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The Note: VP Guessing Game Keeps GOP in Headlines

August 29, 2008 10:11 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Friday's Note:

DENVER --

Now that we know Sen. Barack Obama is going to fight for this thing, we’re about to see why he’ll need to.

No rest for the weary leaving Denver for St. Paul: It was Obama’s night on Thursday, but as the confetti wafts down the mountain, Friday is Sen. John McCain’s day -- since he’ll have someone to share it with, at last.

The birthday boy puts his veep out at a noontime ET joint rally in Dayton, Ohio -- and away we go all over again (if the GOP can buy any luck with the weather).

And the process-of-elimination/obfuscation game resumes in full force: Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., called it a “fair assumption” that he wasn’t it, since he isn’t going to Dayton on Friday: “It was an honor to be considered,” he told a local radio station.

He got the formal call from McCain Friday morning -- told he was not going to be the selection, per ABC’s Jan Crawford Greenburg.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

Fox News’ Carl Cameron reports that former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., is in Boston, Friday and won’t be in Dayton -- and isn’t the pick. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos confirms that Romney is not in Ohio on Friday -- and a source tells Jan Crawford Greenburg that Romney hasn’t been chosen.

No Huckster, either: “There are reports that I’m on my way to Dayton tonight. Not true,” former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., wrote late Thursday in a message to supporters. “Wasn’t invited to be there, and any reports that I’m going to be there are a big surprise to me. I have never been contacted by the McCain campaign at any point about the VP slot.”

And a plane from Alaska had the overnight/early morning buzz on Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska; Karl Rove tells Fox News that it “smells like” it’s her.

But ABC’s Kate McCarthy reports that, per Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow, Palin is at home in Wasilla, Alaska, on Friday, with plans to attend the Alaska State Fair -- and won’t be in Dayton, either.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

August 29, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Giuliani, Rudy, Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Palin, Sarah, Romney, Mitt, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (161)

Obama Camp on Pawlenty: Bring It On

August 28, 2008 5:39 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: The Obama campaign signaled a willingness on Thursday to go after Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., for the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, while saying that the populist argument it is building against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will continue, even if the presumptive Republican presidential nominee taps the son of a truck driver as his running mate. 

"I don't think it's particularly relevant who the running mate is if the running mate is willing to embrace, in total, the Bush-McCain economic doctrine," Obama strategist David Axelrod told ABC News.

"Every day, Americans understand that those policies aren't working for them," he continued. "And if you have one more person out there saying we've made 'great progress' on our economy and that we ought to continue doing what we're doing, I'd be eager to have him travel far and wide. I think it's a losing message."

"Whoever he picks, it doesn't change the fact that it's John McCain's agenda on the ballot," added David Plouffe. The Obama campaign manager joined Axelrod at a breakfast with reporters in Denver, which was held on the same day that Obama is set to deliver a speech accepting the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. 

Some GOP strategists have speculated in private about whether Pawlenty's odds of becoming McCain's running mate improved vis-a-vis Mitt Romney, in the wake of the Arizona senator's seeming inability to tell Politico how many houses he owns.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who ran against McCain for the Republican presidential nod, is a multimillionaire with four houses to his name.

Trying to undermine Romney in advance of a possible vice presidential announcement, the Obama campaign has been steadily painting him as an "expert" on "Cayman Island tax shelters."

"You couldn't have a more out of touch ticket," Plouffe recently told The Atlantic magazine.

Pawlenty, by contrast, owns only one house.

He recently told ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg that he owns a $335,000 suburban home outside Minneapolis, and was quick to note that he still pays the mortgage and cuts his own grass.

Obama adviser Robert Gibbs acknowledged that a Pawlenty pick would leave the Democrats with less populist ammunition than a Romney selection. Gibbs was quick to add, however, that there is a "treasure trove" of other issues that can be used against Pawlenty, including the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse which killed 13.

"Each of these guys have their own thing," Gibbs told ABC News. "It would be nice to talk about Romney's stuff. But just because McCain picks a guy with only one house doesn't mean that we're going to stop talking about McCain's seven houses."

August 28, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Romney, Mitt, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (175)

The Note: Obama Poised to Claim Democratic Party

August 28, 2008 10:19 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Thursday's Note:

DENVER --

Even if it’s disappointed those who were looking for chaos rather than comity, they’ve had their roles: The defeated rival, coming to terms with a real kind of inevitability; the former leader, bestowing his blessings at long, long last; an evening capped by the grizzled veteran, basking in his moment -- and lighting the path for the chosen one.

In case Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., needed to see how it was done on Thursday, a couple of old pros made it work for him Wednesday. By the time Obama heard the roar of the crowd for himself, a convention that looked dangerously close to veering off track was tantalizingly close to fulfilling its goals.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., made the case for Obama -- and against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- more eloquently, coherently, and tactically than maybe even that guy at the top of the ticket.

Former President Bill Clinton completed the sentiments his wife started (but didn’t finish) articulating the night before -- and for a night, and perhaps now for a campaign, we witnessed grace and generosity.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

And the masterstroke: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D- N.Y., made the final, minutely choreographed gesture herself. “Clinton did the honors for the man who had denied her dream of becoming the first woman ever nominated to lead a major party,” Dan Balz and Anne Kornblut write in The Washington Post.

(Suddenly, with McCain poised to pick a running mate, does it seem that the drama is drifting in the general vicinity of St. Paul?)

At last, a message: “This week's events served as a national debut, of sorts, for the Obama campaign attack machine, even if that machinery is operated mostly by supporters and aides, rather than the candidate himself,” Peter Wallsten and Doyle McManus write in the Los Angeles Times. “It was clear that the campaign has settled on its favorite theme: portraying McCain as out of touch economically and an identical twin to President Bush.”

Now, Obama just has to give at least the second-best speech of his life Thursday night at Invesco Field at Mile High -- while not letting the setting become the story. (He’s presumptive no more, but that doesn’t take care of presumptuous.)

“His campaign has gambled on the historic moment by creating a stage that will magnify his performance,” Eli Saslow writes in The Washington Post.

“Succeed here, in front of the largest Democratic National Convention crowd in nearly 50 years, and Obama's speech will be remembered as one of the most powerful moments in modern politics, a perfect launch into the final stage of the general election,” he writes. “Fail, and Obama risks fueling Republicans' criticism that he is an aloof celebrity, fond of speaking to big crowds, but incapable of forming genuine connections.”

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

August 28, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Palin, Sarah, Romney, Mitt, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred, Veepstakes | Permalink | User Comments (62)

Obamagirl Has Obama in Range in Denver

August 27, 2008 11:38 PM

ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman reports: On the ground in Denver, "Obamagirl" is keeping her fingers crossed that one day soon she'll cross paths with the Illinois senator on whom she famously crushed.

"I haven't really been plotting it," Internet sensation Amber Lee Ettinger says of any future meeting.

"I know 100 percent how busy he is and I don't expect to meet him this week or anytime soon."

And she's got respect for the missus. "I would love one day to meet him and Michelle, so I'll keep my fingers crossed," she says.

Fresh off a new video where Obamagirl travels back in time to advise a young "Barry" Obama on what life has in store for him, on assignment in Denver for Buzzwire's "DNC 2008" mobile channel, Ettinger stopped in at the new media Big Tent to visit with the bloggers who helped launch her to stardom last year as the lovestruck Obamagirl, pining away for the Democratic presidential nominee in her YouTube video, "I've Got a Crush on Obama."

Ettinger, who famously sang in her third video to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., "I know Obama's gonna win it/but you're sorta kind of stayin' in it," offered praise to the New York senator tonight but stopped short of calling her a fellow Obamagirl.

Ettinger watched Clinton's Tuesday night speech at the Democratic Convention in "bits and pieces."

"She's great," Ettinger said of her crush's primary season rival. "I have total respect for her. It's always exciting to hear her talk."

After the conventions wind down, Ettinger is also headed into her own homestretch. Between the party circuit, television appearances, and the stream of fans approaching her for photographs and autographs, Ettinger has future Obamagirl videos to stand by her man, straight until the general election.

August 27, 2008 in Bush, George W., Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (71)

Clinton Moves for Obama Nomination by Acclamation

August 27, 2008 7:05 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., formally received the Democratic Party's presidential nod Wednesday evening, becoming the first African-American in U.S. history to be nominated for president by a major party.

In a tightly choreographed move orchestrated by the Obama and Clinton camps, the Illinois senator became the Democratic Party's presidential nominee when Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., asked the delegates attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo., to make Obama the nominee by acclamation.

"Let's declare together in one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president," said Clinton.

Obama's nomination became official at 6:48 p.m. ET when Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House and permanent convention chair, said, "Two-thirds of the delegates having voted in the affirmative, the motion is adopted." 

Clinton joined the New York delegation on the floor of the convention when the roll call of the states stood at 1549.5 votes for Obama and 341.5 for Clinton.

August 27, 2008 in Bush, George W., Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (62)

The Note: DNC Takes Sharper Tone as Hillary’s a Hit

August 27, 2008 10:37 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Wednesday's Note:

DENVER --

One Clinton down, one to go. (And yes, the party’s getting there, even if that other Clinton is heeding his wife’s words and going a bit early.)

To the extent that a single speech can suck the drama out of a convention that was stuffed with it -- and a party that’s grown sick of it -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did her part Tuesday night.

With two political futures at stake, she gave the party something to be excited about -- and to ensure that if her backers don’t come around to Sen. Barack Obama, it won’t be her fault. (If she didn’t heap on the praise, at least she was genuine.)

The Denver Post goes with capital letters: “THE TEAM PLAYER.”

If you looked carefully enough, you saw a message coming together at the Pepsi Center -- a procession of speakers competing for sound-bite-of-the-night (and how about Gov. Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont.?) in bashing Sen. John McCain -- then Hillary tying it in a neat bow for the Democratic Party to marvel at.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

Now, it’s Bill Clinton’s chance to make sure it doesn’t unravel. (And it falls to Obamaland to reconsider/redesign/spin the setting for Thursday night. A Greek temple? Were they out of Roman thrones?)

As for Wednesday’s marquee speech (with apologies to Joe Biden, who has a pretty big night on tap himself):

“Take away the context of this campaign year, and they could be pals, perhaps even big and little brothers of the Democratic family -- the so-called first black president mentors a prospective real black president. But context is everything in politics, and because of that, their relationship is anything but close,” David Maraniss writes in a Washington Post must-read-and-digest.

“He intends to do what is expected of him, according to many friends and associates, and try to convince the public that Obama has the toughness and wisdom to be commander in chief,” Maraniss continues.

“But though the speech might be as important to Clinton as it is to Obama, those close to him say he will deliver it with lingering feelings of estrangement that have surprisingly little to do with the fact that Obama defeated his wife in the primaries. ... Clinton associates, long familiar with his habits and rhythms, say it would take little more than phone calls on a somewhat regular basis to keep him satisfied.”

(Mr. President, we ask again: Is he ready?)

“We’re not nervous at all,” Obama advisor Anita Dunn said in the campaign’s morning convention conference call, per ABC’s Sunlen Miller.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

August 27, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Dodd, Chris, Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Palin, Sarah, Romney, Mitt, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (76)

Obama Camp on Bill Clinton's Big Speech: What, Me Worry?

August 27, 2008 10:17 AM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: One Clinton down, one to go.  Barack Obama's campaign insists they're not concerned about former President Bill Clinton's Wednesday address to the Democratic National Convention.

"We're not nervous at all," Obama advisor Anita Dunn said on a conference call Wednesday morning. "We're excited about President Clinton's speech because we think it's going to be a really electric moment in the convention hall when he gets up to speak."

If the Obama camp can properly channel that electricity, as they and the Clinton forces seemed to do on Tuesday, the former president's speech could be a classic convention moment; if not, it could quickly turn into another sign of disunity in the fragile peace between the still-presumptive Democratic nominee and his defeated foe and her supporters.

Dunn says there is no concern on their part that the former president will get a negative greeting by some Obama supporters still healing their wounds from the primary campaign.

"We believe he will be warmly received and enthusiastically revived by the entire convention," Dunn said.

Clinton remains in an elite club -- he's one of only two living Democratic presidents and the only member of the party to win the White House twice since President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton did not give much of a preview of Clinton's speech but said, "(Clinton) knows the challenges and choices that face our chief executive. He'll talk about why Barack Obama is the right person to lead America right now, and why Sen. McCain's promises are more of the same and the wrong choice for America."

The week prior to the convention in Denver, Obama and Clinton had a phone conversation about his speech.

"I said, 'Mr. President, you can say whatever you'd like,'" Obama told reporters, recalling the phone conversation.

August 27, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (83)

McCain Aide Mocks Obama's Columned Stage

August 26, 2008 11:10 PM

ABC News' David Chalian and Teddy Davis report:

When Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., moves the Democratic National Convention from the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field in Denver on Thursday, the freshman senator is planning to speak from a columned stage resembling an ancient Greek temple.

"Is this from the Onion?" quipped a McCain adviser.

The reference to the satirical newspaper came after Reuters reported that Obama is planning an elaborate rock concert setup complete with post-speech fireworks.

The national anthem will even have a touch of celebrity: Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar-winning actress and former "American Idol" castoff, will perform the honors at the onset of the evening.

Starting with a July ad which included footage of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, the McCain campaign has been airing a series of television ads which paint Obama as a celebrity lacking in substance.

The celebrity-like trappings of Obama's Thursday's speech may have given the Republicans new ammo.

August 26, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (704)

Casey Invokes Abortion Differences With Obama

August 26, 2008 9:32 PM

ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson report:  The economy was the topic of Sen. Bob Casey’s, D-Pa., Tuesday night address to the Democratic National Convention.

But the two sentences he uttered on abortion are likely to get the most attention.

“Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion,” said Casey. “But the fact that I’m speaking here tonight is testament to Barack’s ability to show respect for the views of people who may disagree with him.”

Casey is the son of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey.

The elder Casey, a Democrat who also held strong anti-abortion views, was denied a speaking role at the party's 1992 convention -- a perceived snub that has long been a flashpoint in the party's wrangling over how to handle the abortion rights debate on the national stage.

Casey invoked that “dark night” while campaigning for the U.S. Senate two years ago.

Speaking at The Catholic University of America on Sept. 14, 2006, Casey said the 1992 Democratic National Convention "insulted the most courageous pro-life Democrat in the land, who asked that those who believed in the right to life be accorded the right to speak."

In his 2006 speech, the younger Casey also took conservatives to task for being too narrow in their pro-life views.

"If we are going to be pro-life,” said Casey, “we cannot say we are against abortion ... and then let our children suffer in broken schools.

“We can't claim to be pro-life," he added, "at the same time we are cutting support for Medicaid, Head Start or the Women, Infants and Children's Program."

August 26, 2008 in Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (25)

Joe Biden & Michelle Obama Vow to Support Women

August 26, 2008 6:14 PM

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: At an economic roundtable in Denver today, Michelle Obama and her husband's veep nominee, Joe Biden, outlined how an Obama administration would help resolve the struggles of working women, from universal health care to the appointment of Supreme Court justices.

In her introduction of the senator, Obama highlighted Biden's every man roots and family man devotion, as she welcomed him onto a stage with nine women, including Govs. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Janet Napolitano of Arizona.

"Both Barack and Joe grew up in families that, at times, struggled at times, to make ends meet," said Obama. "Barack, as you know, was raised by a young single mother who put herself through school while trying to raise Barack and his sister. Money was often so tight that sometimes they had to resort to food stamps. And Joe's parents raised four children on one salary in Scranton, Pa. And every night for the 35 years that he's been a senator in the United States, Joe takes the Amtrak train from Washington back to Wilmington to be with his family. This is a man who knows first-hand how hard it can be to balance work and family."

Obama touted her husband's fight for equal pay for women and Biden's work to combat domestic violence against women.

Upon taking the stage himself, Biden described the "very strong women" in his life, singling out three of them in particular: his daughter Ashley, his wife Jill, and his sister Valerie.

Perhaps because he caught some flak for joking on Saturday that his wife's PhD is "a problem," Biden today struck a more serious tone.

"I think you can tell the comfort a man has with women and whether or not he gets it or not by the women, if the women around him are strong," he said. 

As he has done since the moment Obama ended her speech last night, the senator continued to give her remarks rave reviews.

"I heard last night the most remarkable speech I have heard in my entire career. You know, I’m not engaging in hyperbole, there are eloquent speeches and Michelle’s speech was eloquent. I mean this sincerely. There are speeches that are profound in the things that they say and what they communicate, and hers did. But the mark of a truly incredible speech is when it’s able to change the perception of a nation about not only an individual, but a circumstance. That’s what was so profound about Michelle’s speech last night."

The Democratic number two man went on to tout what the Obama administration would do to help the plights of working women, such as providing universal health care.

"What is the greater obligation of the country?" Biden asked. "To give some very, very wealthy people, who are good people, an additional $100 billion in tax cuts, or provide health care for every American, solve every story you've heard up here?"

He also emphasized how vital this election would be for the Supreme Court, with as many as three justices to be appointed during the next administration.

"Ladies and gentlemen, other than ending the war in Iraq, the single most significant thing that Barack Obama will do, and I hope I’ll be able to help him, will be to determine who the next members of the Supreme Court are going to be."

"It's not merely a woman's right to choose which is at stake," he continued. "It's whether or not you're gonna be able to have a fair shot at a fair wage, it's whether or not you're going to be able to demand that you are treated equally in every aspect of your life; it is literally, literally, literally at stake, so please help us, please help us, the country needs Barack Obama as president."

Throughout the event, Biden drew on some of his personal experiences to connect with the women. He told Abby Dart, a widow, about when he lost his first wife and daughter in a car wreck during his first year in the Senate. And he also referenced his bout with two brain aneurysms in 1988, joking that it's bad publicity for a doctor if a senator dies on their operating table.

August 26, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Kucinich, Dennis | Permalink | User Comments (75)