Veepstakes: Biden up, Romney down
Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008 9:23 AM by Domenico Montanaro
All the CW buzz seems to be pointing in Biden’s direction right now. The New York Times profiles him today. “Mr. Biden’s strengths and weaknesses as a vice-presidential nominee are glaringly obvious and in many cases overlap. At age 65, he would bring heft, knowledge and nearly four decades of experience in Washington to a ticket headed by a relative political newcomer. But that experience -- he was first elected to the Senate at age 29 and has served for nearly four decades -- would undercut Mr. Obama’s image as an agent of change.”
"Mr. Biden is among the best-informed lawmakers on international affairs, a gap in Mr. Obama’s résumé. But Mr. Biden’s broad knowledge, his committee chairmanship and his longtime membership in the most exclusive debating club in the nation also feed his biggest flaw: a verbosity and love of his own voice that drive many, including, by some accounts, Mr. Obama, nuts.”
Meanwhile, Romney’s buzz appears to be waning. "An apparent effort by former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee to diminish the chances of former rival Mitt Romney becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee is reviving questions about whether Romney's prospects are being damaged by opposition from evangelicals and religious conservatives. Gary Bauer, an evangelical leader who is an informal adviser to John McCain's campaign, said in an interview yesterday that evangelicals are divided, but discounted the idea there is an organized effort to stop McCain from picking Romney.”
“Bauer said he personally believes that Romney ‘would be a great running mate’ and said he has conveyed that message personally to Romney. Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families political action committee, said he was not allowed to say whether he advised McCain to pick Romney."
Several potential veeps made the Sunday show rounds. "Ridge said yesterday he thinks Republicans would accept a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights. But, he said, whomever John McCain picks as a running mate should defer to McCain on the issue." Bill Richardson, Tim Kaine and Bobby Jindal all made the rounds as well.
More compiled by NBC/NJ’s Matthew E. Berger and Carrie Dann…
DEMOCRATS: Sen. Joe Biden made a trip to Georgia this weekend, at the request of the Georgian government. That came after Sen. Joe Lieberman went as a McCain envoy. Says the Washington Post: “Biden and Obama staffers discussed the proposed trip and Obama officials said they were glad Biden was considering it. One source familiar with the discussions added that had the Obama team opposed the idea, the senator would likely not have gone.”
Mark Warner endorsed Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for VP while speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Richmond. Kaine campaigned for Obama in his state Saturday, praising him for his “excellence” in his aspirations for the country, judgment and character.
Sen. Evan Bayh disputed McCain’s claim that “we’re all Georgians now,” noting that might put the region in a state of war. “And John sometimes, he's a good person, but he's a little bit given to this kind of bellicose rhetoric, which has a tendency to inflame conflicts rather than to diffuse them, and that's not what you want in a president,” he said on “Face the Nation.” HuffPo summarizes the drop in Bayh's stock.
Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned for Obama Sunday at Northern New Mexico College. She also attended fundraisers to retire her debt with Gov. Bill Richardson.
REPUBLICANS: Romney said the situation in Georgia “shows one more time that, in a dangerous and troubled world, it's helpful to have a leader of the nation that knows these places, knows the people, understands the setting.”
John Podhoretz makes the case for Lieberman, arguing McCain no longer needs to shore up his base and can win over moderates with the former Democratic veep nominee. Lowry likes the Lieberman idea too, if both he and McCain pledge to serve only one term.
