Wait, engaged (this morning), not married yet. No date set.
sozobe wrote:Charlie Crist just got married!
Really? I didn't even know that he and Liza Minelli were dating.
This would be his second marriage.
So, what do you guys think... is McCain going to announce his VP this week, or did his campaign use Bob Novak to kick up some buzz?
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/22/novak_says_he_may_have_been_used.html
All buzz, no substance. Typical Novak column.
McCain has the advantage of having the GOP convention follow the Democratic convention, so he doesn't want to announce his VP choice and let Obama react to his choice rather than the other way around. But he doesn't want Obama getting all the headlines during his Mideast trip, so he gives loyal conservative toady Novak an "exclusive" that people can talk about instead of talking about Obama. Presto! All the media hype of naming a VP without actually doing it. McCain would have to be awfully desperate to name his running mate now. If McCain actually goes through with it and names his VP choice in the next week or so, it will just be more proof that the wheels have come completely off the trolley for McCain.
Yeah, that's about my take on it too.
(The McCain camp seems seriously freaked out by this trip. And they can't criticize the trip itself since they basically goaded him into it.)
Even Bob Novak seems to have finally
figured it out:
Robert Novak thinks John McCain's campaign may have fed him falsities to drum up some press during Barack Obama's foreign tour.
Last night, he posted an item that got a lot of attention, saying a source told him McCain would announce his vice presidential choice this week. Now he's not so sure it's true.
"I got a suggestion from a very senior McCain aide that he was gonna announce it this week," Novak told Fox News. "And they suggested I put it out ... so I just put something on the internet."
[b]"I since have been told by certain people that this was a dodge, trying to get a little publicity to rain on Obama's campaign," he said. "That's pretty reprehensible if it's true.[/b] But we'll find out in a few days."
So McCain has the rest of the week to decide: pick a VP or incur Novak's wrath.
The McCain campaign won't comment, but Marc Ambinder says aides are reacting "with amusement."
Imagine, Bob Novak calling someone else "reprehensible." Praise from Caesar indeed!
Btw, since Sarah Palin's scandal has come out, I no longer think she will be McCain's vp.
Cycloptichorn
@candidone1,
McCain is apparently making his announcement August 29th:
Quote:Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to celebrate his 72nd birthday on Aug. 29 by naming his running mate at a huge rally in the battleground state of Ohio, Republican sources said.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12619.html
On the Dem side, Biden's name is coming up more and more...
(I edited the first line, as some seem to doubt whether it's actually going to happen, despite the authoritative tone of the Politico piece.)
@sozobe,
Andrew Sullivan says that Mark Halperin is hearing it's Romney. He links to this page:
http://thepage.time.com/2008/08/21/2-gop-sources-its-romney/
Now that's blank, but this is on the main page:
Quote:2 Republican sources say McCain has apparently settled on Romney as his pick, but no offer has been made.
Gawd I hope so.
@sozobe,
I (speaking as a loyal resident of Massachusetts) think that Romney is a great choice!
@ebrown p,
CNN thinks it's Palin. That'd be interesting. (I thought there was a scandal that put her out of the running...?)
@sozobe,
Looking more and more likely that it's Palin.
Huh.
That'd be interesting.
I've been reading about the scandal though -- really seems like it'd be bad news.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/185110/659
I've always thought John McCain would name a women as his vice president, but I didn't know which one. He would want to try to get Clinton's women voters to vote for a republican woman. Looks like it is Sarah Palin. ---BBB
Speculation over McCain veep turns to Alaska gov.
Fri Aug 29, 2008
John McCain kept his vice presidential pick a closely guarded secret hours before the high-stakes announcement Friday as top prospects seemed to drop away and speculation moved to darkhorse candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Two GOP strategists close to the McCain campaign said all indications pointed to Palin, a self-styled "hockey mom" and political reformer. The strategists spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by the McCain camp to discuss the matter. There was no confirmation from McCain or his advisers.
With an announcement scheduled in Dayton, Ohio, an associate of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the governor had been informed he is not McCain's pick. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for Pawlenty, who had all but ruled himself out.
"I'm not going to be there. I plan to be at the state fair. You can draw your conclusion from that," Pawlenty said on his weekly call-in radio show on WCCO-AM in Minneapolis. He also called it "a fair assumption" that he will not be McCain's running mate.
Associates close to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were saying the same thing, telling The Associated Press that the former presidential candidate had not been offered the job by McCain.
Palin is a first-term governor credited with reforms of her out-of-the-way state. Newly minted Democratic nominee Barack Obama is making an aggressive play for the traditional GOP stronghold and its three electoral votes, and polls show the race close.
At 44, Palin is younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick.
A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager. He said several people came off the plane, including a woman and two teens, but there was no confirmation of who was aboard.
"They were pretty much hustled off. They came right down the ramp, jumped in some vans here and off they went," Bevis said. "It was all hush, hush."
Among the other possible running mates: former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and former Rep. Rob Portman of Ohio.
The Arizona senator decided on his choice for vice president early Thursday, but the campaign has given no hint on the selection that will be announced on his 72nd birthday. The speculation sent a buzz throughout Denver, where Obama accepted his party's nomination and put Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on his ticket.
Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, gave nothing away during an interview on CBS' "The Early Show."
"John McCain is going to make the choice from his heart. He's going to choose someone who can be a partner in governing. He's going to choose someone who brings character and principle to the table and who shares his priorities. And I'm confident that he's going to make a great pick," Hazelbaker said.
Republicans kick off their national nominating convention next week in St. Paul, Minn., and McCain's campaign hopes the announcement of his running mate will stunt any momentum Obama might get from the just-concluded Democratic National Convention.
McCain was mum on the subject Thursday as he and his wife, Cindy, boarded a plane in Phoenix bound for Dayton.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press writers Glen Johnson in Boston and Doug Glass in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
Seems possible that it's a head fake -- ABC news says that she's still in Alaska. (Like, now, with the rally due to start at noon.)
But definitely looking more likely.
I'm bummed that it's not Romney. Still some room to hope for Lieberman (not a lot).
@sozobe,
OK, CNN just confirmed it.
Huh.
@sozobe,
It's an interesting choice, and leaves me far less gleeful than any of the "short list" would have. (And props to McCain for making people think that was in fact the short list...) Obvious play for Hillary voters. Palin is pro-life, though, and I don't know how that would work. I just can't see that much overlap between people who supported Hillary and people who would want to vote in a strongly pro-life president and vice president, especially with supreme court seats at stake.
So I can't really see her adding that many Hillary folks, while she may turn off the more conservative types (she's pro-gay rights up to but not including gay marriage), etc. She's young. She's inexperienced.
Is she Dan Quayle?
@sozobe,
Oh and the scandal thing. Not insignificant. Calls forth both Keating Five and the Attorney General scandal. (She evidently used influence to get her former brother-in-law fired, and then fired people who wouldn't fire him.)
