Thanks, Jonathan. I don't have fancy TV in any form and I ain't givin' my cell # to anybody, so I appreciate the update!

TOMORROW?! Well, that about settles it. It's Biden or Hillary.

....or Gore. Or General Patraeus. Or Pope Benedict.

...and at least you can have a beer in your easy chair while you struggle for a droplet of info on our behalf. My DH is a TX reporter who was dispatched to Waco this afternoon to stake out Chet Edwards...hope he got some of that Chick-Fil-A that Chet was offering the press.

Andrea Mitchell reported the same scoop on Nightly News:

"Even on the eve of the announcement, [Biden was] not yet given the official word, sources say. Unlike other top contenders: Virgina Gov. Tim Kaine, and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. Sources say they were told they were out of the running."

Video: www.msnbc.msn.com/.../26350536  

(@ 1:50 min)

Obama is playing the media like Yo Yo Ma.

Politico calls it a "striptease." Make 'em wait, Barack. Work the pole. Meanwhile the girls on the floor are hustlin' the voyeurs for drinks.

p.s. Nothing lame about taking your job seriously (i.e., being a professional), Mr. Cohn.

Where is Tep bemoaning the fact that clearly Obama doesn't know what he is doing by not taking Bayh?

Oh, I know. I know.  Tep is already on the record kvetching about how drab and boring the Bayh pick was.  But now that it seems that Bayh is out, clearly Obama, in Tep's thinking, must have displayed some kind of flawed reasoning and faulty character trait.

I may be one of the few, but I am really enjoying watching the media getting its chain yanked around like this.  I hope it lasts until the minute before Obama hits the stage in Springfield tomorrow.  This is just too much fun.  I especially like the talking-heads now saying that unless it some amazingly big name, it is all an unmitigated disaster for Obama.  Nah, it is all good.  Olbermann is having a field day with this right now, and I would guess that Obama is sitting in Chicago enjoying the show.

Marc Ambinder (Atlantic) has spotted a charter flight plan that went from Midway to New Castle DE, which is next to Wilmington, Biden's place of residence. Theory being that it went to pick somebody up. And no other charter flights from anywhere around Chicago to anywhere around Delaware.

flightaware.com/.../EJA863

grant - the smart pick for Obama is Hillary. Were he to choose her, he'd cover his flank with the PUMAs and Reagan/Hillary Dems and make it very difficult for McCain to defeat him.

Biden's a good pick but if he's No. 2, it won't change many voters minds. Bayh wouldn't change a thing.

Shocker.

Ditto kgrant about the media. Obama's got a fish on the line and he's in no hurry to reel it in.

Meanwhile, McCain has dropped off the edge of the Earth. Much longer and folks will be going "McCain. Rings a bell. From Arizona, right?"

I have a hunch that he will keep it close to his vest until just before the announcement and then HC will be on stage with him...

at this point, why the hell not...

I've got a secret, I've got a secret, na, na, na, na, na.

teplukhin2you, I agree that Hillary is the smart choice and the only one that makes a difference in the election.  Almost all politicians can suck it up and work with former opponents for a common goal. But is Obama gutsy enough (and humble enough) to do it?

Good news: my DH has been cleared to stop staking out Chet Edwards, for now. Not that it means anything one way or the other, only that he can finally go get some delicious Waco dinner.

Tep,

If Obama picked Hillary, he would get butchered for being a wimp.  "Couldn't even stand up to the Clinton Restoration," the talking-heads would crow.  Bad idea, no matter how much it might make sense (although not to me, as you inherit the pile of...issues attendant with the Clinton brand), as Obama would disappear behind the political power couple.  

Also, how do you spin 'Change' and then turn around and hand the pick to the spouse of a former President.  For this, and a few other reasons, I would love to see the pick be Sebelius.  Why?  To see if the folks demanding the slot be given to Hillary are actually feminists or simply, as Clinton supporters used to say about Obama supporters, cultists.

I will be very disappointed if he hands the VP to Senator Clinton.  And he will lose my wife's vote. (Fiscal Conservative Republican, very strong professional woman, decidedly anti-Hillary - she is definitely leaning toward Obama (she finds the war to be excruciatingly expensive without enough of a return on the investment, is appalled by McCain's sucking up to fundamentalist preachers, and selling out to the Bush/Rove political world-view.))

My choices (at the moment) - Schweitzer, Webb, Sebelius.

Come to think about it, it makes sense that Bayh knows he's out since he drove his children to camp, whereas, according to CNN, Biden's family is gathering at his home. Can't see a Veep not having all his family there while making a speech on the day that slot is revealed.

Everyone seems to think this "make 'em wait" routine is genius from Obama. I feel the opposite. A Friday pm announcement (fashionably late - say, 8-9 pm?) would have had the talking heads going until early afternoon tomorrow. It would be the last thing people heard before they went to bed and the first thing they hear when they wake up (and read their papers). Now it's going to be covered during the time (Saturday afternoon) when there are the least number of eyeballs on TV screens. Too late for an SNL reference at that point too, it wouldn't shock me if BHO gets mocked on late night shows Friday and on SNL the next day. I suppose the upside is it will headline the Sunday papers, but that's exactly the wrong media to emphasize in the 2008 media landscape. Also beware a resentful backlash from impatient text message signees.

Not genius so much as delirious fun at watching the talking-heads try to find ways of restating the obvious - nothing is happening.  

Also, SNL is on summer hiatus, no?  Stewart and Colbert don't run shows on Fridays.  Letterman and the Chin tape their shows in the late afternoon, early evening, and thus don't go for 'day-of' topical stuff as much as they used to.

Ok Hillary - just behave yourself girlfriend.

Crap, I lost the pool.

GO BIDEN! GO BIDEN!

/was secretly my favorite of the lot, even though I knew he had a snowball's chance of getting the nomination