Barack Obama and John McCain enter their final week before the start of the US presidential nominating conventions amid intense speculation about who they plan to choose as their respective running mates ”“ with Mr Obama almost certain to make his choice in the next few days.
Mr Obama, whose four-day Democratic convention starts next Monday in Denver, will this week attend election rallies and “town hall” meetings in the swing states of New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia ”“ any of which could provide a potential venue to announce his pick.
Obama aides deny any knowledge of the possible timing or venue of what is traditionally the most closely guarded secret in a presidential campaign. But veteran Democratic operatives say the choice is likely by Thursday. The Republican convention in Minneapolis starts in two weeks.
“Obama cannot announce during the Denver convention and it makes no sense in terms of the news cycle to announce during a weekend,” said one Democrat with no ties to the Obama campaign. “So I would be very surprised if he left it later than Thursday.”
In the words of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, “The suspense is killing me…I hope it lasts”.
I certainly cannot predict who will be asked or when they will announce. I will say that I don’t see why Obama can’t wait until the convention to announce. What better way to shift people’s focus after the Olympics, and steal some of the thunder the Clintons are supposedly trying to generate, than do it Day 1 in Denver.
I think Obama will wait until the convention and then he’ll pick Hillary.
According to the NYT Obama’s announcing [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/us/politics/19veep.html?hp]Wednesday[/url].
And according to Politico, McCain’s announcing on the [url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12619.html]the 29th[/url], in Ohio. I thought he might do that. It recaptures the spotlight after the DNC and Obama’s acceptance speech.
Well, between Wednesday and Friday.
It sure seems like Jospeh Biden is coming for Obama from the present noises on the ground, but they can change quickly as we know.
I’m sure Joe Biden would love to be the Veep nominee for such an articulate and clean fellow as Obama.