Thu, August 28, 2008 - 9:56 AM

CNN and other media outlets reported this morning that Sen. John McCain has chosen a running mate and would likely reveal him or her soon.

But McCain refuted the story and declined to even hint at which way he was leaning during an interview with a Pittsburgh radio station.

In other "McCain/Someone else 2008" news, Karl Rove allegedly approached Sen. Joe Lieberman and asked the Connecticut senator and former Democratic vice presidential candidate to call McCain and request to be removed from consideration for the VP slot. Lieberman reportedly declined.

Finally, Republican Mike Huckabee, another potential McCain running mate, appeared on the Colbert Report last night and gave a surprisingly positive assessment of the Democratic convention so far. Huckabee, now an analyst for FOX News, gave high marks to speeches by Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton. Huckabee and Colbert bantered about the former Arkansas governor's chances for being McCain's vice president, and Huckabee likened Obama's choice of Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate to "going into Baskin Robbins and ordering vanilla."

-- Mark Young

Wed, August 27, 2008 - 9:53 PM

A little teaser from Obama getting ready to take the convention.

And as my brilliant colleague Amy Dominello just pointed out, by talking up the Clintons at the Pepsi Center, Obama frees himself to make tomorrow night truly his own night at a new venue with a new, larger crowd at Invesco Field.

We are going to be moving to Mile High Stadium tomorrow, he said.

Change in America doesn’t start from the top up, he said. We want to open up this convention.

--Neil Simon

Here's a taste of his first remarks:

I just wanted to come out for a little something to say.

I wanted to say how proud I am to have Joe, Jill, Beau and “mama-Biden” with me.

I think the convention has gone pretty well so far, what do you think?

I think Michelle Obama kicked it off pretty well, don’t you think?

If I’m not mistaking Hillary Clinton rocked the house...

--Neil Simon

Here goes Biden’s attacks on McCain. You know they’re coming when he spends a couple lines talking about how good of friends they are.

“John sided with President Bush with 95 percent” of the time.

But rather than use the scripted, “Give me a break.” Biden, constantly off-script tonight, said, “That is hard to believe.”

Now here comes a chorus of “that’s not change, that’s more of the same.”

--Neil Simon

Biden on Foreign Policy

He may have been selected for his foreign policy expertise, but it’s hard to get a crowd riled up on wonky stuff, even if it is crucial to American international security.

“We will hold Russia accountable,” he said about cross-border clashes on the country’s southern border. “And we will help the people of Georgia rebuild.”

Taliban is planning more attacks and Afghanistan needs more attention, Biden said.

Now he's getting the crowd going again asking, "Should we trust John McCain's judgment" on ... fill-in the blank (talking to Iran, timeline for withdrawals from Iraq.)

--Neil Simon

Biden tosses out some love for Hillary Clinton – and way up high, after several sentences off the cuff -- here comes the self deprecation:
“Since I’ve never been called a man of few words, let me say this as simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to run and serve alongside our next President of the United States of America, Barack Obama,” Joe Biden said to the roar of the convention.

--Neil Simon

Though dad worked in Washington, he never became part of Washington, Joe Biden’s son Beau just said. This is a touching family story.

--Neil Simon

Every breakfast, every party -- you name it, it's sponsored here in Denver, more than $40 million dollars worth.

Watch this video below about the money influence in Denver and see this story.



--Neil Simon

Bill Clinton hit all the right notes. But it occurred to me as I was watching that, depending on how the elections go, this could be the beginning of the end of the Clinton era.

I say that knowing the Clintons are like a punching bag – the harder you hit them, the faster they seem to get up.

But if Obama wins in November, and theoretically in 2012, the next changing of the guard for the Democratic Party would come in 2016.

Bill would turn 70 that year and Hillary would be 69. That would put Hillary at nearly the same age as John McCain, who at nearly 72 has had to address concerns about whether or not he’s too old to be president.

So are the Clintons heading into the sunset? Or will they be like that punching bag?

-- Amy Dominello

DENVER -- 7:19 p.m. MDT

He skewers the Republican record and says, "America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will."

Naturally, the crowd goes wild. And then the kicker: "But first we have to elect him."

He's on a roll now, reminding the Democrats that 16 years ago, they nominated him to be president. And critics said he was too young and inexperienced to be commander in chief.

"Sound familiar?"

He goes out on another strong endorsement. "Barack Obama will lead us away from division and fear of the last eight years, back to unity and hope. If, like me, you still believe America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary, Chelsea and me in making Sen. Barack Obama the next president of the United States."

He's done his part. He goes out to "Addicted to Love."

-- Marsha Mercer

DENVER -- 7:08 p.m. MDT

Clinton is sticking pretty much to the text. "Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama," he says.

Then, he adds his. "I want all of you who who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November."

Now he's reciting the problems facing the country, moving from the economy to tonight's national security theme.

"Our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little cooperation..." The list is long -- oil dependence, global warming, severely burdened military, backsliding on global nonproliferation and arms control agreemnts, failure to use diplomacy form the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern Europe.

He states the obvious: "Clearly the job of the next president is to rebuild the American Dream and restore America's standing in the world."

Another strong Obama endorsement: "Everything I learned in my eight years as president and in the work I've done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job."

And the words she didn't say last night: "Barack Obama is ready to lead..."

"Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States." Finally.

Crowd pleaser: "Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

-- Marsha Mercer

Everywhere you go in Denver, people are wearing buttons touting just about every candidate or cause.

But they aren’t free! Today, these were being sold to Democrats. Two for $5.



My favorite so far is a snarky one from the DNCC: How many houses do you own? That's a shot at John McCain's gaffe last week when he said he didn't know how many homes he owned.

-- Amy Dominello

Denver -- 7:02 p.m. MDT

The big moment is here. The band played the old 1992 campaign song, and Bill Clinton is on stage. The crowd went wild. A large part of this post just disappeared into the ether. But believe me he got a deafening response, a sea of waving American flags. It took several minutes to quiet the ecstatic crowd.

"I'm here first to support Barack Obama. Second, I'm here to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden," he said.

He said he loves Joe Biden but doesn't say the same about Barack Obama. No matter, he's on board.

Can't go long without saying, "In the end, my candidate didn't win. But I'm very proudd of the campaign she ran..."

-- Marsha Mercer

Some of Florida's delegates didn't see their votes count, after all.

Florida Democratic Party chair Karen Thurman first announced during the convention floor roll call that her state cast 136 of its votes for Barack Obama, 51 for Hillary Clinton, with one abstention.

As it turns out, the Florida vote was actually 135 for Obama and 59 for Clinton.

Thurman incorrectly reported the one abstention. Seems that several members of the Florida delegation could not make it to the floor in time to vote.

And one delegate could not vote because his credential was stolen.

-- Billy House

Clinton’s Delegate Release Rally

Just about three hours before Hillary Clinton ended the roll call of states voting for her and Barack Obama for the presidential nomination, she had one last rally with her delegates, telling them to vote their conscious on the convention floor.

Watch the video here:



--Neil Simon