Could the Clintons “hog” the convention limelight? The big overnight news is that Hillary’s name will be going forward to a roll call vote on the Tuesday leaving open the remote possibility that she could still win. The Obama team has agreed to this as a means of keeping some of the most ardent Hillary supporters on board. About 45% of the delegates are for Hillary and the big danger for Obama is that the media could build this up…
Why is Bill due to speak just before just before the V-P nominee? An intriguing piece of news overnight is the report that Bill Clinton, whose relationship with Obama has never been easy, has been given the slot at the Denver convention just before the V-P nominee. This can only mean, surely, that the chosen person is totally acceptable to the Clintons and, indeed, might be a major part of the healing between the two factions that has become so…
With Barack Obama expected to announce at any time the name of his running mate every little bit of detail is being scrutinised to the nth degree to try to guess who the chosen one will be. One person who had been highly tipped was the former Governor of Virginia and, incidentally, was alongside Obama one of my two long-shot tips for the President in 2005 and 2006. Last night the announcement that he would be speaking on the Tuesday…
Is McCain’s plan for a ‘League of Democracies’ the answer? On May Day of last year, John McCain addressed the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California. As the Republican primary candidate with the most foreign policy experience, his remarks received a significant amount of attention. The key idea in the speech was that, if elected President, McCain would call a summit of the Democratically-elected world leaders, and discuss with them how global problems might be solved. He described the…
Which VP will keep Southern Baptists on-side? Mike has alerted me to a fascinating CBS News interview with Richard Land, who chairs the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the ‘public-policy wing’ of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US, and they weild significant political influence over the Republican Party. “CBSNews.com: A number of evangelicals and leaders of what used to be called the religious right have said that what they’re really looking for–to…
What might this mean for Michigan and the Presidential campaigns? Thirty-four-years-and-a-day since Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, the most serious political scandal of 2008 is reaching its peak, and rather refreshingly it doesn’t directly involve either candidate in the White House race. Kwame Kilpatrick, the Mayor of Detroit, is tonight sat in jail, having breached his bail conditions by taking a trip to Canada. The 38-year-old Mayor, once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, is facing eight indictments,…
Could viral videos like this start to have an impact? Over the past couple of weeks there’s been a bit of a move back to John McCain on the betting markets. Obama’s overseas trip, particularly the mass rally in Berlin, has not gone down well and the presumptive GOP nominee has been deploying what appears to be an effective attack strategy against his Democratic opponent. But still, I believe, McCain is weak on one of the things he can do…
Are her V-P chances really better than 10%? Maybe I am being a mug, maybe I have contributed too much already to Shadsy at Ladrokes and other bookies’ profits on the Democratic V-P nomination, maybe I should have stuck with my self-denying ordinance not to throw any more money at this issue but I’ve just placed a bet at 10/1 on the former first lady. Partly it was the discussion on the overnight thread, partly it was reading the latest…