Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sens. Evan Bayh (IN) and Jack Reed (RI) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

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In 24 hours or therabout, Senator John Kerry will most likely become Obama's pick for Vice-President. For the past few days he has kept a low profile away from public and media attention but this will change in the coming days.
There is going to be little excitment with this pick among all party coalition but it makes the most sense.
It will be a safe pick by Senator Obama who is very thoughtful, cautious and calculative.
Senator Kerry, may not bridge the strong division in the party before the election but it will be a reasonable insurance that Obama will at least hold the Kerry States and tilt a couple of Purple States that have since matured and ripe enough to be added into Blue States.

As most of you know, the new Jerome Corsi book Obama Nation is at the top of the New York Time's Best Sellers List.  Corsi also wrote the book Unfit for Command attacking John Kerry's military service, which ultimately helped to sink his candidacy.  I echo the sentiment of mobilio316 from June and rapcetera from today when i say, Barack Obama will not be swiftboated.

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Gov. Tim Kaine (VA) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Fmr. Sen. Bob Graham (FL) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

    Actually, McC could learn a lot from Obama (e.g., having the right positions), but McC was punchy, succinct, and made the campaign sound epic, e.g., fighting The Terrorists Everywhere, etc., in Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum tonight.

A. Obama needs to say things succinctly, and be less Kerryesque.

B. He needs to sound punchier and more aggressive. Why didn't he say anything about getting Osama?

C. Stories. He talked about his ancestors who fought in WWII, but he--or a running mate--could sure use some personal stories with the "I was in a Hanoi hellhole for my beloved country" tang that McCain exhibited.

    I'm voting Obama; but not enough other people may do so unless he ramps up his speech and debate style. Forewarned is forearmed.

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Claire McCaskill (MO) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Currently at Drudge Report you will find this article http://wbztv.com/...

Drudge has made an article discussing Kerry as the possible VP. It is amazing how this little story, in which I believe lacks credibility because they are just like another Biden or Bayh story. It is a non-story and Drudge has chosen this as his headline?

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) and Fmr. Sen. Sam Nunn (GA) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

This will be a short diary.  As of when I'm writing this nobody has parroted the Drudge Report suggesting that John Kerry might be Obama's VP.

But I noticed something that wasn't mentioned in the WBZ TV speculation that Drudge was linking to.  

Last month, Kerry's longtime press spokesman left his office to join the Obama campaign:

We here at Boston Daily were devastated when we heard a rumor that John Kerry spokesman David Wade is leaving his post for a job with Barack Obama’s yet-to-be-named running mate.

“I’m taking a leave of absence through the election,” Wade tells Boston Daily. “Today’s my last day.”

I was just watching the 11PM news on WBZ TV, the ABC affiliate in Boston, and political analyst Jon Keller did a report on the possibility that John Kerry will be Obama's VP choice.

Keller said he's heard talk around town about Kerry as VP choice, and personally feels Kerry would bring money, name recognition, and the military hero image to Obama's campaign.

Keller's blog also has an entry about John Kerry:

Kerry for VP?

An excerpt from the blog:

Alert Boston Phoenix scribe David Bernstein has picked up some cable TV chatter about the possibility that Sen. John Kerry might be on the Obama list of possible vice-presidential nominees, to which I say - bring it on!

(Cross-posted from O.o...although the version HERE is longer, due to the "minimum diary length" suggestions)

    Just a thought.

    ...and have a look at Wik for more info supporting the badness of Dasch for VP,

    ...Daschle is married to lobbyist and former Federal Aviation Administration official Linda Hall....
    Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned them to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle reverted to being Minority Leader. ...
    Daschle has not made intentions clear as to whether or not he will run again for office; however, he has signed on as a Senior Policy Advisor [lobbyist] with the K Street law firm Alston & Bird. Daschle was recruited by the former Republican Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole. Daschle has refused to discuss his salary, but Dole, performing a similar role at the firm, has admitted to making in the region of $800,000 to $1 million per year. ...

    (more)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began last time with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (NM) was eliminated in the first round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

In 2004, Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry had to respond repeatedly to attacks on his Vietnam military service from a group know as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (referred to here as Swift Liars).  

It’s 2008, and the Swift Liars are back. Their target: Democrats.

John Kerry is doing his party no favors by appearing on news shows to rebut Jerome Corsi’s book of lies on Barack Obama.

Swiftboat doctor and co-author of "Unfit for Command," Jerome Corsi, was on Larry King tonight trying to defend his latest book, "Obama Nation." He kept accusing the guy from Media Matters of ad hominem attacks when Media Matters identified dozens of outright lies and undocumented innuendo. Corsi claimed he had hundreds of footnotes to back up his claims but Media Matters identified several of these reliable sources as nothing more than right wing bloggers.
Corsi insists that he has no connection to the McCain campaign and that he intends to vote for the Constitution Party candidate. But, in the New York Times today, "[h]e said he was planning to aid several conservative groups that intend to run advertisements against Mr. Obama this fall, though he would not name them." But, his publisher Mary Matalin "said in an interview that the book 'was not designed to be, and does not set out to be, a political book,' calling it, rather, 'a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that.' She said she was unaware of efforts to link it to any anti-Obama advertising." So, this is an example of Repug scholarship

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Welcome back for more speculation! Today concludes the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., and starts a new one ("final final"?).

The previous series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). Since Obama will pick soon, we'll see if we'll have time to complete another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gen. (Ret.) Wesley Clark (AR) defeated Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (KS) to win the previous series. Starting today we'll run the top 14 names I now consider most likely (I know I may be wrong). I was going to run Bayh against the winner of this series alone, but it was pointed out this would not be exactly fair, so since Bayh and Clark have now both made the cut for this series, I decided to skip that.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Whenever there is a controversial book ("The Da Vinci Code") or movie ("Sicko," "The Passion of the Christ," "United 93") in the media, the same thing always happens. A bunch of people who haven't so much as read the book or seen the movie gather together to condemn/defend the work in question.

The circle jerk continues unabated as people crucify or glorify the work until practically everyone already has their minds made up before they get a chance to sit down and decide for themselves.

As a rule, I think, this sort of behavior should be avoided. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, shut the fuck up until you have.

But in this case, I'm breaking my own rule.