Wow!  I was stressed out all day awaiting the Hillary speech tonight.  All day long I was setting up my middle school classroom (we start next week here in SoCal) and listening to MSNBC's coverage of the convention.  I worked myself into a mega-depressed state while listening to the pundits and interviews from Clinton supporters (Linda Sanchez and Terry McAuliffe, among others) who were dancing around the issue of whole-heartedly supporting Obama/Biden.  Then I listened to Warner.  Ugh.  He may be good in Virginia, but the speech was flat.  As the buildup to Senator Clinton's speech approached, I kept thinking about McAuliffe and remembering the energy he brought to the '92 and '96 campaigns, and how that was absent now.
Then Senator Clinton superseded all expectations and brought the house down with her speech.  I was feeling really good, but a little nervous still.  However, around 9:24 pm (PDT), McAuliffe was being interviewed by Tweety and Olbermann and he said this, "What I would do if I were Barack Obama, I would put Hillary Clinton, I'd put her in that state (Ohio) for the next 72 days.  She was the champion of Blue Collar, let her get out there and let her bring those voters home."

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After Clinching the nomination, Obama has assaulted several of progressive's cherished ideals. Be it separation of church and state or gay rights or wireless wiretapping. But picking a pro-life VP in Kaine with the Supreme Court so delicately balanced will be it. That will be the final straw for me. If he picks Kaine, I am going for Nader or Cynthia.

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Thanks to QTG's comment in another thread, I just typed in the following web addresses:

www.obamakaine08.com

www.obamasibelius08.com

www.obamaclinton08.com

www.obamabayh08.com

. . . and sure enough, only one of them links directly to the Democratic Party's website.

Meaningful?  Meaningless?  Discuss.

(If it's true, color me disappointed.)

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Let's all take a deep breath here.  NBC confirms that Kaine is not imminent.

"In an interview with an NBC News crew at the annual Chincoteague Pony Swim this morning, Kaine said he has not spoken to Obama recently.  "No, not for, gosh, for a number of weeks. Since before his trip," Kaine said." (http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/politics/ar ticle/gov_kaine_tells_nbc_he_hasnt_talke d_with_obama_for_weeks/14962/)

I have to say, I am quite relieved.  Though my preference is for Hillary Clinton for a whole host of reasons, it seems unlikely.  I am prepared to be content with almost anyone else.  There is no perfect fit here, and there rarely is.  But I'd put Kaine near the bottom of my list and hope it doesn't happen.

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The discussions about who Obama will pick as his running mate are heating up the closer we get to the convention. While this happens every cycle, it is even more heated in this one, primarily because of the closeness of the primary race.

While no one really knows who he will pick, everyone has their own preference. Where it really gets complicated is when it comes to Hillary supporters.

Many Hillary supporters say she is the only choice. If she isn't on the ticket then they won't vote for the Democratic nominee for president. These are the 'pick Hillary or else' crowd. Other Hillary supporters don't think she should accept even if offered the slot. Their argument seems to be that it would be a step down for her. These are the 'top-spot or nothing' crowd. Still others will accept someone other than Hillary as long as it isn't another woman. I guess these are the 'Don't insult Hillary' crowd. Lastly, there are Hillary supporters who are planning on voting for Obama no matter who he picks for his running mate. These are in the 'I just want to win' crowd.

Like I said, it gets really complicated.

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