Obama-Biden 08

Bumper Sticker slide show

Reactions on veep choice

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton:

In naming my colleague and friend Joe Biden to be the vice presidential nominee, Barack Obama has continued in the best traditions for the vice presidency by selecting an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant. Senator Biden will be a purposeful and dynamic vice president who will help Senator Obama both win the presidency and govern this great country.

Virginia Gov: Time Kaine:

Biden is a tremendous leader and a great complement to Senator Obama and his candidacy.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius:

I’m delighted Senator Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate. His extensive experience dealing with foreign policy issues are an asset in these complicated times. He will be a great partner for Barack Obama in bringing about the change so desperately needed in our country, and restoring to America our sense of optimism and hope for a brighter future. I am proud to support this incredible team.

Senator Chris Dodd:

Jackie and I congratulate our dear friend, Joe Biden, who will make an excellent running mate for Barack Obama, and more importantly a great Vice President. I have known Joe for almost 30 years and I've had the privilege of sitting next to him on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and sharing the campaign trail both with him and Barack. I know this is a ticket that can win in November.
With rising gas prices, increasing health care and education costs, a damaged reputation across the world, and a struggling economy at home, the American people are ready for change. Barack Obama and Joe Biden represent that change. They will bring new leadership to the White House that will get our economy moving again, finally end the war in Iraq and our bring our troops home, ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care, and end our dependence on foreign oil.

Senator Claire McCaskill:

Joe Biden will make a great vice-president for our country. He knows what's important to hard-working Americans and their families, and he's not afraid to work across party lines to make things happen. He has put in place some of the strongest crime prevention legislation ever enacted and is the author of the Violence Against Women Act which has saved the lives of countless women across the country.

Senator Harry Reid:

Joe Biden has been fighting his entire career for the change that Sen. Obama champions. He is a dedicated family man who has been an effective chairman of both the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees, has been a sage voice on many of the toughest foreign policy issues of our time, and has long been a strong advocate for protecting American families and making our communities safer.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Over his decades of public service and accomplishment, Senator Joe Biden has demonstrated a commitment to improving the lives of all Americans. As our Vice Presidential nominee, he will bring his middle-class values -- the values he grew up with, the values of his constituents, and the values of the American people -- to this campaign and to put our country back on track.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean:

Senator 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.
Delegates here in Denver are already buzzing with strong enthusiasm for the Obama-Biden ticket.
Senator Obama's selection shows that unlike the Bush-McCain way of doing politics, Obama is not afraid to have strong people around him helping to lead our great country.
Together they will serve America well over the next eight years, and our Party is ready to rally behind them and put them on the path to the White House starting right here in Denver.

Senator Amy Klobuchar:

Minnesotans will love Joe Biden. He's a regular guy from a working middle-class family who has never owned a home in Washington. In fact, he takes the train home to his wife and family in Delaware every night. He's both down to earth and incredibly well respected around the world.
I was particularly proud to work with Joe when he led the fight to fund 100,000 new police officers on the streets across the country, which for Minnesota has made a big difference in lowering the crime rate. Barack Obama said he wasn't looking for a yes man, and by picking Joe Biden he adds to the ticket someone who has independent judgment and will truly help him bring change to this country.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer:

Senator Biden was mentored by one of Montana 's own great leaders – Mike Mansfield," said Governor Schweitzer. "Mansfield, who worked in the mines of Butte before becoming a Senator understood the value of hard work and knew what a dollar was worth. So, does Joe Biden.
In Montana, where straight talk is what we expect from a neighbor, friend or someone running for office – Senator Biden won't disappoint.
And in a place where we like to see folks working together – like my Republican Lieutenant Governor, John Bohlinger and I to bridge partisan gaps and bring real solutions to the table, Joe Biden has shown time and time again to be that kind of leader.

Howard Wolfson

writes in The New Republic Biden was the best choice for veep aside from Clinton.

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel:

U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel issued the following statement today following Senator Barack Obama's selection of Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic Vice Presidential nominee: "Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America," Hagel said.

Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar:

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar made the following statement today en route to Tbilisi. "I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator 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…"

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter:

Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, a Republican who serves on the Judiciary Committee with Biden and often rides Amtrak with him to Washington, also offered praise. "No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden," Specter said. "He's been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He's been a leader on crime control."

McCain on Biden and Obama

McCain camp fires back to Obama’s veep pick quickly with 30-second spot including clips of the Delaware Senator criticizing Obama in the debates and praising McCain.

EN Route to Springfield

And here is a flightAware site tracking Biden's plane en route to Springfield.

Obama chooses BIDEN

Barack Obama named Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues

Obama's decision leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen. The campaign scrambled to send the text message after the leak, sending phones buzzing at the inconvenient time of just after 3 a.m. on the East Coast.

Houses and attack ad

It did not take long for new attack ad.
Obama: Seven


update

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers responds to the growing Democratic mockery of McCain's difficulty with a question about how many houses he has by returning to the talking point that it's Obama who's an elitist, citing his more recent wealth:

Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people “cling” to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?

The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.

update
Snarky Democrats note that by McCain's $5 million standard, Obama doesn't actually qualify as rich.

Three way Race

Obama vs The Two McCains

McCain of Now and McCain of 2000.

Good read by Arianna Huffington

Obama Ad and Outside Group's Effort

Is it the fear urgency of NOW that the ads are coming our fast and hard?

The Obama Ad:


The Outside Ad:

"Recession" from CDA on Vimeo.

Debate Schedule Released

The campaigns release a debate schedule, as negotiated by Rahm Emanuel and Lindsey Graham:

1. First Presidential Debate:

* Date: September 26
* Site: University of Mississippi
* Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security
* Moderator: Jim Lehrer
* Staging: Podium debate
* Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment

2. Vice Presidential Debate

* Date: October 2nd
* Site: Washington University (St. Louis)
* Moderator: Gwen Ifill
* Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties’ Vice Presidential nominees are selected.

3. Second Presidential Debate

* Date: October 7
* Site: Belmont University (Nnashville)
* Moderator: Tom Brokaw
* Staging: Town Hall debate
* Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

4. Third Presidential Debate

* Date: October 15
* Site: Hofstra University
* Topic: Domestic and Economic policy
* Moderator: Bob Schieffer
* Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table
* Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate
* Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.

Elitist back in the game

So who is ELITISTS?

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

Democrats all over McCain's house counts

Tim Kaine (might be VP) jumped on the story this morning on CNN.

"He couldn’t count high enough apparently to even know how many houses he owns," said Kaine.

Meanwhile the DNC is jumping on another line in the Allen/Martin interview:

“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

Cone of Silence

NBC's Andrea Mitchell reported on Sunday's Meet the Press

The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that — what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.... He seemed so well-prepared.

This morning NYT times strongly backed up the story by Andrea. There has been a cold war going between Sen. McCain and NYT times

Senator John McCain was not in a "cone of silence" on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California... The matter is of interest because Mr. McCain, who followed Mr. Obama's hourlong appearance in the forum, was asked virtually the same questions as Mr. Obama. Mr. McCain's performance was well received, raising speculation among some viewers, especially supporters of Mr. Obama, that he was not as isolated during the Obama interview as Mr. Warren implied.

Mr. Warren, the pastor of Saddleback, had assured the audience while he was interviewing Mr. Obama that "we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence" and that he could not hear the questions... Interviewed Sunday on CNN, Mr. Warren seemed surprised to learn that Mr. McCain was not in the building during the Obama interview.

But what surprised me was Pastor Wareen interviewed to CNN on Sunday. Warren seemed surprised to learn that Mr. McCain was not in the building during the Obama interview.

And here Sen. McCain's camp Rick Davis had to say:

"The fact is that during Senator Obama's segment at Saddleback last night, Senator McCain was in a motorcade to the event and then held in a green room with no broadcast feed."

Now the question is who do we trust. Pastor Warren assured everybody that he is in the cone of silence, but during that hour Sen McCain was not in the building, so what exactly "CONE OF SILENCE" means? Do we trust McCain camp when they said he was in motorcade but did not have access to the feed? How about ppl around him, and their cell phone and txt messages?

So, Did Pastor Warren tell us a lie or was he also kept in dark as we were? Guess we will have to wait and see how this develops.

Sunday Talk Show

Sunday talk show was full of surrogates from both camp and also those who are supposed to be in VP's short list. No breaking news came out of all the shows as usual everybody did what they were suppose to do. But I did not see people disagreeing without being disagreeable.

Only thing to point is regarding RUSSIA-GEORGIA conflict.

Republican Sen. Lugar dismissed Lieberman’s criticism of Obama at a McCain camp event as “clearly a partisan statement.” And also said McCain’s support for kicking Russia out of the G-8 is probably not a good idea.

Secretary Gates also reiterated the same.