OFFICIAL Vice President leaks, tips, and speculation thread

[J. J.]

I jusdt got the call, it's me, Obama wants the Black vote. 

[J. J.]

That plane is supposed to land at about 7:35pm Eastern btw.

Do you think it'll be announced then?

No idea.  Whether this is even an Obama plane being used to pick up Biden is of course pure speculation.  All we know is that this is the only flight in the air between Chicago and Delaware, and it's a charter flight.

Biden is famous for taking the train.

My guess is, we find out officially in the next 25 minutes or they wait until tomorrow.  They've almost blow it at this point.

[J. J.]

If the delay is due to him having to try to convince somebody to join him on the ticket (quite unlikely), I can only think of two people who could fit that description...Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton [and Al Gore I suppose, but let's not be silly].

In other news, it's now after 6:30, so this is when I stop paying attention.

It's not coming tonight, guys.

Did he officially say it'd be tonight?

No, he said by (or Bayh) tomorrow.  6:45 PM EDT or he misses the window.

[J. J.]

I think he can wait until 8 pm EST, possibly later.

Ambinder notes that at this moment, Obama is going to dinner and then is planning on doing speech prep at home.

So he's not on the airplane?  Or is he eating dinner on the airplane?

No the opportunity dropped for today.  Right now, it's probably in counterproductive range, especially if it is Biden.

[J. J.]

Obama blew it.

[J. J.]

I can't quite work out whether this delay is a stroke of genius or an awful, hubris-born error.

Obama blew it.

You guys are great!  No, seriously.  The only reason I'm even watching this on the Atlas is because I've been waiting for a chance to do laundry since noon.  I'm having trouble getting excited, and look how many freaking posts I have.

"Awful...error."  "Obama blew it."  How many permanent polling points did he just miss out on?  Five?  Ten?  Has his campaign died because he misses one day of non-questioning coverage?  No, sorry--because of a 24-hour delay, and potential slight smothering in the folds of the news cycle.

Meanwhile, America is mostly trying to decide between Burger King and McDonald's, and ready to set in for a weekend of pretending they already knew who Joe Biden/Evan Bayh/whoever was.  Is it a screw-up relative to what could have been?  Maybe.  And I guess in that sense he "blew it," but let's not seriously pretend we'll be thinking about this in a month.

That said, I'm 70% sure it's Biden.

He had a chance for the national news on a week day.  He missed that chance.

I'll agree with your assessment of Biden, but he is an unexciting candidate and a potential loose cannon.  Bad move all the way around; we see if McCain can do better.

[J. J.]

The Obama campaign has chosen one of the worst possible methods for choosing a VP candidate and Obama, possibly, has chosen the worst of the top tier candidates.

[J. J.]

That explains pulling out of Va.

[J. J.]

I can't believe this is still under wraps.

If its Biden, they can cut it out now, its over. Really.

What's up with your hate of Biden? As long as he doesn't make a gaffe till November, he is an excellent choice who helps Obama with older democrats.

I do hate him though.

Why?

I dont trust him to not gaffe......on the trail or in international work. I dont think he brings anything really, so Id be more mad at Obama than Biden.

You'd rather have Bayh?

By quite a bit, he looks and acts more professional and is more centrist, and at least Indiana might matter, PA and DE were most likely in the bag already.

PA isn't, yet.  In a word, Ridge.

[J. J.]

That explains pulling out of Va.

No it doesn't.

Yes, it does.  There will be de-emphasis south of the Potomac.  The race will be in these states:  MI, OH, PA, NM, NH, CO.  Depending on the GOP Veep choice, PA might be de-emphasized.