Karl Rove today warned both the Obama and McCain camps over statements they have made in recent ads must check out on the fact meter, or they will risk hurting themselves. Continue reading
Tag: Election 2008
DemoCon 2008: Hillary Clinton
Down and down, a much better speech than the one Mark Warner gave. I was a little worried the whole thing was going to be about her when she spent eight minutes or so talking about herself. Yet, in context, it does make sense, I guess. Her goal was to convince her supporters to support Obama, and it may have worked in some cases.
Basically, she gave a bottom line that eerily channels George Bush: Are you with us, or are you against us?
DemoCon 2008: Mark Warner
Perhaps my time would be better spent further analyzing John McCain’s VP prospects like I did last night. Although, what little I did see of Michelle Obama’s speech last night sounded pretty good (more on her in the next entry).
Tonight, the three biggies were Bob Casey (who I didn’t get to see), Mark Warner as the keynote speaker, and Hillary Clinton headlining after him. I’m not going to say much on his speech, because there’s not much to say. I don’t agree with one network’s pundits that he should have been an attack dog for McCain. Lets be fair. Warner mentioned McCain not that much less than Clinton did, and she got little flack for it. Yet, while he mentioned some things I like, such as looking toward the future, and the end of partisanship, I found the speech pretty uninspiring. That’s a bit of a let down to me, since I’ve seen him speak before, in person.
Will McCain Pick an Outsider?
Since most of the DemoConvention 2008 mania for today is yawn invoking, I just briefly wanted to offer up some thoughts on where I think John McCain might go in his Vice Presidential selection.
Barr and the Election
The Moderate Voice’s Jazz Shaw has an excellent article up on Pajamas Media about whether or not Bob Barr will make an impact on the presidential race.
Highly recommended read.
Why I Like NAIP Candidate Frank McEnulty
As I noted yesterday, I have recently become very interested in the New American Independent Party and their candidate, Frank McEnulty. Why? Well, out of every candidate I’ve researched thus far, McEnulty has positions that makes the most sense to me.
A Dodd Vice Presidency?
Maybe, but maybe not.
The Journal Inquirer reported today the Chris Dodd was asked to supply some information to the Obama VP search committee:
The former White House hopeful and Connecticut lawmaker indicated that he has been approached by the campaign. “There’s been some inquiries, yeah,” Dodd said. “They ask for a lot of stuff. I’ll leave it there.”
Certainly Obama’s campaign has to search far and wide, or at least appearing to be doing so. Dodd isn’t as well known publically, but he is a force to be reckoned with in political circles. In some respects, he’d be similar to Dick Cheney whereas he’s not a public face, but might be effective behind the scenes, if Obama were to use him in the same way. Dodd’s contacts in the Senate and House and elsewhere in Washington would be useful to Obama, who’s been criticized for lack of experience. Dodd also has a long history on the Senate Foreign Relation Committee, and is the chair of the banking committee, so these things would be of use as well.
On the other hand, picking Dodd presents some risks. If the mortgage deal Dodd got gets legs, he would become a liability. I think Obama’s committee knows this, and will bide their time, whilst researching him otherwise. However, if the allegations turn out to be a dud, Dodd could be back in the running.
Also, Dodd is very much a Washington insider. He’s been in the Senate since 1981, and was in the House before that since 1975. Picking Dodd could further damage Obama’s “change” message. On the other hand, Obama can hardly afford to not pick somebody that has some knowledge of how Washington works. As Cheney was George’s Bush’s Washington insider, Dodd would help on that with Obama. Then again, so would many so many others on the speculated list of picks.
In the end, Obama has to look in every corner he can for possible vice presidents, so looking into Dodd is not so surprising. So many other people have been looked into as well, so Dodd may not even end up on the short list. Time will tell.