Andrea Mitchell just said on Hardball that the list of people who have been told they were not chosen includes Bayh and Kaine. She also said that, as of 4 p.m., a Biden aide told a university where he teaches every Saturday afternoon that they still had not heard so they didn't know if he'd be teaching tomorrow or if the school needed to get a substitute.
We should know something very soon... if that plane is for Biden, it's landing in the next 5 minutes and I'm assuming there are teams at the airport waiting on it.
Not today. I'm really surprised by this -- given that whoever the VP is would likely go to Illinois tonight, I think it'll be broken before the text. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/082208dnpolobamavp.1f347f5e.html
What time is the rally tomorrow? I guess if it's afternoon, you could leave in the morning, but it would suck if there were delays for any reason. This seems dumb - and frankly, unnecessary. Now he's just getting to the point of annoying people.
Rally is at 1. I agree, this is just ridiculous. It's annoying, and way too many people are going to be in the loop to make the text as exclusive as they wanted.
I Think It's Me I can confirm that Sen. Obama has not called to tell me that I am not going to be his running mate. I can read the tea leaves as well as anyone, and I think this is pretty conclusive proof that I am not yet out of the running. I've been nothing if not coy about my shadow campaign for veep. Instead of telling as many people as I could that I have no interest in being asked to run, I've turned the traditional campaign for No. 2 on its head and told no one that I have a very real interest in being asked. I bet Joe, Evan and Kathleen didn't see that one coming. At first it seemed like a long shot, but as the week has dragged on and Obama still hasn't announced his choice, I realized that this leaves the door open. As long as he hasn't announced, or at least called in advance to let me down easy, I figure I'm still in the mix. And just think of the possibilities: Obama/Kurtz--OK for America. I've gathered the children here at home and we're waiting for the call. I keep peeking out the front window to see if the news trucks are gathering or the traffic is slowing down to catch a glimpse. Nothing yet, but I heard exclusively through a friend of a friend's hairdresser that it's all but decided. Can't get any more solid a confirmation than that. --David Kurtz http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/209825.php
At this point, the Obama has really mismanaged this. All the speculation is on Biden - it's either him or not. If it is, then the text message recipients don't really get to be the first to know. They get the first confirmation, but unlike a few days ago when it could have been any of 5 or 6 people, it's pretty much down to Biden and Bayh. If it isn't, then all the people who got excited about Biden with the speculation are going to get a let down. And it would suck for Biden, who's being stalked by the media and there will be all sorts of "are you disappointed?" questions for him. Bleh. He should have suddenly announced it randomly in middle of the week. At the clock runs out, the announcement can no longer be a surprise in terms of timing and "wow" factor.
^I disagree that the excitement's gone and that Biden's a foregone conclusion. Today people have become totally convinced it was Chet Edwards and then totally convinced it was Bayh. Drudge is still running the headline. Also, I doubt it's down to Biden and Bayh. Andrea Mitchell ruled out Bayh and Kaine on Hardball today and she's pretty darn reliable. Meanwhile, Sebelius hasn't been ruled out. Nor has, for example, Clark. Or Chet Edwards. Or really even Gore. I think it's probably Biden but I'm not even a little less excited about that than I would have been two days ago. They're going for a whiz-bang-wham-bam thing: Announce, first appearance together, two day tour, convention. Non-stop coverage. I don't think they screwed it up at all.
Caveat to my post above: With The Cat reporting on the car leaving the Biden home and Ambinder seemingly backing him up ("Biden on the move"), it is starting to feel like a 99% chance it's him. If I was in charge, I'd send the text right now.
I'm also not totally convinced by the item saying the text would go out tomorrow instead of tonight. I haven't seen that anywhere but in that one linked article and there's a lot of misinformation out there. Just my luck that I'm leaving my house any minute now to see a play and will have my phone turned off from 8-10.
I think the most drama of the night is whether or not Batman will let out a girlish giggle-gasm when he receives the text message. Remember, the last Dem VP choice that got hyped up was Edwards, who promptly lost, sold out by going to work for a hedge fund, cheated on his cancer-stricken wife, was busted by the National Enquirer and now sits at home disgraced. Whoever is chosen by Obama should seriously consider passing on it... lest they go down with the Titanic.
Yeah, but we're also the crazy political types. I have lots of friends who are interested but not obsessed, and they are all just kind of losing interest at this point. Now it's just like "oh, we'll know tomorrow afternoon anyway". One argument I did hear is that he release the text msgs this evening when people are out and about. With young people primarily the ones signed up, they might start talking about it at dinner, parties, etc. Kinda weird, but I guess it's a way to get people talking, if true.
