Claire McCaskill, one of the earliest supporters of Obama in the Senate, has been given a speaking role on Monday (along with Pelosi as convention chair, and Michelle Obama, who will be introduced by her brother Craig Robinson, the new men's basketball coach at Oregon State).  Not listed anywhere among the speakers as of yet is Kaine.  That seems to indicate something, quite possibly the VP selection, given that he was first governor outside of IL to endorse Obama.  According to this piece at TPM derived from an AP story, other speakers are yet to be announced, but I think just about all the major speakers except the following are now announced:

1) who formally places Obama's name in nomination
2) who seconds (and how many)
3) who formally nominates VP
4) who seconds
5) who introduces VP candidate to speak
6) who introduces Obama to speak

now, quite clearly, Kaine would be a possibility for 1, 2 or 6 if he is not VP nominee.  Clearly he is among the last of the last in the VP pool, even if he is not already selected.

Doing this is worse than doing Kreminology based on positions on the dais next to Lenin's tomb.

n/t

Hooray for MW!  Good to hear Virginia is going prime-time baby!

Warner's speech is the best of the Dems.  If anyone was going to rep the Democratic message to the nation, it's Warner.

Do people think that this is a pretty clear sign that the VP pick will not be Kaine?

I cannot... refuse to believe that Kaine will be the VP choice. Obama would be stupid to do it. Kaine does nothing policy-wise. Mark Warner giving the speech at the DNC has a better chance of changing peoples' minds than Kaine being on the ticket.

This is really a great day to be a Virginian. Congratulations to both Mark Warner and Mike Henry - and everyone helping Warner out. Thanks for continuing to put virginia on that national map.

Just STFU and do your job. Start with justice forAleck Carpitcher.  Do it now, before you go to Denver.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Here's the Washington Post story on Mark Warner.

I think with the quote from Plouffe
"Like Barack Obama, Mark Warner is not afraid to challenge the status quo to bring people together and get things moving,"   that Sebelius is the VP pick. It just fits.

if he picks sebelius watch the backlash with female hillary supporters. he just cannot do it. that could cost us the election.

Marc Ambinder recieved this on (08/07/08):

I'm a DNC pledged delegate for Obama. Your recent PUMA PAC musings piqued my interest, if only because I do sort of have a metric on how big the PUMA people are as a movement. About a month ago I woke up and took a look at my e-mail and instead of seeing few new e-mails in the morning I saw more than three hundred.

PUMA released the e-mail addresses of the delegates to their supporters and asked them to e-mail us with a form letter. I'm sure you've seen the letter (if not, it's pasted in below), but since I set up a filter to direct every e-mail with "PUMA" in it to a folder on my Outlook, I can tell you that about a month after their letter-writing campaign began (I don't get many more these days), I received a total of 404 messages.

Given that their entire raison d'etre is getting delegates to vote otherwise, this makes me think the PUMA movement is actually quite small, even if it is quite good at getting press. PUMA will surely stage something at the convention, but if they can only get 404 people to send e-mails, I'm not sure how many they can get to fly to Denver and make an impressive scene.

Anecdotally, I would add that my interactions with the many Clinton delegates over Facebook and in person has been uniformly positive.

My mother took a long time to come over to Obama, but she did eventually.  All the old wounds would be reopened with Sebelius' selection.  She's said "Hillary was a woman chosen by women.  Sebelius is a women chosen by men."  Frankly, I see her point.

Obama does is analyzed to death in terms of how it affects Hillary supporters. When does it end?

He can't pick Sebelius or McCaskill, they're women.

He can't pick Bill "Judas" Richardson.

He can't pick Kaine because of his abortion views.

Hiring Patti Solis Doyle? A total slap in the face!

Bob Casey Jr. speaking at the convention? An insult!

Not placing her name in nomination even though she has no chance of winning? Obama and Dean hate democracy!

If he does select Hillary Clinton as his runningmate, everyone will know that Obama just wants to win and will do whatever it takes to do so. And he will not look like a leader, he'll look like a puppet.

of course everything he does is analyzed to death - he is the democratic nominee for president of the united states - get used to it. I worked for patti solis doyle directly for 5 years - lots of shit has been said about her - and me for that matter - and thats exactly what it is. bull shit. but choosing another woman this year is a real issue and there is no reason why there can't be a debate about it. and you continuing to basically call hillary supporters pumas is not helping your cause at all

I'm sorry I offended you.

Vote Quimby

no offense - but how about you grow up. I am not a puma, and neither are the people i am talking about. some of them are your very own female delegates from virginia. it would be an outrage to select another women after hillary ran and got farther then any other women did. at least without offering her the slot.  

would be pretty insulting to Sen. Clinton. IMHO.

I mean, Obama won the nomination and can choose who he wants, and I'll be voting for him regardless, but lets not kid ourselves that Obama offering a woman politician other than Mrs. Clinton the potential for the history-making slot on the ticket would not be a direct insult.

To dismiss these complaints as simply the ranting of PUMAs ignores reality, doesn't it? There are many sincere Clinton supporters, like myself, who are not PUMAs, and who made it clear at all times they would support the Democratic nominee. But why should that include having to deny reality?

you are so far off-based on this it is ridiculous.  So Obama picks an outstanding, experienced female governor who is a pro-choice Catholic and Clinton supporters are going to stay home or vote for anti-choice John McCain?  Get real.

that Obama picking a woman might cost him the election is hyperbolic, but his point, that such a move would be looked at askance by hillary supporters, is right on target.

I think it would be a pretty crummy thing for him to do to deny Hillary that history-making role, assuming he wants a woman and she is interested. But he'd still get my vote.

Is that really what Obama wants to shoot for?

if Obama picks Wes Clark. Just sayin'. :)

Clark solves a lot of problems.

And just to be clear, I'm not saying Obama can't pick a woman other than Sen. Clinton. All I'm saying is that we should not deny the obvious, which is that if he does so it would be an insult  to her (assuming she cares at all).

The stakes in this election are too high, and I urge every Democrat not to let any feeling of personal pique to get get in the way of doing the right thing on election day and ensuring Obama is elected president. McCain is a phony and a menace.

But we ought not to deny or dance around the truth. It is what it is.

i am not. wake up -- the idea that he would ask a woman this year - the year that hillary went farther then any other woman - that isn't hillary has disaster written all over it. what signal does that send to her supporters?

http://marcambinder.theatlanti...

If they were trying to get Warner on board, it seems to me that they figured Kaine just wouldn't do.  Probably right; if you're looking for a Virginia Governor, Warner would do a lot better than Kaine.  

I'm sure Obama likes Kaine, but how much you like a candidate has to come second to that candidate helping somebody win the office.  I just don't see how Kaine does that.  WHat voters does he add?  If somebody can tell me that, I might be more willing to look at it.

After he leaves office in 2009.  Probably secretary of Transportation, at which the Old Dominion will uniformly raise an eyebrow and chuckle.

Biden brings so much to the table, both for the ticket and for the knowledge of foreign policy gained from decades of experience that he would provide as Obama's VP, not to mention his years of service on the judiciary committee. And I can't see where he brings any significant negative baggage. Biden is highly respected and, yes, often admired by even the GOP side of the aisle.

I have never heard of any animosity between Biden and Clinton or her supporters, so I really don't think that is even a factor in the decision-making process.

And ... Joe Biden is a comparatively young man. He will be only 66 years old on the 20th of Nov. (two years younger than I am and 3 years older the Jim Webb), so there's no concern at all about his physical or mental ability to serve as President if the worst happened and that became necessary. In a debate, Biden would absolutely blow away anyone McCain could pick as his VP, and of course McCain would make a complete fool of himself if he dared challenge Biden on any foreign policy, judiciary or national security issue. In the simplest of terms that even the MSM might possibly be able to grasp, Biden wins the VP sweepstakes by a landslide because he is, well, the best of the best. Who couldn't vote for an elder statesman who isn't even elderly yet?

I guess you've figured out by now that Joe Biden was my very first choice for President, and I would be absolutely thrilled for him to become VP.

BTW, I did confirm that Delaware has a Dem. governor so she (Ruth Ann Minner, age 72) be able to select a Democrat as his replacement in the Senate.

Anyone care to offer an argument against Biden for VP ?

                          T.C.