wants to come can join in the party and join in the effort to take America back."
Afterwards, "We are Family" played as Biden's family joined Obama and Biden on the stage.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Axelrod gave reporters a preview of the speech Obama will give Thursday night at Invesco Field.
"The speech is substantially written but as with all Obama speeches, he'll be refining it and buffing it up and working on it, I'm sure, right until the very end," Axelrod said during a briefing near the end of the flight from Montana to Denver today.
Obama began thinking about tomorrow's speech during his vacation in Hawaii, and had been the chief writer, crafting a first draft and then working with others, including speechwriter Jon Favreau.
"[Obama's] the best speechwriter in the group, and he knows what he wants to say and he feels strongly about that," said Axelrod, who explained that the senator usually writes a draft in long-hand and then types it into his computer.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones FROM THE FLOOR Clinton's speech and spoke emotionally about her love of the former president and his wife.
"The Clintons are superb people," she gushed.
Eve, who said she was more than 70-years old, said she had voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary but was getting behind Barack Obama .
"We have to," she said. "We have to."
NBC's Mara Schiavocampo went to the floor of the Democratic National Convention and got reaction from delegates and attendees on Clinton's speech last night.
And what are bloggers like the Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas and even Darryl Hannah up to?
From MSNBC.com's Tom Curry Shaheen said her opponent, first-term Republican Sen. John Sununu was until last week the Senate’s most endangered Republican.
“But when Ted Stevens got indicted I think that maybe” put Alaskan Stevens at the top of the endangered list, she noted.
“We’re hoping for an indictment against Sununu, but it hasn’t happened yet,” she told the crowd.
When I asked her as she was exiting the donors’ event what she meant by the “hoping for an indictment” comment, Shaheen got flustered and said, “Oh no, I was kidding. So I should probably not have said that. I was just -- trying to be funny.”
Sununu defeated Shaheen in 2002.
She said her comment was not intended to be an allusion to the 2002 phone-jamming case in which three Republican operatives were found guilty of violating federal communications law by arranging for the flooding of Democratic and union phone lines -- disrupting Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts and perhaps helping elect Sununu.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger The
McCain campaign reportedly plans to roll out its vice presidential choice throughout the weekend with rallies at sports arenas in Ohio on Friday, Pennsylvania on Saturday, and Missouri on Sunday.
If the plans are to be believed, it may very well rule out the potential for Sen.
Joe Lieberman to be McCain's running mate. Lieberman
, a religious Jew, does not campaign on Saturdays and most likely would not drive in the bus that is transporting McCain and his new VP. Lieberman was known to even skip his official Senate nomination at the Connecticut Democratic convention because it was held on a Saturday, and he adhered to the Sabbath while running with Al Gore in 2000 as well. He does vote when the Senate is in session on Saturdays, but walks to the Capitol.
Certainly, Lieberman could skip the Saturday event and rejoin McCain on Sunday outside of St. Louis. But it would be an awkward way to roll out an already controversial running mate.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama told a group of veterans and military families here today that McCain’s long career of service was not enough to earn their votes, arguing the Arizona senator would not fight for ordinary Americans.
“I honor John McCain’s service to our country, You know, he served in uniform with honor and distinction,” he said. “We owe him gratitude for that. But we don’t owe him our vote."
He then laid out what he said would be the choice in this election, saying McCain’s tax policies and his plans for the economy would leave average families out.
“Do we have a president who gets that people are struggling everyday, who gets that veterans are struggling everyday? Or do we have somebody who doesn’t get it?,” he asked. “Who wants to give more tax cuts to the big corporations including Exxon-Mobil? $300 billion worth, while leave 100 million people without any tax relief whatsoever?”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Katie Primm Hillary Clinton walked out on stage to begin her speech, only three people were leaning over from their barstools listening at the Avenue Grill here in downtown Denver. But by the time she finished, a crowd of people burst into applause.
The clientele at the Avenue Grill was a mixed bag. Some had supported Hillary from the beginning, even going out to caucus for her in February. Others had been anxiously awaiting her departure from the race so Obama could become the nominee.
But as Clinton spoke, the reactions were the same -- nodding heads, laughter, applause, and the repeated phrase “She nailed it.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger Obamas and the Bidens will take their show on the road beginning Friday, with a bus tour that will start in Pennsylvania -- and will later head to Ohio and Michigan. The tour, entitled “On the Road to Change,” will be the first campaign appearances for both candidates since formally accepting the Democratic Party nomination and will include both Michelle Obama and Jill Biden.
Details for the events have not been finalized. An Obama campaign press release said the tour would focus on economic issues. It will serve as counterprogramming as the Republian convention kicks off in Minnesota.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
VIDEO: Clinton urges her supporters to back Obama. NBC's David Gregory Reports. ***
When your staff doesn’t do you any favors: All that said, who in Hillaryland thought it was a good idea to step on the best speech of her political career by giving blind quotes about a future presidential campaign? She got tremendous accolades from Team Obama, but some Clinton staffer had to spill beans about the speech's motivation to the
New York Times . “Mrs. Clinton is almost certain to run for president in 2012 if Mr. Obama fails this time, several Clinton advisers said Tuesday, and any such plan could possibly founder if the Clintons’ negative feelings show through this year.” It's actually a good example of how no good deed goes unpunished by her staff, and it’s another reminder of how undisciplined her campaign would be right now had she won the Dem nomination. It's no wonder there's so little trust between the candidates when staff -- particularly hers, in this case -- undermines her unity efforts.
VIDEO: NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd weign in on Clinton's DNC speech and her husband's upcoming speech. ***
Just askin’: Did anyone else notice those “Hillary” signs that had the “hillaryclinton.com” address at the bottom? Always be debt retiring! Indeed, immediately after her speech, her folks sent out an email to contribute money.
***
The gloves come off: After last night’s round of speeches, we don’t think anyone is now going to wonder whether the Democratic convention is going too soft on McCain. In speech after speech, Democrats unloaded on the Arizona senator. They brought up his multiple houses, pointed out that he has said he doesn’t understand the economy, and (of course) tied him to President Bush at every opportunity. Beyond those attacks, though, they hit him hard in two ways that could end up proving especially damaging -- because McCain’s campaign doesn’t seem to have a clear response to them. The first was Mark Warner’s future-vs.-the past hit. “The race for the future is on,” he said, “And it won't be won with a president who is stuck in the past.” The McCain camp issued this tepid response to defend a candidate who admits he’s not a big computer user: “Whether it’s been rooting out corruption in politics, fighting global climate change or calling for a new strategy in Iraq John McCain has a record of making bipartisan change, and Barack Obama does not.” The second hard hit came with this line by Hillary: “[McCain] still thinks it's okay when women don't earn equal pay for equal work.” How does a candidate losing women by double digits respond? We’ll find out next week…
***
Schweitzer’s stem-winders: By the way, last night's keynote was supposed to be Mark Warner, but the governor with unlimited ambition who lit up the hall was Montana's Brian Schweitzer. Who knew he could give the rah-rah stem-winder? While he didn't get much attention from the networks, he was on in the 10:00 pm hour, and he got the crowd so worked up, the anchors had to take notice. One of the few surprises so far…
***
Biden's big moment: Now we turn to tonight’s program… Before last Thursday, it appeared Joe Biden would never get a moment like this. He wanted it, ran for president twice to get it, but it seemed the dream was going to die. And then, Obama gave Biden political redemption. The Delaware senator has been preparing for this moment for half his life. He's been a senator for more than half his life. As he likes to point out, he was the Obama of the '88 campaign. Biden may have the unenviable task of having to follow Bill Clinton tonight, but if anyone is up to the task, it's him. Ask any union member about Biden's ability to bring down a house. He's got it in him; let's see if he can pull it off.
***
Elvis is in the building: We swear that tonight's featured speech is Joe Biden, seriously, it is. But it's not the speech that's getting the early buzz -- that belongs to the anticipated remarks of Bill Clinton. What will he say? How will he say it? Will he make an Obama pitch or a generic argument for the Democratic way of governing? Our sense: Bill's a competitive guy, he wants to show Obama why he'd be an asset and why he might be better suited at making the case against McCain. The one thing that would surprise us: If someone ends up describing the speech as unremarkable.
VIDEO: Romney appears on Morning Joe, handicapping Biden as a VP contender. ***
No rest for the weary: Politico reports that McCain’s pick is coming Friday, and the CW is back pointing in Romney's direction, who happens to be in Denver. He was pretty solid today on Morning Joe, talking up the need for McCain to carry Michigan. He sounded like a guy ready for the call.
***
A good day for the DSCC, a bad day (maybe) for the DCCC: Alaska held its primaries last night, offering the possibility that the state’s longest-serving Republicans -- Ted Stevens and Don Young, both whom face legal/ethical troubles -- could go down to defeat. Well, it turns out that one may. Per the Anchorage Daily News, Young trails GOP challenger Sean Parnell by fewer than 200 votes. A Parnell win would complicate the Democrats’ chances of winning the seat. Somewhat surprisingly, however, Stevens -- who is indicted and faces a trial on corruption charges in the fall -- easily won his primary. And that’s good news for Democratic challenger Mark Begich, who now seems even more in the driver’s seat in that contest. [
***UPDATE*** Young is actually
now ahead by 145 votes with 429 of 438 precincts reporting. Democrats are gearing up either way, believing that Parnell's inability to pull away from a candidate under investigation by the FBI, signifies, one strategist said, "the more Alaskans saw of Parnell, the less they liked him."]
***
Today’s convention schedule: Wednesday’s theme is Securing America’s Future (a focus on foreign affairs, as well as a tribute to veterans, active duty military, and military families). The marquee speakers are Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. Also speaking: Sen. Evan Bayh, Sen. Jack Reed, former Sen. Tom Daschle, Sen. John Kerry, Gov. Bill Richardson, Rep. Chet Edwards, and ex-congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth. Also, the formal roll-call vote takes place in the afternoon.
***
The RNC’s response: Rudy Giuliani, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, and former Treasury Secretary Rosario Marin hold a press conference in Denver to rebut the Democrats on the issue of national security.
***
Also in Denver: Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Dem Senate candidates hold a press conference at 1:15 pm ET at the Colorado Convention Center to discuss the upcoming Senate races, 1:15 pm ET... Officials with the Western Majority Project discuss energy issues at 4:30 pm ET at the Colorado Convention Center.
***
On the trail: McCain is in Arizona, where he does some filming for his campaign. Obama holds a discussion with military families in Billings, MT.
Countdown to GOP convention: 5 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 69 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 146 days
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Washington Post’s Balz writes, "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton roused the Democratic National Convention here Tuesday night with sharp criticism of Sen. John McCain and a full-throated endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama ... urging Democrats to put the long and bitter primary battle behind them and unite to take back the White House in November.
But
you think this will make some in the Obama campaign happy ? “At the same time, advisers said, Mrs. Clinton wanted to ensure that her star turn at the convention could never be portrayed as insufficiently enthusiastic, should Mr. Obama lose the election in part because swaths of her supporters ultimately did not vote for him. Mrs. Clinton is almost certain to run for president in 2012 if Mr. Obama fails this time, several Clinton advisers said Tuesday, and any such plan could possibly founder if the Clintons’ negative feelings show through this year.”
The AP’s Ron Fournier writes, “By the time she was done, Sen. Clinton had delivered a strong, convincing affirmation of Obama and, just as importantly, a thumping of McCain. She did her part. Her husband takes the stage Wednesday and then Obama must make his case to the American people that he will be ready on Day One.” More: “Clinton seemed to say, even if Obama is everything she said during the campaign, he's still a better man than McCain. The speech was as much of an attack on McCain as it was an embrace of Obama. ‘We don't need four more years of the last eight years,’ she said.”
The
Boston Globe calls Clinton's speech an "impassioned call for unity." "In an address closely scrutinized for perceived slights against Obama, Clinton threw herself fully behind the man she battled and often criticized during a long and at times bitter primary campaign."
Peter Canellos : "This was a Clinton speech that didn't require any parsing of words. In a fiery call to arms last night, Hillary Clinton tried to clear up the one thing that hadn't been clear before: Her level of enthusiasm for making Barack Obama president. In past speeches, she has offered sincere endorsements of Obama, but then gone on to extol the accomplishments of her own campaign. This time, perhaps sensing a greater urgency, she offered repeated appeals on Obama's behalf."
CONTINUED >>
Pegged to the foreign policy night of Obama’s convention, the McCain camp says it’s up with a
new TV ad -- to air in key states (read: not it’s regular battleground buy) -- that hits Obama on the issue of Iran. It goes, “Iran. Radical Islamic government. Known sponsors of terrorism. Developing nuclear capabilities to "generate power" but threatening to eliminate Israel. Obama says Iran is a "tiny" country, "doesn't pose a serious threat.” Terrorism, destroying Israel, those aren't "serious threats"? Obama -- dangerously unprepared to be president.
Some nuggets on tonight’s big speakers: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE, Obama’s vice presidential pick)
-- Delaware's longest-serving senator. He was first elected to the Senate when he was 29; five weeks later, his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident.
-- Currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; also chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.
-- A son of Scranton, as the Obama campaign is emphasizing, his grandfather was a state senator in battleground Pennsylvania.
-- Ran for president in 1988, but bowed out after he was accused of plagiarizing a speech from a British politician.
-- Suffered a brain aneurysm in 1988.
-- Son Beau Biden was elected Delaware attorney general in 2006. He is also going to be deployed to Iraq in October as a member of the National Guard.
-- Advocate of Amtrak -- commutes to 80 minutes each way daily to DC from Wilmington; he's come to know the Amtrak crew workers personally and hosts an annual Christmas dinner for them.
-- Used against him by the right, this quote defending Obama's belief that Afghanistan is the central front on the war on terrorism: "If John wants to know where the bad guys live, come back with me to Afghanistan," Biden said. "We know where they reside. And it's not in Iraq."
-- Affectionately called "
The Champ " by his father, a car dealership manager.
-- The gregarious Biden who famously answered, "Yes," in an NBC News debate about whether or not he could keep his gaffes to himself, actually suffered from a stutter as a child.
-- Named his dog, "Senator" when he was in college.
-- What’s with Joe Biden and root canals? In 1991, during Clarence Thomas' hearings -- while he was chair of the judiciary committee -- Biden had to go to the dentist twice in the middle of the night for a root canal, so he wouldn’t miss any hearings. Ironically, he found out about being selected by Obama as his vice presidential pick when he was with his wife at the dentist, where she was getting a root canal.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) -- The 2004 Democratic nominee
endorsed Obama Jan. 10 -- after Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire primary victory.
-- Volunteer on Ted Kennedy's first Senate campaign in 1962
-- In 1972, he was the only Democratic candidate for Congress to lose a district that George McGovern won.
-- Facing first primary challenger in his 24-year Senate career, long-shot Ed O'Reilly
-- Criticized Bill Clinton's rhetoric leading up to the South Carolina primary: "I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it's been over the top."
Bill Clinton -- The former president is a New York superdelegate. No word on if he, like his wife, will cast his roll call vote for Obama. And it’s unclear if he will attend Obama’s speech at Invesco.
-- Compared Barack Obama's win in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson's, inciting charges of inserting race into the campaign: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here."
-- In the wake of the primary campaign, in which some thought he crossed a line in his criticism of Barack Obama, he's sought to repair his image, telling ABC News from Rwanda in the beginning of August: "There are things I wish I'd urged her to do, things I wish I had said, things I wish I hadn't said. But I am not a racist, I never made a racist comment, and I didn't attack him personally."
-- In the same interview, he also appeared reluctant to give a full defense of Obama's readiness to be president: "You can argue that nobody is ready to be president. I certainly learned a lot about the job in the first year, He clearly can inspire and motivate people and energize them which is a very important part of being president. And he's smart as a whip so there's nothing he can't learn."
-- As recently as Tuesday,
The Hill reported Bill Clinton seemed to question whether Democrats were making the right decision in nominating Obama, posing a hypothetical question to a group of foreign dignitaries in Denver: "Suppose for example you're a voter. And you've got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues, but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom would you vote?" He added, "This has nothing to do with what's going on now."
From NBC's Luke Russert Another busy day today but the night was capped with an unbelievable story. I rush to the Pepsi Center and get in the doors just before Senator Clinton’s speech. After the speech, the press scopes out the second floor to see President Clinton and try to get a comment from him.
After about 15 minutes of waiting, I see the trademark white hair and President Clinton walking down the hallway flanked by at least a dozen Secret Service guards. I quickly jockey for position on the left side of the hallway and avoid the Secret Service’s attempt to move me out of the way. I catch Clinton’s eye and promptly put out my hand. Not only does he shake it, he gives me a big bear hug.
He stops in his tracks while a blitzkrieg of flash bulbs go off and asks me, “How’d my girl do?” I respond, “Well, Mr. President. Judging from the crowd’s reaction, pretty good.” He then says, “She did great, I’m so proud of her. She hit a home run. Home run. Home run.”
I walk with the president and long-time Clinton friend and trusted advisor, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee Terry McAuliffe. We board the elevator with a dozen Secret Service agents and proceed to exit the building. On the ride down I mention to McAuliffe that Senator Clinton seemed sad at the end speech and ask if her speech would give her closure. He responds, “She was over this a month ago.”
A little while later, President Clinton’s communications director Matt McKenna says the rest of the ride is “off the record.” We exit the elevator and President Clinton enters his SUV, after taking a picture with some admirers. He then gets out of the car and goes to another part of the Pepsi Center.
It was an incredible experience and one that I will not soon forget.
CONTINUED >>
There was lots of focus on Hillary, but Mark Warner was last night's keynoter: "Warner
rebuked President Bush and GOP nominee-to-be John McCain, but his address was hardly a summons to political arms against them. He mentioned McCain's name only twice, and he said he'd learned in the cell phone business that made him millions that a strategy of tearing down the competition doesn't suffice."
The
New York Daily News' Hinckley : "Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, the keynote speaker at a Democratic convention that has so far come down to two glowing stars, one revered warhorse and a lot of single-battery flashlights, exuded the quiet confidence of a man who wouldn't be surprised to find himself back at the same podium someday in a different situation."
Warner is the top story of the
Richmond Times-Dispatch .
The
Boston Globe's editorial board goes after cable news: "The best way to watch a political convention is on C-Span. That way Americans can make their own judgments unfiltered, without being told what to think by the nattering nabobs of TV commentary. The latest 'narrative' making its way around the Democratic convention here is that the Obama campaign hasn't learned the lesson of John Kerry's 2004 convention, in which the nominee failed to directly attack President Bush. CNN commentator Soledad O'Brien even asked late Monday night whether Michelle Obama's introductory speech shouldn't have been tougher on the Republicans. Of course, if the early days of the convention had presented a more negative tone, the talking heads would be complaining that the Democrats can only say what they are against, not what they are for."
The McCain campaign may contend that Obama is the "biggest celebrity" in the presidential race, NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy notes, but its candidate has spent most of this week hobnobbing with as many GOP celebrities as his campaign can find.
On Monday, McCain kicked off the Democratic Convention with an endorsement from Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee. He then hopped on a plane to fly up north for a fundraiser in Sacramento with Patricia Heaton (from “Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Heaton then traveled to Burbank, CA on McCain's Straight Talk Jet Monday afternoon to attend a fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton featuring stars from both big and small screens. Those in attendance included Robert Duvall, Gary Sinise, Stephen Baldwin, Craig T. Nelson, Dean Cain (Lois and Clark), Jon Cryer, and long-time McCain supporter Wilford Brimley.
Then on Tuesday, McCain raised money in his hometown of Phoenix and was introduced by TV and movie star Angie Harmon and her husband, long time NY Giants defensive back Jason Sehorn. Capping off the star-studded start to the week, McCain took a brief afternoon trip to San Diego yesterday, making a surprise appearance at a fundraiser hosted by John Voigt.
Politico reports that McCain “is planning to rollout his vice-presidential nominee in three battleground states this weekend, with large-scale rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri, according to aides and advisers. The GOP nominee-in-waiting will move to immediately change the campaign conversation from Barack Obama’s football stadium acceptance speech Thursday to the new Republican ticket, to be revealed at a noontime Friday rally in a Dayton, Ohio, basketball arena. McCain and his running mate will then travel by bus to Pennsylvania, where they’ll hold an outdoor event at a minor league baseball stadium in Washington County, just southwest of Pittsburgh. On Sunday, the duo will head to suburban St. Louis for another event to be held at a minor league baseball stadium, this one in O’Fallon, Mo.”
CONTINUED >>
Senator Barack Obama's campaign has been
aggressively fighting back against an independent advocacy group's TV ad linking the Democratic nominee with Ayers… The advocacy group's main benefactor is a Texas billionaire who has given money to John McCain and other Republicans and who was also one of the main funders of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which went after Kerry.
Obama's "campaign has warned TV station managers not to run the ad and has asked the US Department of Justice to intervene. The Obama camp argued that the organization, the American Issues Project, is violating the law. Fox News and CNN have declined to air the anti-Obama ad, the AP says. But by Monday afternoon, the ad had run about 150 times in local markets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, an ad tracking firm."
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum McCain and linking him to President Bush .
Pennsylvania on the attack Clinton won Pennsylvania during the primaries and Gov. Ed Rendell enthusiastically supported the New York senator, both Rendell and Sen. Bob Casey took a lead in attacks with forceful language. Rendell went after the lobbyists working for McCain's campaign. as mentioned earlier , called McCain Bush's sidekick. "The people of Pennsylvania can't afford four more years of Bush-Cheney economics, and you know what -- with John McCain, that's exactly what we'd get. John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush over 90 percent of the time. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann DENVER, Colo. -- On the night of a powerful message of unity delivered by a resolute Hillary
Clinton , you'd think that the New York senator's former staff members would be uplifted, inspired, and energized.
Not so much.
"Where's the nearest river I can throw myself in?" asked one forlorn former aide exiting the Pepsi Center.
"I might cry," said another.
"Let's drink."
Former staffers agreed that Hillary Clinton's speech was on-point, effective and exquisitely delivered. But their frustration over her endorsement of Obama, rather than the nominating speech for which they long worked in vain, was palpable.
Some said they might not attend
Obama's Invesco Field speech on Thursday at all.
From NBC's Mark Hudspeth Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs said in a statement to the traveling press corps: "After leaving the house party, Sen. Obama called and talked for several minutes with Sen. Hillary Clinton , saying how grateful he was for her support, that she gave a terrific speech, and that all those he watched with in Billings, MT were moved by her video and introduction from Chelsea . Also said he loved her line 'No way, no how, no McCain.'"
"Sen. Obama also called and spoke with President Bill Clinton for several minutes, saying Sen. Clinton could not have been better and made the case for change. Obama said he knew how proud he must have been watching as he was last night watching Michelle speak and how grateful he was for their support."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Richardson took a bit of a swipe at Bill Clinton after Hillary Clinton's rousing speech.
She was "sending a signal to her supporters -- and maybe her husband -- that they should go all out for Barack Obama," Richardson told NBC's David Gregory from the convention floor.
There was friction between Clinton and Richardson during the primary season after Richardson, who served in the Clinton cabinet, came out in support of Obama. Richardson even watched the Super Bowl with Bill Clinton -- as the former president was courting his support. When Richardson threw his support to Obama, former Clinton adviser James Carville went so far as to call the New Mexico governor, "Judas."
NBC News has confirmed that Hillary Clinton will be at Obama's Invesco speech. Bill Clinton's plans, however, remain unclear.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Clinton kicked off her much-anticipated speech here at the Democratic National Convention with a call for unity and some sharp words for John McCain .Obama ," Clinton began.
"I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.
"No way. No how. No McCain.
"Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President."
*** UPDATE ***
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Abigail Williams
Never failing to provide a good show, Dennis Kucinch did not disappoint tonight. He gave what may be the most lively performance yet at this year's Democratic National Convention.
Dedicating his speech to Stephanie Tubbs Jones , Kucinich started with a heavy attack on the current administration that only became more blunt as the speech continued.
"Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis while all of the president's oil men are maneuvering to grab Iraq's oil."
Lines like, "money to start a hot war with Iran, now we have another cold war with Russia," left far more of the audience in laughter than serious contemplation, but that did not stop Kucinich from continuing his rampage.
CONTINUED >>
From MSNBC.com's Tom Curry Carper of Delaware was settled in a banquette, receiving friends and allies late Tuesday afternoon. The place was jammed with Democratic financiers and friends of the party, the same people you see at every Democratic convention every four years.
The new era may give you “change you can believe in,” but one thing that is not likely to change is the power of the trial lawyers within the Democratic Party.
The American Association of Trial Lawyers of America -- rechristened as the American Association for Justice -- had a very well-attended reception Tuesday evening downstairs at the Monaco.
In our 10 minutes mingling with guests, we spotted eight House members, including Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers and Judiciary Committee members Betty Sutton , Steve Cohen and Adam Schiff .
We also saw three senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, as well as former New Hampshire governor and current Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen , and Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland.
We asked one Democratic House member from Connecticut, who was in attendance but asked to not be quoted by name, whether he would be flying to the Twin Cities to represent the Democrats at the Republican convention.
“No,” he laughed, “Connecticut will already be well represented there!” That led to a spirited debate on sidewalk outside the Monaco the question of whether John McCain really would pick Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Consensus: no, he just couldn’t.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Mark Murray Casey went right after John McCain and unveiled a new line of attack, sure to be repated -- and already used by keynoter Mark Warner .
"Four more months" may become a new mantra in Campaign '08 for the Democrats.
"The people of Pennsylvania can't afford four more years of Bush -Cheney economics, and with John McCain, that's exactly what we'd get," Casey said. "John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush 90 percent of the time. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick."
And later: "The Bush-McCain Republicans inherited the strongest economy in history and drove it into a ditch. They cut taxes on the wealthiest of us and passed on the pain to the least of us. They ran up the debt, gave huge subsidies to big oil companies, and now they're asking for four more years. How 'bout four more months? We can't afford four more years of deficit and debt, drift and desperation. Not four more years. Four more months."
CONTINUED >>
Per NBC/NJ's Athena Jones BILLINGS, Mont. -- Obama will watch Hillary Clinton's convention speech with a local family here, the campaign said.
He watched keynoter Mark Warner's speech from his hotel.
Obama last night watched wife Michelle's speech with a family in Kansas City, Mo. Might we see another cameo?
From NBC's Savannah Guthrie DENVER --
Live from the floor... Spotted: Patti Solis Doyle and Howard Wolfson exchanging enthusiastic waves across the floor. Guess no heard feelings...
From MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski Obama campaign Chief Strategist David Axelrod insisted in a brief phone interview with NBC News that all this talk of friction with Clintons is "B.S."
He says the Clintons have been completely open and on board with full support for Obama. Hillary Clinton is giving the campaign full access to what she plans to say, Axelrod said, adding that they will not be surprised by her speech.
Asked if Bill Clinton's is showing them his speech as well, Axelrod said it's not written yet.
Asked if they were worried that there was not more of a gap in the polls, he said he does not care about the Daily Gallup Tracking poll -- that have their own data and are happy with what they see.
From NBC's Pete Williams
"These were hateful, bigoted threats but made by meth heads, abusers, all of whom were impaired at the time and cannot be corroborated," said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid. There's a difference, he said, "between a true threat and the racist rantings of drug abusers."
Court documents say the first report of a threat came from a girlfriend of one of the men who attended a meth party in a Denver hotel room, the Hyatt Regency Tech Center. One of the men told her (erroneously) that "Obama had a suite on the third floor of the hotel."
One person present talked about trying to hide a gun in a camera. There were references to a "grassy knoll." And while one of them has admitted to investigators that he made threatening statements about Obama in the past, investigators are not certain that the effects of the meth the men were taking had even yet fully worn off.
Investigators also say they have found no evidence of any plot -- no maps, no documents, no lists. One official says a laptop computer was found in a search belonging to one of the men, but it contained no such evidence, either.
For now, prosecutors say they're "keeping an open mind" about the case but have yet to find any credible evidence of a threat.
From NBC's Cherelle Kantey Obama and Clinton supporters, the Republican National Committee held a "Happy Hour for Hillary,"
About 75 people floated in and out of the hip Paramount Café here to share drinks and trade viewpoints. The mostly female crowd of Hillary supporters flanked in Hillary buttons and “Nobama” stickers were willing to share their woes with all who would listen.
“We worked hard together,” said Kathy Archuleta, who recalled making numerous phone calls as a volunteer and loaning the campaign money. “It couldn’t have been very easy for her to just drop it.”
Wearing a brown T-shirt with "Hillary" written across it in blue, Archuleta said she was outraged that Sen. Clinton’s historic run for the presidency ended in heartbreak. “Women are realizing we’re not being recognized. We’re being treated like second-class citizens.”
Among the crowd of middle-aged women stood Wayne Singleton, an African-American male, who said he can’t throw his support behind Sen. Obama because of flaws in the nominating system. Singleton, an organizer for People of Color PUMAS, said that since Obama didn’t win the popular vote during the primary season, he is prepared to protest the DNC’s decision by voting for John McCain . (Actually, Obama won the popular vote by almost every metric, except for the one that counted Hillary Clinton's vote in Michigan, where Obama wasn't on the ballot.)
CONTINUED >>
From MSNBC.com's Lauren Vicary Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama ran into each other backstage at the Emily's list event this afternoon.
Chelsea was with Hillary, and the three of them chatted for about five minutes until HRC was pulled away to give her speech.
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann DENVER, CO -- Anna Burger is on her fourth draft in six days.
Burger, the secretary-general of the influential Service Employees International Union, is scheduled to make a primetime address tonight in front of an audience of thousands at the Democratic National Convention. She's had a week to prepare her remarks, which will focus on the efforts of labor groups like SEIU to ease the economic strain of working families.
It's a lot to fit in to the three minutes allotted for the speech, she admits. "But I think I've got it down."
Writing a successful convention speech is hardly a walk in the rhetorical park. The delegates on the floor can be antsy, noisy, and inattentive. (Those funny hats and Sly and the Family Stone dance party intermissions hardly make for spellbound audiences.). And delegates are sure to be particularly chatty tonight during the run-up to Hillary Clinton's much-awaited remarks to supporters still not sold on Obama .
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Clinton supporters who are not exactly happy with Obama -- they're the loudest and most colorful.
One such individual, who could certainly be described as a PUMA, was unabashed in her criticism of the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Jeamour Matthew, who apparently has a blog profile here , shouted blatant falsehoods from a 16th St. sidewalk about Obama's youth and policies, threw out inflammatory language like “racist,” “liar” and “cheater” to describe the Illinois senator and handed out bright, yellow flyers promoting Hillary Clinton. She described herself as an ardent Clinton supporter and volunteer and said she would never vote for Obama. She would rather vote for McCain , “a real American,” she said.
But this sentiment isn't exactly overwhelming, however. Most ignored the woman and some even politely attempted to engage her in a policy debate and correct her “facts” -- unsuccessfully -- before walking away.
“I'm very pragmatic about this process,” said Misha Houser, a Clinton pledged delegate from California. “Internal fighting doesn't do us any good.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Biden surprised a crowd here as he joined Michelle Obama and female governors for a roundtable discussion of women’s issues. Amid continued chatter that former Hillary Clinton supporters are not fully on board with the Democratic ticket, the Delaware senator made a direct pitch to a mostly female audience.
“You know, I know my role,” Biden joked as he looked around the stage full of women. “I have been surrounded my whole life by very strong, strong women. … I mean this sincerely: I think you can tell the comfort a man has with women and whether or not he gets it or not by the women, if the women around him are strong.”
Relating to some of the stories of the women invited to join the discussion, Biden noted that for a time he was a single parent. And later, after panelists recounted personal battles that involved health care, education and the economy, Biden challenged Republicans to show how they could call themselves a party of values.
“What is the greater obligation of the country -- to give some very, very wealthy people who are good people an additional hundred billion dollars in tax cuts, or provide healthcare for every American, solve every story you've heard up here?” he asked. “I really think you've got to let this sink in, Democrats. This is not something that's beyond our reach. It's all about what your priorities are.”
Michelle Obama introduced Biden by calling him a “man who knows firsthand how hard it can be to balance work and family.” She also said he led Congress in the fight against domestic violence, and has always been “fighting for us.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy and NBC's Mark Murray PHOENIX, AZ -- Speaking before the American Legion National Convention here today, McCain said that it fell upon him to officially welcome the 89-year-old group to his home state.
“Our governor is out of town, up in Denver for some big party they're throwing there,” McCain said, jokingly referring to the Democrat’s convention. “I guess my invitation got lost in the mail.”
Although the group will hear a video from Obama tomorrow, McCain used his speech today to criticize his opponent’s stance on America’s role as a superpower. Referring to Obama’s speech in Berlin, McCain said that he had a “chance to express such confidence in America” -- but passed it up.
“He was the picture of confidence, but in some ways the confidence in one's self and confidence in one's country are not the same,” McCain said.
In fact, in that Berlin speech, Obama expressed plenty of confidence in America. "I also know how much I love America," the Illinois senator said that day. "I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived -- at great cost and great sacrifice -- to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world... What has always united us -- what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America’s shores -- is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama continued to polish his anti-McCain argument here, boiling it down to one simple idea.
"I don't think he realizes what ordinary American families are going through," he said at a town hall at a town hall of about 250 airplane maintenance workers and party activists. "I don't think the Bush Administration understands what ordinary Americans are going through, but I do and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America."
The event, at a maintenance facility for American Airlines that has lost jobs in recent years, was focused on Obama's plans for the economy and energy. The senator opened by praising his wife Michelle's Monday night convention speech before going on to talk about the challenges families are facing with rising fuel prices and home foreclosures and declining home values.
In Michelle's address last night, as well as in recent remarks by Obama and running mate Joe Biden , the campaign has increasingly sought to portray the first-term senator as a man of the people who will be a fighter for hard-working families and listen to their voices -- an argument that is likely to be part of his acceptance speech on Thursday.
"Who is gonna be listening to you? Who has been for the last 20 years standing side by side with you? Making sure that unions can organize, making sure that people who don't have health insurance are getting health insurance, making sure that kids can go to college who couldn't go before?," Obama asked. "Who has a track record of fighting for you? 'Cause that's what you need -- you need somebody who every single day gets it."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Joe Biden told members of his home-state delegation this morning the honor of being tapped as the vice presidential nominee “pales in comparison” to the feelings he has for the people of Delaware.
Biden noted that most of his life has been lived in the public arena, since “y’all got me started so young,” and thanked the small contingent of delegates for helping him and his family through tragedy.
“I wish we could have done this in private, because you know, I don’t know whether I would have made it through a lot of the tough times in my life without you guys,” he said. “You’re a big deal. The Democratic Party’s been my home. The Delaware Democratic Party has been my family.”
In brief remarks, Biden also joked that the only reason he accepted the VP nod was “so the Delaware delegation could be moved up front.” He said he’s used to operating as a “one-man band,” but that he was happy to be part of a team, praising the Obamas for the welcome they’ve felt. In particular, Biden said that Michelle Obama’s speech last night would be remembered years from now as a turning point in the campaign.
“Not Barack Obama , not Joe Biden, not Ted Kennedy , but Michelle Obama's speech,” he said. “She gave a window to the American people into who she is and what she is and what really goes through her brain. And it was absolutely just incredible and I promise you, it's real.”
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
Tonight, Clinton happened to be referring to a reception for a women's organization called "Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence," a group that grants support to female-owned microbusinesses.
But the irony was not lost on the senator from New York.
Noting her banter earlier in the day with a colleague who asked about her plans for the first night of the convention, Clinton said that she replied, "I'm going to count me in!"
Per Clinton's story, the friend replied incredulously, "Are you talking about the roll call?"
The joke, which wasn't followed up with a particularly vehement denial from the smiling senator, was met with cheers and giggles from the crowd of several hundred -- mostly women -- who clamored for a glimpse of Clinton at the nighttime event at the Denver Art Museum.
(Yet as the AP reported last night, the Clinton and Obama camps have agreed to limit the roll call vote. "The deal would allow some states to cast votes for both Obama and Clinton before ending the roll call in acclamation for the Illinois senator. Clinton herself may cut off the vote and recommend unanimous nomination of Obama, according to Democratic officials involved in the negotiations.")
Despite the reference to the possible lingering intraparty tensions signaled by the Clinton upcoming roll call vote, the former presidential candidate offered up words of praise both for both a newly-minted political rival and for the wife of one-time opponent Barack Obama. Clinton lauded Obama endorser Senator Ted Kennedy's "fighting spirit" after his surprise appearance at the DNC despite a dehabilitating brain tumor. "And didn't Michelle Obama do a wonderful job tonight as well?" she added.
Without mentioning the name of her former rival and his new vice presidential pick, Clinton also noted the support that the Democratic ticket would have for programs like "Count Me In."
"It's very exciting that we have a chance to elect a president and a vice president who will help us make the dreams of so many Americans come true again," she said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Levine Michelle Obama popped up at an Irish pub in downtown Denver. Some 200 convention-goers, media folks, and political heavyweights were mingling outside Fado Irish Pub, waiting for the famed Second City comedy clan to perform as part of a "Chicago Night in Denver," hosted by Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Dick Durbin . But Michelle Obama stole the show before Second City even got on stage. The crowd roared with applause when Emanuel and Durbin introduced the special guest.
Reflecting on her speech just hours before, Michelle told the crowd, "This was a great night, not only for the Obama campaign, but for our nation." She added, "Barack and I are going to work hard to make you proud... He is more than ready to be commander-in-chief." But, she told the crowd, "We have to do our part. We need to register voters." She promised that the campaign would push hard in Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, and other swing states, saying that "when people know who Barack Obama is ... when they know what our family stands for" they'll support him. After only a few minutes on stage, she thanked the crowd and left the party.
The Second City comedians were up next, but Michelle Obama was a hard act to follow. Their half-hour set took aim at a wide swath of targets (the GOP Convention in Minneapolis, site of Larry Craig's dalliance with a police officer, bloggers, immigration opponents, John McCain's Iraq policy, Al Gore ), but the set fell flat with most of the crowd, which talked right through it.
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Up-Hil night: The Washington Post's Cocco may have nailed tonight better than anyone today: Hillary can't win. She may not be able to find her Goldilocks moment and strike a "just right" balance tonight of both advancing her own political future and proving that she really does want Obama to win and that she really does believe Obama can be president. Everything in Clinton's speech will be parsed, and not just the words, but her body language. The good news for her, the expectations are very low in this sense. No one expects her to be able to pull this off convincingly. Of course, this isn't the only Clinton night and one wonders given all the Bill drama that's bubbled up over the last 24 hours (particularly over the content of his speech), why Obama chose to give the Clintons two convention nights. Shouldn't Obama have gotten all of this Clinton stuff out of the way tonight? By the way, there is another speech on the docket tonight that is technically labeled the "keynote." Mark Warner, a candidate for US Senate in the swing state of Virginia, has the unenviable task of speaking not just on Hillary night but also having to follow Barack Obama in a sense since Obama was the LAST keynote speaker. In an interview on MSNBC, Warner seemed to hint that his speech would be more in line with Obama's (at least in tone) than, say, an Ann Richards from 1988.
*** McCain survives night one: As we've noted before, Obama has three goals at this convention: 1) making contrasts with McCain, 2) filling in his biography, and 3) uniting the party. Last night, the convention attempted to begin dealing with all three issues. Early in the evening, viewers were treated to a taste of some anti-McCain speeches; of course, only C-SPAN viewers may have received the full impact of those diatribes. As for the other two goals, between Kennedy and Michelle, the campaign can claim it made progress on unity (don't the Clinton-Obama rifts seem petty after seeing Teddy?) and on biography (Michelle O. was as pitch perfect as she can be in presenting her story, but if there's one critique of her speech is that it was more about her than Barack, but maybe that was the point.) As for the attempts to contrast with McCain, the GOP campaign and other strategists we've communicated with believe McCain went a lot more unscathed than, say, Obama will be after Night One of the Republican convention. Then again, with Michelle as the marquee speaker, the Dems were never going to go guns blazing the first night. Expect that tonight (which is focused on the economy) and tomorrow (foreign affairs).
*** Stoking the flames: The McCain camp has done an excellent job stoking the Clinton-Obama feud narrative. This morning, the camp is releasing another ad that is supposedly airing in "key states" (translation: maybe it gets a rotation on the noon news today in Denver). Regardless, the aggressiveness the McCain camp is showing against Obama during his convention week is notable. And speaking of the McCain camp, remember when one-time Bush media guru and McCain champion Mark McKinnon decided to step away from the '08 campaign once it became clear Obama would be the Dem nominee? Well, he's back -- sort of. Per NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, McKinnon's helping Cindy McCain with her convention week prep, including a family video. When pressed, the campaign acknowledged that while McKinnon is largely on the strategic sidelines, he does provide occasional advice on the campaign ad efforts.
*** Today’s convention schedule: Tuesday’s convention theme is Renewing America’s Promise, and it has a focus on the economy and energy. Hillary Clinton gives the primetime speech, and former Virginia Gov. (and current Senate candidate) Mark Warner delivers the keynote address. Check out some of the additional speakers, a slew of folks who aren't afraid of showing off their sharp tongues (yes, Rahm and Eddie, we mean you): Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, former Energy and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
*** The RNC’s response: Mitt Romney and Reps. Eric Cantor, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Marsha Blackburn hold a press conference at the RNC’s Denver headquarters at 3:15 pm ET to counter Obama on the economy.
*** Also in Denver: Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama attend an Emily’s List gala at 4:300 pm ET… Pelosi and Reps. Steny Hoyer, James Clyburn, and Rahm Emanuel talk energy independence at Union Station at 1:00 pm ET… Bill Richardson discusses the Hispanic vote at the Colorado Convention Center at 4:30 pm ET
*** On the trail: McCain begins his day in Phoenix, where he addresses the American Legion and raises money. After that, he heads to a fundraiser in San Diego with the actor Jon Voight. Obama, meanwhile, campaigns in Kansas City, MO. Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
With Hillary Clinton giving tonight’s primetime speech, today’s coverage is dominated by Clinton-Obama rift stories. The Los Angeles Times : "The big question of the presidential election, says L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, is not whether America is ready for a black president. Rather, he asks, ‘Are the Clintons ready?’
More: "Instead, in interviews with delegates and aides to the rival camps, it was clear Monday that tensions have only swelled since the heat of a primary competition fraught with racial, gender and generational differences. Obama backers are frustrated that the Clintons do not seem willing to let go of their 16-year dominance of the Democratic Party, while Clinton aides complained privately that the young presumed nominee is not paying them proper respect -- a tension heightened by the revelation that Obama never seriously considered his rival as a running mate."
But the Washington Post’s Ann Kornblut writes that Clinton knew she wasn’t being seriously considered for the No.2 slot. “In a private meeting with Sen. Barack Obama after she conceded the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made a request: that he consider her for his vice presidential running mate, but not put her through the charade of being vetted if he was not serious. Obama told Clinton then it was unlikely he would choose her, people familiar with the conversation said. Obama did not want to lead her on and, after campaigning against her for more than a year, already had a sense that their pairing would not be the right fit.”
The New York Times’ Healy compares the struggles facing the Kennedy family (personal) vs. the Clinton family (political). "As one political dynasty was celebrating its legacy and ceding the political stage on Monday night, the other dominant family of the Democratic Party was struggling to protect its legacy and accept its own exit from the spotlight. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton had once hoped this convention would be theirs, an exultation of past and future Clinton White Houses. Instead, they were coming face to face with shrunken, supporting roles."
CONTINUED >>
The New York Times : “Senator Edward M. Kennedy, struggling with brain cancer, arrived on Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in a triumphant appearance that evoked 50 years of party history as Democrats gathered to nominate Senator Barack Obama for president. Mr. Kennedy’s appearance wiped away, at least for the evening, some of the tension that continued to plague the party in the wake of the primary fight between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. It also represented an effort by the Obama campaign to claim the Kennedy mantle, and it set the stage for the second part of what was designed to be an emotionally powerful two-act evening: an appearance later by Michelle Obama, who began a weeklong effort to present her husband - and his entire family - as embodiments of the American dream.”
The Washington Post : After an emotional speech by an ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the face of the Democratic Party shifted on Monday night to a new generation of leaders, as Michelle Obama opened the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to her husband and a call to the country to listen ‘to our hopes instead of our fears,’ and ‘to stop doubting and to start dreaming.’”
USA Today has more on Michelle’s speech: “Michelle Obama, whose husband calls her ‘the star’ of their family, introduced herself Monday to the Democratic convention in a heartfelt speech invoking the dreams of her father and the hopes of her husband for the nation. ‘Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do,’ Obama said. ‘You treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.”
The Los Angeles Times' Z. Barabak : "For all of the upbeat talk, tensions continued to stir between supporters of the Illinois senator and Hillary Rodham Clinton, threatening the unity that Democrats desperately seek as they face a rugged fight against Republican John McCain. None of that friction was visible, however, during the official program beamed worldwide from the star-spangled inside of Denver's Pepsi Center sports arena. The agenda was clear and two-pronged: Build an image of Obama as an everyman and start ripping McCain apart."
Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama are six columns wide on the Boston Globe's cover . Headline: "Democrats share their dreams."
CONTINUED >>
There hasn't been much of a problem with protestors, but last night there was some violence . "Police in riot gear clashed last night with about 300 protesters about a mile from the site of the Democratic National Convention, and some of the demonstrators were hit with pepper spray." In fact, one of us spoke briefly with one bloodied and bruised teenager on the streets, and he was proud of his wounds -- almost a Fight Club mentality. He wasn't even sure what his cause was, and was seemingly still looking for a fight.
Also in Denver, "Federal authorities are looking into reports that a man arrested with rifles, ammunition, and drugs in his truck may have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said yesterday."
"More details emerging from Denver as we write this in the predawn hours on the now suspected plot to assassinate Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with a high-powered rifle on national television during his outdoor acceptance speech at Invesco Field Thursday night," the LA Times reports. "Authorities have reported a fourth arrest in the unfolding plot that The Ticket first wrote about here a few hours ago at the end of Monday night's Democratic National Convention events at the Pepsi Center."
Police pulled over a pickup truck for swerving, "But in the rented vehicle of Tharin Gartrell, a 28-year-old convicted felon (see photo), they found two high-powered scoped rifles, ammunition, sighting scopes, radios, a cellphone, a bulletproof vest, wigs, drugs and fake IDs. According to Brian Masss of Denver's KCNC Channel 4, under questioning Gartrell implicated two other men -- Nathan Johnson, who is 32, and Shawn Adolph, who is 33 -- and Johnson's girlfriend, Natasha Gromack. Johnson also reportedly confirmed the plot to FBI and Secret Service interrogators."
According to a new round of Quinnipiac polls, McCain is up by four points in Florida (47%-43%) after trailing in the state last month; Obama is up one in Ohio (44%-43%); and Obama is up seven points in Pennsylvania (49%-42%). These surveys were conducted from August 17-24 - before the start of the Democratic convention.
Per NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy, McCain said this on Leno last night in response to the flap over how many homes he and Cindy own. “You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, without-I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a kitchen table, I didn’t have a table, I didn’t have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years, because-not because I wanted to get a house when I got out. And you know, I’m very proud of Cindy’s father, he was a guy that barely got out of high school, fought in World War II in the Army Air Corps, came home and made a business and made the American dream.”
Also yesterday, McCain accepted the endorsement of Puerto Rican rapper "Daddy Yankee," the Los Angeles Times reports. "McCain built up the suspense by withholding the guest's name at first, but then gave it away, saying, 'One of his most famous songs, I know you're very familiar with: 'Gasolina' ' -- drawing gasps of surprise from the crowd -- and then finally said, 'Well, here he is, Daddy Yankee.' Though McCain has sometimes shown surprising familiarity with rap stars and pop culture references because of the musical tastes of his daughters, it is unlikely that the conservative Republican would have made a point of mentioning the song had he known that the 'Gasolina' lyrics are loaded with sexual references. Although there's some debate about what the word 'gasolina' means in this context, one thing is certain: It's not a petroleum product." And it has nothing to do with off-shore drilling.
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports on the return of Mark McKinnon to the McCain fold (at least for McCain week). He's helping Cindy McCain with her convention speech, which will occur on the third night of the convention. "Finishing touches" on the speech have been in the works for a couple of weeks. McKinnon describes Cindy McCain as "the best asset (for the campaign) I knew the least about."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama kept it short tonight, laying out her husband’s goals for the future while speaking personally and sometimes emotionally about her parents, her daughters, and her relationship with the man who hopes to become the next president. As she talked about the working class the parents who made it possible for her to go to college and law school and the future she wanted for her children, the subtle undercurrent was a message that her family was like other ordinary American families, with shared values and shared hopes.
She tied her story and her husband’s story to the American story and to highlight the importance of hard work -- a word she sprinkled throughout her 20-minute speech -- all part of an effort to introduce Barack Obama, still a relative newcomer to the national stage, to people who are not familiar with him or who may doubt his ability to relate to their concerns.
“What struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name and even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine,” she said. “He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. And like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain taped an interview with Jay Leno this afternoon, which will air later this evening on The Tonight Show. Per a conference call provided for members of the press to listen in on the interview, McCain told a couple of new jokes, and had some very kind words for Hillary Clinton -- although nothing too new.
In an apparent reference to a joke that Leno made in the monologue, McCain came out and thanked the host for mentioning his “heroism” in saving Washington.
“A lot of people think I shouldn’t have, in fact a lot of people,” McCain said. “Also, you forgot to mention when I warned the people about the British coming.”
The two spoke briefly about McCain’s birthday this week and the number of jokes made about McCain’s age. “We were gonna have a cake, but the fire marshal said, that many candles!” Leno said.
“I’ve got one,” McCain joked. “My Social Security number is eight.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Bill Hatfield DENVER -- If Obama wins this November, he may want to send thank-you cards to the nation's Democratic governors for laying the groundwork for his victory.
That, at least, was today's message from the top three members of the Democratic Governors Association -- West Virginia's Joe Manchin , Montana's Brian Schweitzer , and Maryland's Martin O'Malley . The governors met with reporters today to offer bullish assessments of Democratic governors' races in 2008, as well as in 2010. But they spent much of the news conference arguing that they helped paved the way for Obama, linking their styles of bipartisan, problem-solving governance to Illinois Democrat's prospects in November.
Manchin, the DGA chair, tied the Democratic governors' expanded ranks since 2000 to Obama's strong performance in reliably Republican states. "Who would have thought in 2004 or 2000 that a Democrat would be competitive in Montana ... or Colorado?" Manchin observed. Schweitzer agreed, declaring that governors can move elections. "If Ted Strickland had been governor of Ohio four years ago, George Bush wouldn't be president of the United States right now."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama campaign has released the excerpts of Michelle Obama's speech tonight.
"But each of us also comes here tonight by way of our own improbable journey. I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector and my lifelong friend. I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. I come here as a Mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world - they're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. Their future - and all our children's future - is my stake in this election.
"And I come here as a daughter - raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue collar city worker, and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother's love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion, and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters."
More: "And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."
"And in the end, after all that's happened these past 19 months, the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. He's the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital ten years ago this summer, inching along at a snail's pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he'd struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father's love."
From NBC's Mark Murray
On the reporters in the room: "It is very difficult to fake what you do."
On which candidate would be the better source of laughs for the next four to eight years: "Mr. T."
And on which candidate is funnier: "Neither," he answered. "You know who makes me laugh? Chris Rock. But I don't want him as president."
Yet not everything was a joking matter for Stewart, whose Daily Show is here covering the Democratic convention and will report on the GOP one in Minnesota next week.
In his roundtable with reporters, he criticized the way the presidential race has been covered, especially on 24-hour cable news. He said cable had dumbed-down politics, comparing it to gerbils racing on a wheel. He even drew upon the Steinbeck story "Of Mice and Men" to emphasize that point.
"'Hey, Lenny, why don't you be the leader?'"
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones DAVENPORT, Iowa -- As the Democratic convention kicked off in Denver on Monday, Barack Obama told a group of undecided voters that he and Joe Biden understood the problems of ordinary Americans.
It’s an argument that we can expect to see more of this week and in the closing months of the election, as the pair try to show they will do more to help hard-working and middle-class families than will John McCain . Today's event with about 250 people was billed as a “One Nation” town hall -- the same theme of opening night in Denver tonight.
Obama talked about Biden’s foreign policy expertise and his work on the 1994 crime bill, but said the most important thing about him was that he never forgot where he came from.
"He's from a working-class family, that he still takes the train back every night to Delaware to spend it with his family," he said. "Joe Biden understands what you're going through because he's gone through it."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Biden promised to "give them hell" as he made his first public appearance in the Mile High City.Obama's VP pick greeted a crowd outside of Boney’s Smokehouse in Writer’s Square, fielding words of encouragement from Obama supporters but also questions about who he was from surprised local residents.
As he continued working the crowd, another woman said, “Go get ’em, Joseph.”
He replied, “We’re going to give them the devil!”
As staff tried to control a growing crowd and aggressive members of the press, Biden calmly worked his way to the small hut to get a pulled pork sandwich. One reporter asked Biden if he was surprised that Obama picked him.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Katie Primm There are hundreds of DC insiders wandering the streets of Denver today before attending the first night of the convention -- senators, governors, delegates, and even Abe Lincoln. Well, a Lincoln impersonator with a full beard and stovepipe hat to complete the costume.
Streets of swag
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Katie Primm
Colorado, the host state, and Illinois, home of Barack Obama , are front and center on the floor -- best seats in the house.
For the rest of the open floor seats, any number of factors could come into play. A strong Democratic state, New York, has a place on the floor; it can't hurt to placate some Hillary Clinton supporters as well.
A battleground state, Ohio, also has a floor position. Perhaps trying to win over disgruntled primary voters (see the reinstatement of their full delegate votes), some of whom never saw the candidates during the five-month primary season, Florida and Michigan also have coveted spots.
During set up in the Pepsi Center on Friday and Saturday, the Delaware delegation was more than a dozen rows back in the stands, off the floor and all the way to the side. Yesterday Delaware moved up front next to Illinois in honor of VP pick, Sen. Joe Biden , who is expected to be in attendance at the convention before his speech on Wednesday night.
And who took Delaware's original place up and in the corner? Delegates from American Samoa (no electoral votes) and, perennial small-state competitor, Rhode Island (four electoral votes).
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
She unequivocally said she is behind Barack Obama and urged her home-state delegation to wholeheartedly do the same.
She also made it a point to respond to the Republican National Committee using her own primary words against her in TV ads. not approve that message," she said to big applause and a standing ovation at her home-state's delegation breakfast meeting.
"Make no mistake. We are united. We are united for change. Of course, we are Democrats, so it may take -- a while. We're not the fall-in line party. We are diverse...many voices, but make no mistake we are united."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain made a push for the youth vote with an endorsement from Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, whose real name is Ramon Ayala. The campaign called a "press conference" in the Central High School library where Yankee -- who McCain called Ramon -- announced his support for McCain.
"I'm here endorsing Sen. McCain because I believe in his ideas and his proposal to lead this nation," he said, as high school girls swooned on a riser behind him. "And like I said before, he's been a fighter for the Hispanic community and I know that me personally, I choose him as the best candidate because he's a fighter for the immigration issue. So for me he's the best guy to lead this nation."
Yankee is most famous for his song "Gasolina," which translates to "gasoline" -- but has nothing to do with offshore drilling or McCain's energy policy mantra "drill here, drill now."
A rough translation of the song's chorus, "A ella le gusta la gasoline -- dame mas gasoline," shows that Yankee might be singing about a different kind of "gasoline" than McCain talks about on the stump. The singer proclaims, "My babe doesn't stop from hanging out because she likes gasoline," to which a female singer echoes, "give me more gasoline."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Michelle Obama was not planning on taking any questions. But during this morning's walkthrough in front of the podium where she will speak tonight, a few reporters sent the softballs sailing anyway.
"Michelle, do you have any words for the Swedish women?" asked a thickly accented Scandinavian voice from amidst the gaggle of reporters assembled to watch Mrs. Obama's practice run. "They really admire you!"
As handlers on the floor harshly whispered their reminders that Mrs. Obama would not be taking questions from the press gathered on the convention floor, the aspiring first lady seemed caught off guard. "Tell them thank you," she responded politely.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Hillary Clinton's tough words during the primaries that elevated McCain and diminished Obama by saying that all he brings to the table is an antiwar speech he gave in 2002.
Unlike the McCain camp ads on Hillary and that Hillary supporter now backing McCain, we know for sure this is a significant buy.
In response, Clinton gave these remarks today: “Every one of us could stand up and recite all the reasons why we must elect Barack. The Supreme Court is at stake; our educational system needs the right kind of change. We’ve got to become energy independent; we have to create millions of new green collar jobs. We’ve got so much work to do around the world."
"None of that will happen if John McCain is in the White House. I just want to make it absolutely clear we cannot afford four more years of George W. Bush’s failed policies in America and that’s what we would get with John McCain."
“Now I understand that the McCain campaign is running ads trying to divide us and let me state what I think about their tactics and these ads: I am Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message."
Script of the RNC ad: ANNCR: Who has the experience to govern our nation?
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama campaign has a new TV ad mocking McCain for once saying that "economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."
Per the campaign, the ad will air on national cable and in battleground states beginning today.
Script: I'm not up on the economy
Of course, the McCain camp and RNC are running TV ads during Obama's convention. And once again, Obama's tax plan raises taxes only on families that make more than $250,000 a year, and it provides a bigger tax cut than McCain's does to those making less than that amount.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Obama’s three challenges : The candidate has to do three things with this convention, which arguably might be one too many items on his agenda. One, he needs to fill in the gaps of his biography for the largest audience of voters who haven't yet tuned into the race. Two, he needs to take on McCain more forcefully; there's no doubt the Republicans will use their St. Paul airtime to go after Obama -- big time. Obama chief strategist David Axelrod has made it clear he thought Kerry made a mistake four years ago by ignoring Bush. And three, Obama needs to unify the party. All three agenda items are doable by themselves, but can all three be done in a four-day period? It's a big challenge.
*** What PUMA-on-the-Street interviews might not tell you : Speaking of that last challenge… With so many of Hillary Clinton’s most ardent supporters in Denver, is the political press corps here in danger of over-hyping Obama’s problem with Hillary backers? Yes, our most recent NBC/WSJ poll showed that Obama has yet to win some of them over, and that (in part) explains why he hasn’t pulled away from McCain. But a brand-new Washington Post/ABC poll also had Obama getting more Clinton support than he’s ever received since she dropped out of the race back in June. No doubt Obama still has some work to do, and he has two-plus months -- including this convention -- to make the sale. But the point we’re trying to make is that perhaps the Dem Party is more unified than PUMA-on-the-street interviews might suggest. Indeed, today’s New York Times/CBS poll of Dem convention delegates probably has it right: 60% of Hillary’s delegates enthusiastically support Obama, 31% support him with reservations or because he’s the nominee, and 5% don’t support him at all. But the Clinton folks will have an impact on the media narrative this week. In fact, they already they have -- see Ed Rendell at the media confab yesterday and today's Politico piece by Harris and Allen.
*** What to watch for tonight : Things could start off with a bang. Tonight’s primetime speaker is Michelle Obama, who will be tasked to sell her husband to the public. She was one of Obama’s best surrogates during the Dem primaries, but Republicans and even some Democrats believe she won’t sell with swing voters. So definitely pay attention to her remarks. Also on tap for tonight is a video tribute to Ted Kennedy, but NBC’s Ann Curry reported on TODAY that Kennedy is in Denver and might make an appearance at the convention. That could be a nice moment for the Democrats that has nothing to do with Obama or Clinton. Two other speakers to watch tonight: former GOP Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa and Sen. Claire McCaskill, who might have been the single-best surrogate Obama had during the primaries. By the way, where are the Olympians? Didn't the Dems find any Gold medalist to trot out?What if Obama loses? In the latest issue of Newsweek , Slate editor Jacob Weisberg raises a provocative point that’s likely to drive the conservative blogosphere bonkers: An Obama loss -- especially in this anti-GOP climate -- will reflect poorly on America, so he believes. “If Obama loses, our children will grow up thinking of equal opportunity as a myth,” he writes. “His defeat would say that when handed a perfect opportunity to put the worst part of our history behind us, we chose not to. In this event, the world's judgment will be severe and inescapable: the United States had its day, but in the end couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race.” We know this reflects what many in the opinion corps of the left are thinking, but it’s the exact WRONG message Democrats should send in campaigning for Obama. In fact, it's this line of thinking that has the McCain campaign believing the press is against them -- and that has rallied the establishment conservatives around McCain, even as they are holding their noses about the GOP nominee. To put it simply, people don’t want to be told that casting a vote for the other guy makes us bad. This is how Democrats blow elections, when they talk down to voters, and if the McCain campaign can tap into any resentment that builds over being told that history somehow demands the country elect Obama, we in the press will discover a new silent majority. Of course, McCain doesn't want to win this way, because if he only wins based on backlash, then he may have trouble governing.
*** Today’s convention schedule : Monday’s convention theme is “One Nation,” and it will include stories about Obama’s life. Some of the more notable speakers: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former President Jimmy Carter (via video), Obama sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., former GOP Rep. Jim Leach, and Sen. Claire McCaskill. The primetime speaker in the 11:00 pm ET hour is Michelle Obama. Barack Obama himself will make a video appearance from Kansas City that’s tied to his wife’s speech.
*** The RNC’s response : Carly Fiorina, former Democratic Rep. Tim Penny, and former Wisconsin Hillary Clinton delegate Debra Bartoshevich hold a press conference at the RNC’s Denver headquarters to highlight McCain’s support among Democrats and independents. The presser takes place at noon ET. Bartoshevich, in fact, is featured in a brand-new McCain TV ad. See below for more on that.
*** Also in Denver: The Democratic state delegations hold their meetings beginning at 9:00 am ET… The Obama camp and the Dem convention hold a press briefing at the Colorado Convention Center at 11:15 am ET… The Democratic Governors Association has a media roundtable at the Colorado Convention Center at 1:00 pm ET… And Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, and others hold a briefing at 4:00 pm ET on the West and what they consider McCain’s vulnerabilities in the region.
*** On the trail : McCain begins his day with a press conference in Phoenix, then heads to a fundraiser in Sacramento, and finally travels to Los Angeles to tape the Tonight Show and raise money. Obama holds a town hall in Davenport, IA. Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
The Obama campaign and convention officials held a briefing yesterday with NBC News to discuss the convention and what to expect. Some highlights:
Regarding that first point, the New York Times writes: “Mr. Obama’s aides said they had learned from what they described as the mistake of the 2004 Democratic convention - when aides to Senator John Kerry’s campaign sought to forbid convention speakers from going after President Bush - and would use their time to draw contrasts with Senator John McCain, particularly on the economy and his opposition to abortion rights. ‘The stakes of this election will be made very clear,’ said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist. ‘We are going to define the choice.’”
“At the same time, acknowledging persistent unease with Mr. Obama among a significant segment of voters, his aides said they would use speeches and presentations during the next four days, including having Al Gore introduce Mr. Obama for his acceptance speech Thursday night, to offer a fuller biography and a more detailed plan of what he would do as president.”
So how divided is the Democratic Party? Maybe not as much as you think, according to this New York Times/CBS poll . “More than half of the delegates that Mrs. Clinton won in the primaries now say they are enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Obama, and they also believe he will win the presidential election in November, the poll found. Three in 10 say they support Mr. Obama but have reservations about him or they support him only because he is the party’s nominee. Five percent say they do not support him yet.”
CONTINUED >>
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8, Elected June 1987, 10th term)
Maya Soetoro-Ng (Obama's half-sister. They share a mother. Her father was Indonesian.)
Aboard her plane en route to Israel today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had positive words for Obama’s new running mate, NBC’s Libby Leist reports. Despite his often-harsh criticism of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, Rice called Biden "a very fine statesman" and "a true patriot. "She said she would not comment on the "politics" of the selection, but told reporters: "I've known him for a long time. He's been a really very supportive committee chair and before that ranking chair for the State Department and for our diplomatic efforts."
Per the New York Times , the Obama camp has two tasks for Biden: to campaign in the Industrial Midwest and to whack McCain. “[C]ampaign advisers said Sunday that they were certain Mr. Biden would spend considerable time campaigning through Election Day in four swing states: Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.” More: “A task for Mr. Biden, the advisers said, will be to doggedly portray the presumptive Republican nominee … as a handmaiden for President Bush who would continue his policies. In the words of one adviser, Mr. Biden can be an artful critic because he knows ‘chapter and verse’ about Mr. McCain’s Senate votes and controversial positions after serving with him for two decades.”
If you want proof as to why the Obama campaign thought waiting until the very last minute to name a VP, look no further than this other New York Times story about Biden's lobbyist son. Imagine how high up the media food chain this story would be if this weren't the first day of the convention? “During the years that … Biden was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday… Campaign officials acknowledged that the connection between the Bidens and MBNA, the enormous financial services company then based in their home state of Delaware, was one of the most sensitive issues they examined while vetting the senator for a spot on the ticket.”
The New York Times’ Bill Kristol believes the Biden pick does "complicate" McCain's selection process (though he does quote from McCain folks saying they believe it was a pick of "weakness."). He dismisses both Pawlenty (will not match up well with Biden) and Romney (thank you house gaffe), and ends up making the conservative case for Lieberman.
"A Lieberman pick should help with ticket splitters. But can such a ticket hold the support of pro-lifers, conservatives and Republicans? If you’re conscientiously pro-life, you will have reservations about a pro-abortion-rights V.P. If you’re a proud conservative, Lieberman hasn’t been one. If you’re a loyal Republican, you’d much prefer someone from within the ranks. But if you’re pro-life, conservative and/or Republican, you certainly don’t want Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running the country. If a McCain-Lieberman ticket is the best way to thwart that prospect, you could probably learn to live with it - even perhaps to like it.”
The Boston Globe points out: "Thus, the McCain campaign has raised the question: Would McCain want to pick a vice presidential candidate who was perhaps his toughest critic in the primaries, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney?… If McCain picks Romney, the Democrats doubtless would remind voters of the McCain-Romney feud." AP writes. "The Republican could use his own pugnacious No. 2 to deliver attack lines and a solid debate performance."
CONTINUED >>
Lots of news organizations kicked off convention week with Obama retrospectives. Bloomberg News looks at Obama's "coolness" what he needs to do. "For the Illinois senator, cool can be complicated. It helps him maintain composure as he bursts through the barriers of race and politics; it also creates about him an aura of detachment. It fuels his boldness as well as his caution, the inspiration and the calculation, the intelligence and the ambition that will make him this week the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party."
More: "Obama so far has picked his battles carefully, choosing most often to focus on winning converts. ‘One of the dangers here is that in the effort to constantly adjust his position, people then begin to wonder where his bottom line is,'’ says Leon Panetta, President Clinton's former chief of staff. ‘He's got to show that he's got a bottom line and that he's willing to fight for it.’”
Also, check out this endorsement to someone who came from the Jim Baker world. ‘I've been in meetings with at least three different presidents,' says Dennis Ross, the former Middle East envoy for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton. ‘He wasn't just up to the level, he was superior.'”
Politico's Roger Simon has a tour de force of a behind-the-scenes, how-did-it-happen? piece on the Dem primary. It opens with some great nuggets about how close Clinton came to hiring Axelrod and Hildebrand.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Making its presence felt in Denver, the Mile High City and site of the Democratic National Convention, the Republican National Committee has crafted a new slogan to greet the Democratic presumptive nominee: “A Mile High, An Inch Deep.”
That slogan is the kicker to hundreds of posters in the newly minted Republican National Committee headquarters at Denver. The poster, which actually - unlike that fake Obama-Bayh bumper sticker - looks like it could have been created by the Obama campaign.
A Warhol-esque Obama image stands smiling amid the Rockies, stars coming off his finger tip. But right below the Rockies in large font: “Not Ready 08.” Below it, “A mile high, an inch deep.” And on the side, as if to measure Obama's import, a ruler amounting to 1” -- though the Obama figure is actually about six inches high on the poster.
In tandem with the slogan, the RNC has launched a Web site: www.NotReady08.com , and will be holding daily press conferences with prominent Republicans, including Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Tim Pawlenty.
The effort is another attempt define Obama - to dismiss him as a star/celebrity, who is not qualified to be president.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
The year was 1936.
Then the 10-year-old daughter of a Democratic state representative from Delaware, Hadfield wanted to see what all the fuss was about in Philadephia, where Franklin D. Roosevelt was poised to accept his party's nomination as its nominee. The trouble was that her dad was short one of the three extra seats he wanted in the first row of history; he hoped to bring along Hadfield, her 8-year-old sister, and their 11-year-old cousin to watch the goings-on.
They pulled it off.
"We had just been in a play at school," Hadfield recalls. So her enterprising dad dressed the children in their theatrical costumes -- as old-time Quaker kids.
The trick worked like a charm. Organizers whisked the kids to the center of the action, no questions asked.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama told a crowd of supporters at a BBQ here today that the Democratic convention, which begins tomorrow in Denver, would show that he is just like them and understands their concerns.
He also declared his introduction of running mate Joe Biden a success. "We’re going to be going to the convention this week, and if you’re paying attention, you’ll have a sense of who I am," he told a crowd of about 300 people at Rod and Gun Park.
"My wife Michelle speaks tomorrow night and you’ll have a sense of who she is, and what our values are, and how we’re raising our kids. And I think what you’ll conclude is he’s sort of like us. He comes from a middle-class background. He went to school on scholarships; he had to pay off student loans; he and his wife had to worry about child care; we had to figure out, you know, how to start a college fund for their kids."
Obama used the same lines against McCain he has used all week -- making references to a McCain adviser's remarks about America being a "nation of whiners," bringing up the Arizona senator's quip during the Saddleback Forum about $5 million being "rich," and his inability to remember the number of homes he owns -- to paint him as out of touch. He said Democrats would look out for middle-class concerns, not Republicans.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Clinton spokeswoman Kathleen Strand issued this statement regarding the McCain TV ad , which includes quotes from Hillary whacking Obama during the primary season.
"Hillary Clinton's support of Barack Obama is clear. She has said repeatedly that Barack Obama and she share a commitment to changing the direction of the country, getting us out of Iraq, and expanding access to health care. John McCain doesn't. It's interesting how those remarks didn't make it into his ad."
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Michelle Obama , accompanied by daughters Malia and Sasha, touched down in Denver this afternoon. Upon arrival at the airport, the aspiring First Lady was greeted by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and First Lady Jeannie Ritter. Also awaiting her on the tarmac was a group of supporters made up of Colorado service group members and first-time delegates to the Democratic convention.
Mrs. Obama was also accompanied by her mother, 71-year-old Marian Robinson.
Michelle wore a white button-down blouse, black capri pants, and red flat shoes. Malia and Sasha dutifully greeted supporters with the group, sticking close to mom and grandma.
Mrs. Obama received lengthy hugs from the supporters assembled to greet her, including from 82-year-old Ann Hadfield, a first-time delegate from Pennsylvania.
The Obama family spent about 15 minutes greeting the supporters under a hot blue sky before piling in to the motorcade.
From NBC/NJ's Athena JonesObama spoke for about a minute and a half on tarmac here today, but did not take questions.
As the plane engines roared, the senator talked about Biden's strengths and about looking forward to his wife's convention speech and how he's still working on his own.
On Biden: "I just wanted to say I am thrilled with Joe Biden as my VP, the conversations we've been having the last couple of days make me absolutely convinced he's the right man for the job. He's got the passion to lift up middle-class Americans ... hasn't forgotten his working class roots. He's got the expertise that will make him a great counselor on international crises that may come up. More importantly, I think he can help shape a long-term strategy to make America more secure and move us out of the disastrous economic and foreign policy that have characterized the last eight years."
On the Democratic convention: "I am very excited about the convention. I can't wait to hear Michelle speak tomorrow. I will tell you that I did get a little preview of the video they did of her, and she was extraordinary. And I think you guys will enjoy it very much. And I'm still tooling around with my speech a little bit. It may not be as good as the other headliners the first three nights, but hopefully it'll make clear the choice that the American people are gonna face in November."
The last time the traveling press were able to ask questions of the senator was Aug. 7, on a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago, the day before he departed for a week-long vacation in Hawaii.
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Obama's vice presidential pick, Joe Biden plans to spend a quiet day at home, with his only public appearance likely being this morning's trip to his nearby parish for Sunday mass.
Monsignor Joseph Rebman said he was pleased to see a member of his flock on the ticket, but said that Biden “can't guarantee the Catholic vote” for the Democrats.
“They don't vote as a block anymore,” he said, speaking to NBC News at St. Joseph of the Brandywine church, where Biden attended mass. “And as you know, the senator has some positions that don't go along with the Catholic Church.”
Rebman said he understood Biden to be personally opposed to abortion, but that he “doesn't want to impose” his views on others and often has voted with abortion rights supporters. He added that some of the other parish priests and the bishop of the diocese have spoken with him about his pro-choice votes, but that they have never refused him Communion, as some other dioceses have done.
“The bishop's conference has left it to the individual bishops to decide how they want to handle it,” he said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Reporting from the road with the Obama campaign…
PRESS INTERACTION: Obama has not held a press conference this week. In fact, it has been 17 days since the candidate has done so -- on Thursday, Aug. 7 on the plane from Minneapolis to Chicago before Obama departed for Hawaii.
The press corps was told there would likely be one this morning, but later we were told that we should get one tomorrow and that the issue is working out the timing and whether it will be on the ground or on the plane.
The only interaction Obama has had with the traveling press is shouted questions from the pool during his comings and goings, which he alternately answers and ignores.
Access seems to be declining more and more. Because NBC's press pool days have not included any local stops, the first time this week I have been closer than 15 feet from the candidate was when deplaning here in Wisconsin earlier today.
It's noteworthy that the first group interview with the Obamas and the Bidens was with People Magazine. It was ostensibly a photo shoot, but the magazine's correspondent asked questions here and there throughout. Only the wives were quoted in the story, but there is surely more to come.
CROWDS/VOTERS: Generally speaking, the events this week seemed to be populated by mostly by supporters. The crowds in Raleigh, NC, and Lynchburg and Chesapeake, VA, were especially enthusiastic. At a smaller at a community college in Martinsville, VA - about 350 people - I spoke with several white women ranging in age from their 30s to their 50s just before the event.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell Reporting on the road with the McCain campaign...
The "Biden" ad: Advisors say that spot has been ready for "a couple days." The McCain team says they assessed that Kaine "utterly disqualified himself" on the basis of the experience question and asserted that Obama does not particularly like Evan Bayh. "Who did that leave?" So they had the Biden spot ready to go.
"Passed Over" ad: McCain advisors say they assesd the 3 a.m. Obama text as an "avoidable" slight to Sen. Clinton and a belated elbow for the primary season 3 a.m. call spot. As First Read mentioned in First Thoughts, the campaign featured Hillary Clinton's words as an attack on Obama in the latest "Passed Over" ad.
Reaction to Biden selection: McCain advisors say Biden's career has not been covered in the Pennsylvania media market. They acknowledge his Scranton, blue-collar roots, but suggest Delaware, with a very small media market, does not have the kind of bleed over seen in New Jersey where NY politicians/issues are saturated. Biden "will fire up conservatives," they claim, because of his positions and conduct on the Judiciary Committee. "That gives us license there," advisors say. Think Roberts, Alito and Clarence Thomas.
The JUDGMENT question: McCain advisors say Obama has waged his candidacy on his "superior judgment" and they point out that Biden supported the Iraq war vote, then advocated partitioning of Iraq which McCain folks call "a terrible idea." Obviously, they will press on the readiness factor, saying Biden has "strongly and consistently" criticized Obama's readiness to be president while Biden "spoke glowingly about McCain on a number of issues."
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Not everyone’s on message: Not surprisingly, Obama’s pick of Biden and their event together in Illinois are dominating today’s political headlines. But to us, the most interesting news wasn’t Biden’s tough words about McCain, Obama’s emphasis of his new running mate’s working-class appeal and Catholic faith, the McCain camp’s rapid-response TV ad, or even the fact that Biden got the VP call while at the dentist. Rather, it was the words of praise that the pick got from key Republicans. Here was Dick Lugar’s statement: "I congratulate Sen. Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Sen. Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy.” And here’s Chuck Hagel’s: “An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America.” Wow, talk about the GOP not necessarily being on message. In fact, we think it’s safe to say that we won’t see a single Democrat senator praise Romney, Palwenty, or even Lieberman if McCain picks either man as his running mate.
*** Joe’s lockdown: Obama campaigns today in Wisconsin, tomorrow in Iowa, Tuesday in Missouri, and Montana on Wednesday -- all without Biden. In short, they won’t stump together again until after convention. While that move seems surprising at first glance, think about it this way: The images we saw yesterday of Obama and Biden together in Springfield (with their sleeves rolled up, one wearing a blue tie, the other wearing a red one) will be the only images we’ll see of the duo until Thursday. It's all about message and image control -- something the Obama campaign has prided itself on these past 18 months.
*** Playing The Hillary Card: In the middle of the night -- at 3:00 am ET again! -- the McCain campaign unveiled a new TV ad to air in “key states” (read: we’re not so sure how big the buy is) that hits Obama for not picking Hillary as his VP. “She won millions of votes,” the ad goes. “But isn't on his ticket. Why? For speaking the truth.” It then shows Hillary whacking Obama over his policies, Rezko, and some of Obama's negative attacks. Just asking again... Does this mean that McCain WON’T be picking Romney as his veep, because the two men certainly disagreed on many issues during the primaries. Or does it mean that he WILL pick him, because Romney won a lot of votes through Super Tuesday? Nevertheless, with Hillary speaking on Tuesday and PUMAs on the prowl here in Denver, if there was a week when McCain and the Republicans would play up the Hillary-Obama split, it would be this week.
*** Today’s convention schedule: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and Texas State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte hold a press conference at noon ET at the Colorado Convention Center… The DNC holds its Credentials Committee meeting at 1:30 pm ET at the Colorado Convention Center… The Western Majority Project has a media stakeout with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, and others beginning at 2:30 pm ET.
*** The RNC’s response: Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan holds walkthroughs for the TV media (at 4:00 pm ET) and print media (at 6:00 pm ET) at its response center in Denver.
*** On the trail: McCain remains on vacation in Sedona, AZ. Obama is in Eau Claire, WI, where he begins his day attending church services and then holds a BBQ.
Countdown to Dem convention: 1 dayClick here to sign up for First Read emails.
The New York Times notes that Obama wasn’t originally sold on Biden. “Over the course of two months, as the dynamics of the presidential campaign and world events shifted quickly, Mr. Biden’s stock rose through one of the most rigorous vice-presidential vetting processes that Democrats could recall… And it ended Thursday with a phone call from Mr. Obama, who reached Mr. Biden as he was at a dentist’s office where he had taken his wife to have a root canal.”
“Mr. Obama reached the decision about 10 days ago while on a weeklong vacation to Hawaii. That week, Mr. Biden’s strengths in foreign policy were highlighted by the conflict between Russia and Georgia, giving his prospects a further boost. Associates of the other main possibility on Mr. Obama’s list, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, said Mr. Obama cited the situation in Georgia in breaking the news to Mr. Bayh late last week that he had chosen Mr. Biden. But people involved in the process said it was not just foreign policy that tilted the balance. They said Mr. Obama’s decision had as much to do with Mr. Biden’s appeal among white working-class voters and compelling personal story, and his conclusion that the Delaware senator was ‘a worker.’”
The AP : "Biden was quick to attack. McCain will have to "figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at" when considering his own economic future, Biden said. It was a reference to McCain's recent inartful admission -- in a time of economic uncertainty -- that he was not sure how many homes he owns. … In an interview with CBS News, McCain called Biden a 'wise selection' who will be formidable. But McCain remained critical of the Obama-Biden ticket on foreign policy, citing disagreements with Biden's decision to vote against the first Gulf War as well as his position that Iraq should be divided 'into three different countries.'"
The Boston Globe : "Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate pleased many Democrats who are concerned about Obama's perceived shortcomings in foreign affairs, but it worried others who fear the pick reinforces Republican attacks on Obama's experience and Biden's past negative comments about Obama will be used against the Democratic ticket."
The Globe also profiles Biden. "If Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama intends to ride in and clean up the political culture of Washington, he's chosen a gray eminence, instead of a fresh face, to ride shotgun," the paper writes. "Compared with Obama, who is often characterized as cool and cerebral, Biden is direct and earthy. In May, when President Bush, addressing the Israeli Knesset, suggested that Obama was willing to appease terrorists, Biden offered a raw, profane retort followed by, 'This is malarkey.'"
The New York Daily News : "Bam's new Moe Joe" is written across a full page photo of Obama and Biden on stage in Springfield, Ill.
The New York Post : "JOEBAMA!"
The Detroit Free Press : "Dems have a team." (But notice the story on the right side: "Michigan voters a bit wary of Obama.")
The RNC launched a “Biden Gaffe Clock.”
A new Washington Post/ABC poll has Obama leading McCain by six points nationally among registered voters (49%-43%) and four points among likely voters (49%-45%). “The focus on foreign policy crises over the past month, including the Russian invasion of Georgia, has played to McCain's perceived strengths among the electorate. He holds 2 to 1 leads over Obama in the new poll as the candidate with better knowledge of world affairs and the one who would make a better commander in chief. He is also regarded as superior to Obama in combating international terrorism and has a slender advantage on international affairs generally… But on the question of who is better equipped to deal with specific foreign policy problems, McCain's advantages are less apparent. Voters rate McCain and Obama evenly on handling the situation in Iraq, and McCain has a negligible advantage in dealing with U.S. relations with Russia.”
Other nuggets: “Obama's selection of Biden is unlikely to shake up the race in the short term. Three-quarters of registered voters said Obama's choice of Biden … would not sway their votes in either direction. And among those who said the selection would make a difference, about as many said they were more likely to support Obama with Biden on the ticket as said they would be less likely to do so.”
And: 70% of Hillary Clinton supporters “back Obama -- the highest level since she suspended her campaign in June.”
And here are the new state polls we mentioned above:ARIZONA: McCain leads 47%-41%. COLORADO: Obama leads 46%-43%. NEVADA: McCain leads 46%-39%. NEW MEXICO: McCain leads 45%-41%.UTAH/WYOMING: McCain, as expected, leads by wide margins in both states -- up 62%-23% in Utah and 62%-25% in Wyoming.
Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac poll shows McCain up one point in Colorado, 47%-46%. In July, McCain was up two points in the state, 46%-44%.
Maureen Dowd criticizes the McCain campaign for playing the POW card a little too much lately. ‘His campaign is cheapening his greatest strength - and making a mockery of his already dubious claim that he’s reticent to talk about his P.O.W. experience - by flashing the P.O.W. card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated. The captivity is already amply displayed in posters and TV advertisements.”
“The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the pastor who married Jenna Bush and who is part of a new Christian-based political action committee supporting Obama, recently criticized the joke McCain made at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally encouraging Cindy to enter the topless Miss Buffalo Chip contest. The McCain spokesman Brian Rogers brought out the bottomless excuse, responding with asperity that McCain’s character had been ‘tested and forged in ways few can fathom.’”
“When the Obama crowd was miffed to learn that McCain was in a motorcade rather than in a ‘cone of silence’ while Obama was being questioned by Rick Warren, Nicolle Wallace of the McCain camp retorted, ‘The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous.’”
“When Obama chaffed McCain for forgetting how many houses he owns, Rogers huffed, ‘This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years - in prison.’”
"But outside the convention arena in Denver, some of Hillary Clinton's supporters plan to air their grievances against Obama, the party's leadership, and the national media, whose coverage of the primary battle they considered sexist. Hundreds of disaffected Democrats from around the country plan to converge in the Mile High City to hold news conferences, protests, and vigils, threatening the party's ability to present a united front against Republican John McCain."
The Denver Post has an interview with Obama. In it, Obama acknowledges a reluctance to go on the attack, but implies a forced hand after McCain went negative: "Going on the attack when running a campaign for change is risky, Obama acknowledges. 'It's something I worry about and wrestle with all the time. I really prefer having a debate about issues,' he said. But the contrasts he's drawing with McCain, he said, are about issues, not the type of personal attack being waged against him."
Democrats met yesterday to reform their confusing primary process. The first four states appear they will keep their status, but "more pressing, Democrats said Saturday, is to review the role of superdelegates… The reform commission's language includes a pledge to reduce the number of superdelegates… The commission will also review caucuses, which were deftly maneuvered by Obama this year to counter large-state victories by Clinton."
But Democrats decided not to debate how to change anything, only to agree to start talking about it. Some rules are expected to be proposed by 2010 for the 2012 nominating process.
by NBC's Luke Russert I just got to Denver after a fantastically efficient 3 hour and 40 minute plane ride from New York. The city is buzzing with convention fever and I feel it as soon as I step into the baggage claim of the airport. Dozens of people hold signs representing different news organizations, interest groups and state delegations. My hotel is about 30 minutes away from the Pepsi Center (home to the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche) so the daily trek will definitely be interesting.
Upon getting to the Pepsi Center, I am greeted by a line six blocks long to get through security. It looks like a line to buy Pearl Jam tickets. Security, as one might expect, is extremely tight. Bomb-sniffing dogs accompany secret service agents with bulletproof vests and machine guns. Agents pat you down as you enter and make you turn on all your electronics to prove they aren’t bombs.
Once I get through security, an NBC runner in a golf cart picks me up. “Runners” are young people between 19-22 who help out in all things production. If you have free time next time there is a big event (Olympics, Convention etc), apply to be a runner. I’m now in the NBC production tent and it’s the size of those you see at the circus. It’s a war room. There are tables of phones, computers, cameras and dozens and dozens of people trying their best to look important and busy.
So now that I got the play-by-play out of the way, let’s get to the business of the day and maybe eat some hay. I just may lie by the bay - ok that stunk.
The big news of the day is that Senator Obama picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. There are a few reasons why Obama did this. By adding Biden to the ticket, Obama is able to counter criticism that he lacks foreign policy experience. Senator Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is widely considered to be one of smartest government officials in regard to foreign affairs.
Secondly, Biden has been in the Senate since 1972, so he gives the ticket Washington experience. Some of you might ask: if Obama’s campaign is about “change”, why have a running mate who’s been in Washington for 36 years? The answer is quite simply that Obama has been dogged by negative attacks from John McCain, who’s questioned whether or not he is ready to lead. Having Biden on the ticket brings a sense of leadership that Obama does not have after only serving in the Senate for three years.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones and NBC's Domenico Montanaro Obama , a first-term senator, announced his bid for the presidency and his vision for a new kind of politics -- to bring people together and end the partisan bickering in Washington.
Saturday, he returned to the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous "House Divided" speech in 1858, to introduce Delaware Sen. Joe Biden , a six-term senator, as his pick for running mate.
“Joe Biden is that rare mix -- for decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn't changed him,” Obama told a crowd the campaign put at 35,000 people standing in the hot sun. “He's an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class.”
In his speech, Biden used the imagery of Lincoln to bookend his first speech as Obama's vice presidential candidate.
“I know I am in the right place, and I stand firm with Barack Obama,” he said, echoing a quote of Lincoln's. He ended by saying this election is time to “put our feet” in the right place, adding that this might be the “last chance to restore America's soul.”
Biden hit some hopeful notes and also offered perhaps a preview of his attacks on John McCain , who he called a “genuine friend.” But with a smile, added that he's been “disappointed” in his “friend” for “giving into the right wing of his party.” He even questioned McCain's “character,” saying that Obama was the only one with the character to lead.
“The American Dream under Bush and McCain is slipping away,” he said, adding that America “cannot afford four more years of this.”
He also hit McCain on his recent housing gaffe, saying this election is about kitchen table issues, but that McCain “doesn't know how many kitchen tables he has.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd Biden was picked to fill Obama's experience gap and that may very well have been among the reasons. But after watching the unveiling of the ticket, it's clear Obama hired Biden to accomplish three things:
1) Connect the ticket with blue-collar voters. Notice, Biden led his remarks with the economy.
2) Sell Obama's story. Biden owned Obama's biography in a way we've yet to see from the candidate himself.
3) Credibly attack John McCain . Biden didn't mince words about his old "friend"
All in all, if you believe, as I do, that the VP candidates matters most on three days, the first day, debate day and election day, then the Obama campaign has to be ecstatic about today. One goal down, two to go.
From NBC's Mark Murray Howard Dean : "Sen. Obama has made an outstanding selection in Joe Biden . Joe Biden is a strong leader, fierce advocate, and devoted family man with values rooted in the best of what America stands for. He will be a strong partner with Barack Obama in bringing the change America wants and needs."
John Kerry : "From his championship of families hit hardest by a failing economy to his dedication to ending the misguided war in Iraq, Joe Biden is ready to help Barack Obama provide Americans with change we can truly believe in... Barack’s vision for a better future for America is reflected in Joe’s commitment to middle class issues, understanding of international relations, and duty to country. I look forward to doing all I can to help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden as the next President and Vice President of the United States.”
Sam Nunn : "I believe that Joe Biden is an excellent choice. He is a man of experience and high integrity. He will be a valuable running mate to Senator Obama."
Bill Richardson : "Joe Biden brings seasoned judgment, foreign policy expertise, and a great sense of humor to the ticket. Joe has paid his dues as a public servant and the vice presidential spot is a deserved capstone to a great career. Barack Obama has shown solid judgment by selecting Joe Biden as his running mate. Joe is someone that Senator Obama and our country can trust."
*** UPDATE *** Evan Bayh (per NBC's Ken Strickland): "Joe Biden is an outstanding public servant with deep experience and a fighting spirit. These qualities will make him a great asset in the White House and on the campaign trail this fall. Indiana and America face challenging times. We are a nation at war with an economy on the rocks. In his most important decision to date, Barack Obama demonstrated the judgment to choose a governing partner who is wise and strong and will help him deliver change to a country yearning for it. I enthusiastically support the selection of Senator Biden.
"It was an honor to be considered, and I hope it reflects well on the state of Indiana that a Hoosier was in the running. I am proud to serve in the United States Senate and will continue to work each day to make a difference in the lives of the people of my state."
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Obama and Biden will not campaign together when Obama heads to Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Montana over the next four days.
So that means that after today, their next appearance together will be after the convention.
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell Advisers say
McCain made a "brief" phone call to
Biden a short time ago and offered his congratulations and passed on good wishes from Mrs. McCain as well.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro www.BarackObama.com . Spread the word!” A 3:00 am wake-up call, you just can’t make this stuff up. And there were two collective sounds you could hear over the beeping cellphones and the buzzing blackberries. On the Democratic side, it was a collective "phew." As the days got nearer for the pick, it was hard to find a Democrat -- even savvy Clintonites -- who weren't hoping it would be Biden. Only the most strident Hillary supporters appear to be upset this morning. On the GOP side, the sound you heard was disappointed silence. Of everyone on the short list, the candidate many Republicans least wanted to see Obama pick was Biden. Sure, they've already trotted out their talking points. And the McCain camp even produced a rapid-response TV ad highlighting some unkind words Biden said about Obama during the primaries. (We assume this now means McCain won’t be picking Romney, right? And doesn't the McCain ad actually send the message to swing voters that Obama's willing to surround himself with critics?) But there are too many intellectual conservatives (see David Brooks) who believe Biden's the most qualified guy Obama could have realistically picked.
*** Joe’s strengths… : As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has plenty of foreign policy experience -- something viewed as a weakness for Obama. Also, Biden’s most recent presidential bid raised his national profile, making him a politico whom most Americans know, which could help reassure some voters who have doubts about Obama. In addition, whether it has been in recent speeches or on Meet the Press, Biden has showed that he’s up to this veep responsibility: whacking the opposition. What’s more, during his presidential bid in ’07-’08, Biden demonstrated that he’s a very good debater, a quality the Democrats might want to showcase during the vice presidential debate scheduled for October 2. And electorally, Biden could help lock down Pennsylvania, as well as connect better than Obama has in blue-collar Michigan and the "U" of Ohio (Toledo to Youngstown). A few more thoughts… Biden is someone that will play well with older white voters, a demographic group Obama's struggled with, and he’s very popular with labor and trial lawyers, which while helpful financially for Obama and in the Rust Belt, could fire up the business community even more for McCain.
*** … And his weaknesses : Obama has railed against Washington and Washington insiders during his campaign, but few people are more inside Washington than Biden, who has served in the Senate for 36 years (by comparison, McCain has been in the Senate for 22 years). Furthermore, Biden often has been a gaffe machine -- whether it was calling Obama "clean" and "articulate" (news that marred his presidential announcement in 2007) or stating in 2006, "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” And there was that plagiarism scandal that knocked him out of the 1988 presidential race. Perhaps the biggest question: Just how well will Obama and Biden mesh? Has Biden been anybody's No. 2, ever? He's run for president TWICE for a reason (the first time Biden ran, Obama was just starting law school, by the way). Biden has an actual "boss" for the first time in his political career. Is he ready to ride shotgun? And is it a problem that Obama-Biden is a mirror image of Bush-Cheney from 2000? A charismatic, inexperienced nominee taps a more experienced, dare we say, arrogant No.2? In fact, there are a lot of Republicans who believe they can sell Obama-Biden as "the Audacity of Arrogance times two."
*** Back to Springfield : When Obama and Biden appear together this afternoon at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL, it will come just more than 18 months after Obama officially launched his presidential bid from that historical venue. (It’s where Lincoln gave his famous 1858 “House Divided” speech, in which he railed against slavery and how it had torn the nation into two. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”) While today’s event will be a bit warmer than it was on that February 2007 day -- it was close to 10 degrees! -- that announcement back then was the first sign that there was something to Obama’s candidacy. Despite the frigid weather, close to 20,000 showed up on that day, and the crowds at his rallies only grew. Now, with the polls tightening, Obama needs to draw on some of that Springfield magic. Can he deliver?
*** The big bounce? Now for some non-VP news… Yesterday, the McCain campaign released a memo saying that Obama should receive a 15-point (!!!) bounce from his convention. But here’s a big caveat: We haven’t had a back-to-back convention schedule in a very long time, so it may make historical comparisons moot. But let's crunch some numbers from the Gallup chart McCain's campaign sent around. The average Dem convention bounce since '64 is 6.2 points. The average GOP convention bounce since '64 is 5.3 points. The average FIRST convention bounce: 6.3 points. The average SECOND convention bounce is: 5.2 points. With just three instances since '64 of open-seat presidential elections, it's useless to attempt an average if you did this average based on Olympic score (tossing the high and the low), the average convention bounce would be 5.6 points, which feels about the right bar for expectations. The Clinton example the McCain folks are using -- 16 points after the '92 Dem convention! -- is really a reach considering that Ross Perot (who was the front-runner the week before the Dem convo) dropped out the week of the Dem convo. So toss the Clinton bounce out any analysis window.
*** Saying goodbye to those red states? In addition to that memo, the McCain campaign yesterday furiously pounced on a report that Team Obama was pulling its advertising in red states -- like Alaska, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, and North Dakota -- suggesting that the Obama camp was abandoning its (almost) 50-state strategy. But as Lee Corso might say, “Not so fast, my friend.” A senior Obama campaign source told First Read that the campaign wasn’t planning to be on TV next week during their convention, but the McCain is up with negative spots in 11 states, and they wanted to match them in those 11 (which doesn't include any of those ruby-red states). Moreover, the source assures us that the campaign will resume its larger TV buy once the convention ends.
*** On the trail : McCain is down in Sedona, AZ. Obama holds his rally in Springfield at the Old State Capitol. Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
The Boston Globe’s front page : "Biden is Obama's VP choice." Subhead: "Foreign policy credentials boost ticket."
Per NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli, two big black SUVs just arrived outside of Biden’s home. It would appear a lot of the family will be part of the motorcade to the airport.
The New York Times says the pick “reflected a critical strategic choice by Mr. Obama: To go with a running mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his résumé, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Mr. Obama’s message of change.”
"Biden, who has twice sought the White House, is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record, and a reputation as a long-winded orator," the AP writes. "Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anticrime legislation and constitutional issues."
The Washington Post : “On a day in which speculation about Obama's choice reached a fever pitch, reporters culled every source for news of the pick, even tracing the tail numbers on private planes scheduled to head from the home states of some of the contenders to Chicago on Saturday morning. A Kansas City television station reported that ‘Obama-Bayh '08’ stickers were being mass-produced at a local factory. The scheduled appearances on Sunday's morning talk shows offered other potential clues: Kaine is slotted to appear on "Fox News Sunday." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top booster of the idea of adding [Chet] Edwards to the ticket, will appear on ‘Meet the Press.’”
CONTINUED >>
In a statement, Hillary Clinton said, "In naming my colleague and friend Sen. Joe Biden to be the Vice Presidential nominee, Sen. Obama has continued in the best traditions for the Vice Presidency by selecting an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant. Sen. Biden will be a purposeful and dynamic Vice President who will help Senator Obama both win the Presidency and govern this great country."
According to NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, advisers say John McCain is expected to phone Biden later today to offer congratulations.
And here’s even a statement from GOP Sen. Dick Lugar on his way to Tbilisi, Georgia:
The AP’s Fournier : “The candidate of change went with the status quo. In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness - inexperience in office and on foreign policy - rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.”
More: “[T]he question is whether Biden's depth counters Obama's inexperience - or highlights it?”
And don't miss this: "A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a 'reverence' inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing - even eager - to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House."
This would be bad news for McCain if The Governator felt he couldn't go to the convo because of the budget standoff in the state.
"But with the McCains' money in Cindy McCain's name, as dictated by a prenuptial agreement, the senator's finances are more difficult to assess and scrutinize than those of many other political candidates," the New York Times writes. "But the Hensley family wealth, from its rough-and-tumble origins to prominence in Arizona's corporate world, is also the fortune that propelled John McCain into national politics. A clearer picture of that fortune emerges from a review of public records and interviews with employees, business associates, friends, and relatives." was charged on Friday with sending a threatening letter laced with white powder to U.S. presidential candidate John McCain, triggering a security scare at his Colorado campaign office… Within hours, the U.S. Secret Service said the letter had been traced to a Colorado jail inmate with a history of making such threats, and tests of the envelope and its contents turned up negative for hazardous materials. The precise composition of the powder in the envelope had yet to be determined, officials said."
CONTINUED >>
Politico writes, “The spokesman for the American Issues Project the independent group whose ad is the most negative of the cycle and links Obama to terrorism, says the group just filed a report naming its sole donor. The donor, spokesman Christian Pinkston said, is Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who made his first fortune in chain pharmacies and is now listed as the 73rd richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $2.1 billion.”
“Simmons, a major Republican donor, gave maximum $2,300 contributions to Senator John McCain last year, as well as to former Governor Mitt Romney and to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He's listed as a bundler for the McCain campaign on McCain's website, which says he's raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the Republican candidate. He's also contributed to Rep. Chet Edwards, the Texas Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible Obama running mate.”
“He's also a backer of a controversial plan to store nuclear waste in West Texas, which his waste management company would administer.”
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Obama picked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate. The campaign sent out a text message at 3:09 a.m. ET that read:
"Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pmET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word!"
The campaign also sent an e-mail to supporters, in which Obama said he's "excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can't do this alone."
For its part, once the news broke early this morning, the McCain campaign sent out a
prepared ad hit on Obama selecting Biden. It uses a quote from Biden, who was critical of Obama during a presidential debate this cycle, saying that he stood by a statement that Obama was not "ready." The ad also uses a quote from Biden praising McCain that is years old. When the quote was used in a McCain Web ad, Biden and other Democrats brutally dismissed it, asking, What's happened to John McCain?
*** UPDATE *** Despite the ad, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports, McCain is expected to call Biden later today to offer his congratulations, advisers said.
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann Tim Kaine's communications director, Delacey Skinner, confirms that Kaine arrived in Denver, CO, tonight.
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray
First Read has learned that, during the Dem convention, the RNC will be up on the air with a significant TV buy on broadcast and cable in the battleground states of Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Our sources wouldn't tell us what the content of the ad would be, but we assume it won't be a McCain bio spot...
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine , according to sources, were told they're out of the running.
From the First Read team, just asking, so which news organization is going to irresponsibly go with Biden without confirmation from Biden or the Obama campaign -- even though they all have the same information we do? Some news org who loves credit and hits has to be itchin'...
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum Chet
Edwards has remained under the radar for a long time, but today his name is being resurfaced as a possible choice for
Obama's VP.
"We've all been pretty successful at keeping this a secret for the last two-and-a-half months, so I didn't necessarily expect my name floated out there today," Edwards told reporters outside his house in Waco, Texas, of reports that he was vetted by Obama camp. "But, again, I just consider it a deep privilege through this process to have been considered by Sen. Obama, and whatever decision he makes, I'm going to enthusiastically support him and the ticket."
Edwards declined to answer other questions about his chances, but said he has been vetted. "I can say that, yes, I have been considered by the Obama campaign," he said, "but there is only one person who's going to make this decision. And that's Senator Obama and I want to respect that fact."
Edwards contends Obama could make Texas competitive. "It's going to be surprising to people how competitive Texas will be with Obama at the top of the ticket," he said.
Not to be outdone by front-runner Biden, Edwards offered to get those staking him out some lunch. "Biden can provide the meals. The least I can do is offer you Chick-Fil-A."
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
Miller started walking down the driveway to Biden's house, but was stopped by the county police officer stationed beyond the gate. After determining that no one inside had placed the order, the officer placed a call to "Chris," whose name was on the tag.
"It's a prank?!" the officer asked incredulously.
He then walked out of range of reporters to get some information from the pizza villain. There was a credit number on file, but no telling if it was valid. Or why anyone would target the Delaware senator at this time.
The Biden home has seen occasional visitors today, including his state director and daughter. We have not seen the senator or his wife, leading some to wonder if he may have snuck out overnight.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro DENVER -- On the ride over to the Pepsi Center on the free 16th Street bus here, a salient political issue in Colorado and the West was nakedly clear.
A man stood just feet away, wearing nothing but boxers and a big orange sign that read, "Water: Use what you need."
Barely covered men apparently can be spotted around town as part of a Denver Water conservation push.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro Countdown to the opening ceremonies : Tomorrow's official unveiling of the Democratic ticket has the feel of an opening ceremonies to what will be an unprecedented two-week, two-convention political Olympics. If this is like the actual Olympics, then having the first week of this two-week convention marathon might be the better get. If the old rules apply, then having the last convention will be the advantage. But realize this: The old rules on conventions just may no longer apply. We have a new calendar, and there are just 74 days to go. The next 14 days will give us two VPs and two conventions. Then we'll have a three-week gap until the first debate. And then we'll have four debates in three weeks, followed by a 20-day sprint to Election Day. That’s it, folks. Let us know if you have any advice about when we should squeeze in a night of sleep.
*** Emptying the arsenal : Wow, yesterday was quite the day of attacks. Amidst all the VP buzz was one of the harshest exchanges to date on the campaign trail. McCain stepped into it with his Politico interview on Wednesday, when he perhaps committed a gaffe that will go down as either a "grocery scanner" moment or the "I was for it before I was against it" by saying he couldn't answer the question about how many houses/properties he and his wife own. No doubt, he's got a good answer now if he's asked ("I have one home and we own a few investment properties" probably would have sufficed). But that wasn't the answer he gave, and the DNC/Obama folks were downright RNC-esque in their organized effort to amplify this gaffe. Obama's desperately needed a moment to look more in touch with people than McCain, and he may have found it. What’s more, the hit provided Democrats with a psychological boost as the polls show the race to be tightening as we head into the conventions. Clearly, Team McCain and its GOP allies were spooked as they unloaded their Rezko/Ayres oppo in one-fell swoop. It felt like an oppo-dump that was probably off the schedule they had in their heads about when they'd unveil these various hits. And if Rezko gets legs, then expect the Dems to fire back with Keating. It's turning into one ugly start to the Political Olympics.
*** Smitten? Thanks to a definitive sounding reporting from Time's Mark Halperin, lots of folks will be chasing Romney-as-McCain-veep rumors today. Moreover, the reporting will lead to plenty of speculation about whether this is a good idea or not. It does seem a little early for this kind of confidence on the pick, but whatever the case is, the McCain folks have been very good this week at keeping the VP buzz a split-screen story. Obama speculation has not dominated the week like many might have thought. For a campaign that worries so much about winning daily and weekly news cycles, that's going to be make folks in Crystal City smile. As for the Romney idea itself… Before Time's reporting, we were going to ask if McCain's house gaffe was the final nail in the Romney VP coffin. Considering how much the Democrats are fired up about the McCain-house gaffe, wouldn't it be odd for McCain to pick the richest guy on his short list as his VP? Wouldn't a McCain-Romney ticket be playing into the Democrats' hands at this point? Tim "Sam's Club" Pawlenty looks more palatable every day, right?
*** How Mitt might fit : But if Romney’s the choice, here’s a quick rundown of his strengths and weaknesses as McCain’s VP. On the plus side, his business and managerial experience could benefit a candidate who once said “economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should"; Romney could also help McCain in Michigan, given that his father was the former governor of the state; and the former Massachusetts governor could assist McCain in the competitive Mountain West states, which have strong Mormon populations (for example, 7% of Nevada’s population is Mormon). Among the minuses, McCain and Romney disagreed on several issues during the primaries (like immigration campaign finance reform); there were numerous reports that McCain didn’t personally like Romney (in fact, one McCain ad -- quoting the Concord Monitor -- called Romney a “phony"; then there are Romney’s highly publicized flip-flops (as a McCain Web ad back in January put it, “Mitt Romney’s flip-flops truly are masterpieces"); despite his good looks and impeccable appearance, Romney was never a natural campaigner on the stump; and there were plenty of polls suggesting that Romney’s Mormon faith was an obstacle with some voters.
*** All's fair in secret keeping? OK, today's the day of ultimate paranoia in the press corps. Today's the day we second-guess our sources and ourselves, rationalizing potential head fakes by wondering: "Will the public care that they misled the big, bad press corps?" And so it goes today and tonight as no one will get any sleep waiting for that text message or that promised call or email. If this isn't a massive head fake and the big bad media is basically right in the three Dems we've all been staking out, then it still appears that Biden is giving off the most confident "I'm the guy" vibe. Yesterday, he was acting like a guy who might be preparing to be away from home for 70 days. Remember, Biden is home more than any other sitting senator. In fact, for a guy who's been in Washington since 1972, he's probably spent fewer nights in the city than the average first-term senator. Evan Bayh is keeping the lowest profile. Either he knows he's not the guy or he's earning big-time chits with the super secretive David-squared folks in Chicago. As for Kaine, he's supposed to be in Denver on Saturday, as is Kathleen Sebelius. Guess we ought to double-check that they actually get on Denver flights, right?
*** Just askin’ : Why haven’t we heard much from the campaigns yet about the news that the US “has agreed to remove combat troops from Iraq cities by next June and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011 if conditions in Iraq remain relatively stable?” This is a timetable for withdrawal, no…?
*** Tepid support? Given some of the numbers from our most recent NBC/WSJ poll, about the last thing the Obama campaign needed this morning was the story in today's New York Times about a "tepid" Hillary Clinton. Her head might say, "Campaign hard for Obama" -- but her heart just isn't in it. The fact is, think back to 2000: It took McCain a VERY long time to get his heart into campaigning for Bush. And even when he did, it seemed forced. It really wasn't until 2004 when McCain looked comfortable supporting Bush. These things do take time for losing candidates. And maybe it is asking too much by the Obama campaign to get her to campaign vigorously for him. And if every story about Clinton stumping for Obama is going to have the word "tepid" in it, is it even worth sending her out?
*** On the trail : Both candidates are down… McCain is in Sedona, AZ, and Obama is in Chicago. Note to our readers : The three of us will be traveling to Denver today, so please be patient with the posting of your comments. Thanks!Click here to sign up for First Read emails .
The Washington Post front-pages that McCain’s “inability to recall the number of homes he owns during an interview yesterday jeopardized his campaign's carefully constructed strategy to frame Democratic rival Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist and inspired a round of attacks that once again ratcheted up the negative tone of the race for the
