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Saturday, August 23, 2008

Obama names convention vice chairs

By Bob Dart | Saturday, August 23, 2008, 08:13 PM

Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida was named Saturday as one of three vice chairs of the Democratic National Convention. The convention committee and Barak Obama’s campaign named several new officers including Wexler, Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio, and Maria Elena Durazo, an AFL-CIO official in Los Angeles, as convention vice chairs. Wexler is also scheduled to speak at the convention on Wednesday night.
Collin McCough, a decorated veteran of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars from Savannah, Ga., was selected as Doorkeeper and Sharon Hanshaw, a Katrina survivor and Executive Director of Coastal Women for Change, was named Timekeeper. “We are excited to have them join with our Permanent Chair Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi” and co-chairs Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to oversee the four-day convention, said Steve Hildebrand, Obama for America Deputy Campaign Manager.

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Two-senator tickets

By Ken Herman | Saturday, August 23, 2008, 09:09 AM

The newly-minted Democratic ticket of Obama-Biden is the party’s second two-senator ticket in a row, following Massachusetts” John Kerry and North Carolina’s John Edwards four years ago. Kerry-Edwards was the first two-senator Democratic ticket since Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey in 1964, which followed Kennedy-Johnson in 1960.

Prior to that, to find a two-senator ticket on the Democratic side you have to go back to 1852 when Sen. Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire was atop the ticket and Sen. William King of Alabama was his running mate. King died of tuberculosis 45 days after becoming vice president.

If GOP candidate John McCain, an Arizona senator, picks a fellow senator as his running mate it would be the Republicans’ first two-senator ticket since the first GOP ticket. California’s John Fremont (the party’s first presidential candidate) and William Dayton of New Jersey unsuccessfully teamed up in 1856.

The last U.S. senator elected to the White House: Kennedy in 1960.

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Overnight battle over Biden

By Ken Herman | Saturday, August 23, 2008, 08:18 AM

Think politics isn’t a 24-hour job? Here’s what went on while most of you were sleeping last night as Barack Obama announced his selection of a running mate.

Word of the selection leaked to media early this morning, forcing the Obama campaign to move quickly to send out the text message and e-mail that it had promised would be sent first to its supporters. It went out around 3 a.m. EDT.

Here’s the text message:

“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word!”

Here’s the e-mail:

“Friend, I have some important news that I want to make official. I’ve chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate. Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield , Illinois - the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago. I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change. Please let Joe know that you’re glad he’s part of our team. Share your personal welcome note and we’ll make sure he gets it: http://my.barackobama.com/welcomejoe. Thanks for your support, Barack P.S. - Make sure to turn on your TV at 2:00 p.m. Central Time to join us or watch online at http://www.BarackObama.com.

But Republican John McCain’s campaign, at 2:23 a.m. EDT, already was out with its first criticism of the selection of Biden.

“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing - that Barack Obama is not ready to be president,” said spokesman Ben Porritt.

And at 6:07 a.m. EDT, the McCain campaign announced a TV ad reacting to the Biden selection. See it above.

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