Wednesday, August 20, 2008

VP Buzz

The announcement of Barack's VP is expected in the next couple of days now that AP has confirmed yesterday's buzz that the person selected (Biden? Or Bayh?) will appear with Obama this weekend.
Barack Obama and his newly named running mate will campaign together Saturday at the place where the Democratic presidential hopeful formally launched his White House bid.

If it's true that we'll know by Saturday, today would make the most sense for the campaign to make the announcement known so that it gets the most bang out of the news cycle before the weekend. Friday would not make much sense.

A senior Obama adviser told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday that the Illinois senator and his choice for vice president will appear in Springfield, Ill., at the former state Capitol where Abraham Lincoln once served.

While the VP pick captures the media focus for a few days - presenting some actual news to discuss - it is by combining the announcement cleverly with the convention that a big chunk of time can be co-opted by one party. If Barack's choice is presented today, for example, it would mean that he controls the news cycle through the weekend on the VP pick, and then next week with the convention running Monday through Thursday.

The last time Obama appeared there he announced he was running for president.

Obama strategist Anita Dunn sidestepped the question of whether the event would be Obama’s first appearance with his vice presidential pick, but suggested the two wouldn’t necessarily be related. The campaign’s announcement Tuesday said only that Obama would begin the trip to his party’s national convention at Saturday’s event. The Democratic convention begins Monday in Denver.

"We could pick up the VP. any time," Dunn said.

No comments: