Given that it is now highly appropriate to start discussing Obama's Vice-Presidential choice (as it may well be revealed within the next 60 days; if I'm not mistaken, Kerry selected Edwards on July 6, 2004)...I wanted to outline what appears to be most important in selecting a running mate, and who that leaves as the best possible options.
I end up with four that help above all others; Tim Kaine, Bill Richardson, Ed Rendell, and Kathleen Sebelius.
Please feel free to dispute the logic or throw in any others that make sense.
The Hillary campaign today is putting on their poker face, trying to pretend that they did not suffer defeat by yesterday's NC and IN results. The surrogates made their rounds today all staying on message. Hillary also organized a meeting today in Washington, D.C. with superdelegates, but three said that's ok.
OK, I know what everyone really wants to talk about today now that the rest of the world has joined Daily Kos in recognizing that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for POTUS.
The following changed after me going to these sites right after the election april 22nd and i revisted it again april 24th and emailed a copy to the campaign staffers in CD7. Then again today i went there and found what seems to me to be a major alteration i do not understand??
Clinton Obama
There was 74,554 2.863 3 107,743 4.137 4 april 24 results
now there is 55,503 3.551 4 53,919 3.449 3 may 6th results
I know that there has been plenty of discussion about who would make the best running mate for the soon-to-be presumptive Democratic Nominee Barack Obama (I submit the name of Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania). Also, I will outline how Barack could solidify any perceived weaknesses he may have with what I see as a logical, yet largely untested, General Election Strategy: A slate of a small number of highly vetted potential key cabinet officials.
As we take stock of Obama's standing following the Clinton's relentless two-month Pennsylvania campaign to portray him as an unelectable Black Radical, the Washington Post's Colbert King delivers a bit of bad news:
Among all of the top Democrats intimately involved in the Pennsylvania primary, which would you say has had the coziest relationship with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam?
NEAR EARTH NEWSWIRE - LANSING - Citing what state officials view as disenfranchisement executed by the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the states of Michigan and Florida seceded from the union Thursday, declaring themselves part the independent nation "Clintonia."
I wrote this diary the day before the 2008 Pennsylvania primary. If my calculations were correct, the central theme of the GOP’s general election smear campaign has revealed itself, not through insult or accusation, but in the most undetectable form of all--a question. This diary forecasts the next 2 weeks of spin, the last opportunity for the MSM to generate a high level of media hype while they attack Senator Obama before the general election
Join the book club for David Sirota's upcoming book, The Uprising, due out on 5/27.
A few weeks ago, I published an article in In These Times showing how Hillary Clinton has been winning states almost exclusively in the Race Chasm - states whose populations are more than 6 percent but less than 17 percent black. The results of the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania - a state whose demographics fall squarely in the Race Chasm - continue the trend.
Kudos to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for another win in this long, tiring campaign for the Democratic nomination. Hell, in her honor, I might even down a shot but I probably just get even dumber. Because this whole mess, this whole pandering to the lowest common denominator has made me not only neurotic but just plain stupid. Thank God for books, because if I didn't have anything to read I probably would've thrown my vote on a wolf in Sheep's clothing that goes by the name of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As the Pennsylvania primary nears and anxiety mounts with each passing second, one aspect of this historic presidential race cannot be denied, and that is the beauty and power of the youth vote. Never in my life have I been so proud to be so young. My age demographic is usually viewed with such dismay, even contempt, for being too naive, too reckless, too unreliable, too materialistic, too shortsighted, too obsessed with instant gratification, yet here we are building a movement that is actually altering the face of this country state-by-state.
As a member of several different important voting blocks (women, African American, college educated), my vote is highly coveted and rigorously courted; but none compares to being a voter under the age of 35. Nothing can match the energy and excitement of campaigning amongst my peers. In every election of my lifetime, there has been a crippling sense of apathy, cynicism, and mistrust within the youth community. Many of us have remained uninvolved in our government and political processes, preferring to maintain an emotional and psychological disconnect. Now for the first time, our passion and talents are essentially leading this nation in the direction of our choice. Now we are finally realizing our full potential. Now we are under attack.
I am getting really, really sick of Ed Rendell. Check out what he said to young voters in Pennsylvania today...Ben Smith has posted the video at Politico. To view it at RedLasso, click here.
I'm not sure if this helps or hurts our chances tomorrow--in actuality, it will likely have little effect. But I guess Rendell's statements might work to make insecure voters feel unsure or, more likely, older pro-Hillary people to indulge in smug attitudes toward Obama's base, a problem we're already going to have to remedy going into the general election. Thanks Ed, you schmuck.
I'm going to see if I can get the RedLasso link embedded here. Also, I've posted my email response to Rendell after the jump.
YEP . . . he just said that Obama student supporters are drinking Kool-Aid. I feel sorry for Ed. Does Rendell realize that he just offended most of the focus group in front of him? Instead of listening to the Obama supporter finish her thought, he had to cut her off and monopolize the air time.
Completely insulting. I expect this treatment from mydd and hillaryis44.com but a member of the Democratic Party? Is the party really trying to bring new voters to the table or trying to shun them away?
Will Hillary Clinton renounce Governor Rendell and reject his support? Governor Rendell has spoken very highly of Louis Farrakhan and honored him at a ceremony, standing onstage and lavishing praise after praise for Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
