Veepstakes: The Never Ending Story
Posted: Thursday, August 07, 2008 9:11 AM by Mark Murray
DEMOCRATS: The Clinton and Obama camps put out a joint statement, after suggestions the Clintons are not genuinely behind Obama’s campaign and that she has not abandoned plans to be officially nominated at the convention.
Clinton said she has no inside information on Obama’s vice presidential pick. “[T]his is a very personal decision for Senator Obama and I have no inside information as to how he is proceeding with his decision,” she told reporters Wednesday. “I'm out there supporting him, doing everything I can to make sure he gets elected and I will do same for whatever ticket there is.”
Clinton will host a web chat at noon ET for those who didn’t win a chance to spend an evening with her.
The New York Times tries to read between the physical lines at the Obama-Bayh event yesterday. It didn't find much.
The son and brother of Sen. Joe Biden are being sued for $10 million over a deal to buy into a hedge fund. A Deutsche Bank executive in London says the Bidens broke a contract and defrauded him.
REPUBLICANS: The Wall Street Journal on Pawlenty's big day in DC yesterday: "Even if Gov. Pawlenty doesn't wind up on Sen. McCain's ticket, some believe the Minnesota governor represents the party's future, along with a handful of other relatively young governors, including Louisiana's Bobby Jindal. Sen. McCain himself last month said that the two governors are ‘the future of the Republican party, the next generation of leadership.’”
“They have become the public face of what is seen as the party's reformist wing. This group believes the Republican Party should have focused on economic issues sooner, in response to voter discontent over stagnant wages, rising gas and food costs and uncertainty over jobs and retirement. Their proposed solution: apply conservative, market-based principles, without ruling out government intervention in certain circumstances."
The New York Sun: "He did not delve into details during the speech, but he extolled ideas for a market-based expansion of health care access, energy independence, and school choice. Mr. Pawlenty clung to Mr. McCain's stance in answering questions about Iraq, saying he opposed an ‘artificial time line’ for withdrawal. And he criticized Mr. Obama at times, saying the Democrat's ‘life oratory’ was no match for Mr. McCain's life story as a war hero and longtime senator.”
“The governor raised some eyebrows earlier in the day when, speaking to party activists in northern Virginia, he praised Mr. Obama's positive message. At the National Press Club, however, he made clear the comment was not meant as a slight to Mr. McCain, who he said had also run a positive and optimistic campaign."
An executive with Huron Consulting Group Inc. says he lost his job when he refused to contribute to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. He’s filed an employment bias complaint.
Sen. Joe Lieberman was traveling in one of McCain’s Straight Talk Express buses when it collided with a van in Miami Wednesday. And Lieberman will reach out to Jewish voters for McCain at the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center. and
