Posts Tagged ‘ Obama

Strike that… Obama/Biden ‘08, apparently. 23 August 2008 at 8:35 am by Jason 152 views

Last night at about 3:00am Obama sent out his text messages delcaring that Joe Biden would be his running mate.  See below:

So I guess the bumper stickers were a pretty big hoax (as it was picked up by Drudge and Time), but now we have an answer. Biden is an odd choice… for a man preaching change, playing up McCain’s age, and needing to snag swing states, picking someone who’s been in Washington for 30 years, is 65 years old, and isn’t from a swing state is a very weird thing. to do. Some more info:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.Obama announced the pick on his Web site with a photo of the two men and an appeal for donations. A text message went out shortly afterward that said, “Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee.”

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

Obama’s campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Obama’s decision leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen. The campaign scrambled to send the text message after the leak, sending phones buzzing at the inconvenient time of just after 3 a.m. on the East coast.

So where does this leave McCain?  Most likely he’ll be declaring his running mate soon, to make the news not focus solely on Obama (in my opinion).  So, there you have it… let’s see what skeletons they can dredge up from Biden’s past…

Indian-Americans
While speaking to a group of Indian-Americans in Delaware, Biden stated, “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.” His comment was caught on C-SPAN.

“My state was a slave state”
In August of 2006, Biden was on Fox News Sunday and said “You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state.”

Barack Obama
Talking about his fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama he said, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, … I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Uh-oh… that was quick…



+ Obama/Bayh ‘08? By Jason 22 August 2008 at 6:39 pm 156 views 1 Comment

Just saw this hit the net (from KMBC):

LENEXA, Kan. — After weeks of speculation and days of intense rumors, the answer to who Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would name as his running mate may have come down to a bumper sticker printed in Lenexa.

KMBC’s Micheal Mahoney reported that the company, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material. That’s Bayh as in U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Word leaked out about the material as it was being printed up by Gill Studios of Lenexa. The Obama campaign had said it would make the announcement by text message on Friday.

Gill Studios would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either.

“We’re very disappointed that you would spread this rumor,” Gill Studios President Tom Carrico said.

“You didn’t print it here?” Mahoney asked.

“I didn’t say that. But I’m very disappointed that you would come out and interview us and ask for confirmation and we said we would not confirm,” Carrico said.

“Or deny,” Mahoney said.

“That’s correct,” Carrico said.

Mahoney reported that at least three sources close to the plant’s operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced.

Bayh has a reputation as a fiscally conservative Democrat. Bayh endorsed Hillary Clinton and it is believed that he could help the Obama ticket by delivering a key battleground state.

Obama has arranged a joint appearance for Saturday with his running mate at the state Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Interesting stuff… if this is true heads could roll, as it kinda blows the wind out of Obama’s sails when it comes to the “big reveal,” but if it’s false, that makes you wonder why it was done. Interesting, as it notes in the article, Bayh was a huge Clinton supporter.  I wonder (if this is true) that it could be part of trying to bring the party back together.  Here’s a shot of the sticker itself:

More as it develops!



+ Daily del.icio.us Bookmarks for 06/13/08 By Jason 13 June 2008 at 7:51 pm 165 views No Comments

These are my daily “Good to Know” links for 06/14/08 … please enjoy:

The List: Top Tourist Spots Americans Can?t Visit | Foreign Policy

Looking for someplace special to spend the Fourth of July? FP investigates five fabulous destinations where a summer getaway is next to impossible.

BMW GINA Light Visionary Model | Jalopnik

Little did we know it would be the promise of a revolution wherein the metallic skin is replaced with with a fabric that morphs and bends into different shapes.

The Big Picture | Boston.com

News Stories told with large pictures. It’s a very interesting way to veiw the news, as it seems to draw you into it much more than a small picture could.

Malik Obama confirms his half-brother Barack grew up a Muslim | Israel Insider

“Barack Obama’s half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya.”

Come back for more links tomorrow!!



+ Now ends the Voting portion of our Show By Jason 03 June 2008 at 10:46 pm 196 views No Comments

Now ends the voting portion of our show, with South Dakota and Montana, we are left months away from the Democratic National Convention with Barack Obama claiming the “Projected Nominee” status based on his collection of Super Delegates. South Dakota went to Clinton, while Montana went to Obama. Neither he, nor Hillary Clinton were able to get the Nominee status without them and the fun part of the game, is that they can change their mind whenever they want.

So where are we left? Well, Barack Obama says he is the nominee based upon his reaching the 2,118 delegates needed to secure the nomination. What about Hillary Clinton? She claims she’s not going anywhere as she has the Popular Vote and the fact that the Super Delegates (which helped Obama get to the 2,118 delegates) can change their mind at any point until the Convention.

For those wanting to see… here is a final map of the states won by Obama (Purple) and Clinton (Pink) with Florida & Michigan going to Clinton:

Democratic Primary Map - Final

Will Hillary Clinton drop out “officially” in the coming weeks? Will the “Whitey” tape appear and upset Obama’s chances? Will Hillary attempt to become Barack’s VP? Many questions still remain, so stay tuned!



+ I know a guy who knew a guy… By Jason 20 May 2008 at 2:20 pm 248 views 1 Comment

I know it’s “Polling” day, but I just noticed this while looking to see when polls close. On Hillary Clinton’s site:

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/hq/kentucky/voting101/

Rules

Voting requirements: In order to vote you will need to bring with you a driver’s license, a Social Security card, a credit card, or another form of ID containing both picture and signature.

But on Barack Obama’s site it says (emphasis mine):

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGBTFg

Rules

All voters must bring an ID or be personally acquainted with the precinct officer. Acceptable forms of ID include a driver’s license, a Social Security card, a credit card, or any ID card with both the voter’s picture and signature.

What an odd, and interesting addition to the rules… so you don’t need an ID if you’re personally acquainted with the Precinct Officer? Also, in Kentucky what does the Precinct Officer do? Oh yeah… this:

  1. Attend training sessions.
  2. Your election day will begin at 5:30 AM when you report to your polling place.
  3. Arrange your polling place with all the necessary election materials and voting equipment.
  4. Open the precinct by 6 AM.
  5. Process voters and provide any assistance.
  6. Administer all election laws.
  7. Close the polling place after the last voter in line at 6 PM has voted.
  8. Complete all necessary paper work.
  9. Return all election materials to the County Clerk’s office.

So how does this work? Well, according to the state:

Each precinct is required to have four (4) precinct officers serving on the day of the election.

  1. You must be a qualified registered voter. If you will be eighteen (18) years old on or before the General election, you can serve as a precinct officer.
  2. You can not serve as a precinct election officer if you are a candidate or the spouse, parent, brother sister, or child of a candidate who is to be voted for at the election.
  3. You can not change your party affiliation for one (1) year prior to your appointment.

So, out of curiosity… if all you have to do is “be personally acquainted with the precinct officer,” and there is nothing saying that all four officers can’t support the same candidate, and they are the people who are in charge of pretty much everything when it comes to the votes…… what’s to stop any fraud from happening here?

Very peculiar, I must say….

UPDATE - I was just pointed to this site: http://www.electionjournal.org/ Check out some of the articles:

Street Politics - “Kentucky Style”

We were fortunate to conduct an interview with Clarence Yancey. Clarence has served as 43rd legislative district Democrat Chairman since 1982. Yancey described to us the responsibilities of being a district chair and his reputation as being a particularly good one….candidates he supports win 90% of the time (he says).

Clarence is responsible for taking care of his poll workers, volunteers and making sure his people are well informed when they enter the polling place. Clarence will tell you, his people are VERY well informed:

“nine out of ten people will vote the way I want them to”

Clarence also supplies a visual aid in the form of “Yancey’s Sample Ballot”, you can see the ballot in the interview. Obama tops the ticket in this primary election. The “sample ballot” is especially effective for one demographic:

“especially senior citizens they don’t like to be in a poll and don’t look like they know what their doing”

Here’s what his sample ballot looks like:

Yancy's Example Vote

Wowsers. This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks.

UPDATE 2 - Here is a hard copy showing the “Personal Acquaintance” thing:

Rules

From here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/electionjournal/2507955983/