why an uncomfortable choice for Obama? I think they'll get along well, and Biden will be loyal and supportive. He's strong but not a bully, and I'm sure he recognizes and respects Obama's intelligence. I don't see Obama feeling threatened by him at all. I don't think Ambinder is the best judge of character.

I don't think it's a risky ticket either. I think it looks risky, but will prove to be smart.

Furthermore, I don't see any of McCain's picks being able to do well in a debate against Biden. Certainly not Romney.

Eve, have you heard Obama enumerate his qualifications for VP? Biden sounds pretty much like exactly like a "what-does-Barack-want pick".

"Obviously, the most important question is: Is this person ready to be president?" Obama told "The Early Show" on CBS. Second, he said, was: "Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally?"

And, he added: "I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a yes person when it comes to policymaking." www.latimes.com/.../la-na-campaign23-2008aug23,0,3720679.story

McC will choose Pawlenty.

Re Biden, obviously he should be at the top of the ticket. As #2 he won't make any difference to BHO's vote total. The PUMAs will be pissed; no one else will care.

Campaign-wise, Biden is by far the best among the potentials at doing what needs to be done: attack with the truth.  I love him, but he doesn't have the even temperament of the guy at the top of the ticket.  (Obama does.)  Biden doesn't give a shit, and that's exactly what Obama '08 needs right now.  Yes, yes, he'll be disciplined like a motherf---er.  That's the campagin.  But within those contraints, he can still be the angry yet endearing bring-that-shit-on-cause-it's-bullshit guy.  I see him as a pro-Obama Bill Clinton.  Will there be a few bad things to say about him?  Will there be some embarrassing quotes from him about Obama?  A couple.  Nothing big.  He's trustworthy, he's sharp, he's likeable, and he kicks ass.  The right call, period.

tep,

You mean the "millions" of PUMAs -- your word, millions - won't care? None of them? Still pissed, are they? The "millions" of them?

You've gone from "Obama HAS to pick Biden for veep" to "Biden won't matter" in the span of weeks, if not days. You sure? Final answer? You still think this yawn-inducing non-entity from Minnesota - this boring Evan Bayh type, with the additional baggage of being a Republican - will bring in his state, as well as Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio? And Biden "won't make any difference" in the race?

Really?

So after the "green," "naive," "egocentric," know-nothing "community organizer" did exactly what you said he should do - tap Biden as VP - it means nothing?

Biden is good, but still he failed the surge test.

I've been reading elsewhere that the Republicans are already citing that Biden has been the harshest critic of Obama's inexperience. Well, knowing Biden, he'll have some choice words in response, and he'll deliver them well.

Another good reason for Obama to have chosen him? His feistiness and lack of timidity that so many Democrats have in response to Republican smears; he can dish it out just as well as he can take it. ANd that is something I'm looking forward to in the next few weeks.

Tep, "obviously" Joe was incapable of getting any votes on his own, which is, you know, important.  He's the perfect no. 2.

JHilldner, glad to see you posting so late.  As usual, right on point.  I agree with everything you've said.  I also think many people are underestimating the power of the video clip from the December Des Moines debate when Obama defended Biden against the charge of racial insensitivity.

That was an afternoon debate that only junkies watched.  The most reported one-liner was Obama's funniest of the whole debate season:  his shot at Hillary that "I look forward to getting advice from you."  The more significant remark was his defense of Biden.  Obama said that he wanted to "give testimony" as to Biden's heart being in the right place on civil rights issues.

"Good news for Mitt Romney"?  Are you kidding?

Biden is worth, what, $200,000?  I may be wrong, but I believe Obama and Biden are the only candidates in this race who own one house each.  Do you really want two multi-millionaires running on the same GOP ticket?  How many houses would they own combined?  And how many servants?  Is this how the GOP plans to relate to the middle class?

Also, remember, Biden's son goes to Iraq in September.  In the primaries, when asked why his sons weren't in the military, Romney made a glib response: "Well they're serving their country by helping me get elected."  How well do you think that quote is gonna play with Biden, a military father, on the stage?

LDuncan:  Agreed.  Thanks for linking to the clip in your other posts, which I clicked and viewed -- good stuff, from both.  As for posting late, I well and truly intended to go to bed a few hours ago after a night out utterly free of veep speculation, but as soon as I got home and read the news, I was drawn back into it and now tomorrow morning (this morning) is shot.  But, on the plus side, I think the choice is a very strong one, and it reinvogorates my confidence in the good guys' campaign.

hildner - I don't understand your logic. What kind of voter would not vote for Biden if he were at the top of the ticket and yet be _more_ likely to vote for Obama now that Biden's #2? How does that work? Do you mean that fence-sitting Republicans who don't much care for Obama will now, seeing Biden on the ticket, cross the aisle to vote for Obama because Biden's the VP?

Me, I thought that post-Georgia, with his numbers crashing and nat sec'y zooming to the top of the agenda, Obama had no choice but to either pick Biden, to provide some cover against his obvious lightness on nat sec'y before the roof fell in, or else choose Hillary, to provide cover against defections by Hillary partisans to compensate for defections by nat sec'y liberals.

Choosing Hillary was the wiser and gutsier option. It would have made a difference to the outcome because it appears that a large number of her supporters will not vote if she's not on the ballot; some additional HRC supporters will vote for McCain. But Obama never even considered choosing her, so Biden was the only likely or realistic outcome, hence my argument that he "had to" choose Biden.

Ah, I see tep.  Obama makes a good choice and it's because he "had to."  If this was the "only likely or realistic outcome," why were you jumping on him for underwhelming by choosing Bayh just a few hours ago?  The man can do no right in your eyes.

Re Hillary, yes it would have been "gutsier" and probably would have gotten more votes as well.  But not "wiser" as you say.  If, given the choice between having Biden potentially become President and having Hillary potentially become President, you'd choose Biden (and based on your previous comments, you would) then choosing Hillary wouldn't be "wise" at all.  It would be choosing a worse option in order to pander.

Another in a long line of smart choices by Obama and his team. How many does he have to make before the followers of Jenny Fields, er, Hillary Clinton get on board? "The Atlantic" piece on her campaign is a devastating indictment of why she and her team weren't right for the job.

However, now we'll see where the Clintons really stand. In theory, all of this muted and strange behavior since the primaries has been because Bill and Hillary were maneuvering to get on the ticket. Time for that stuff to end. Now will they work hard for the party? Will they work hard to get America back on course? Or will it be more of the same, with a different cover story?

Time for Bill and Hillary to go to work for the Democratic Party.

Alan: if Obama had selected Hillary, tep would de deriding the choice as all flash, an attempt to palacate the Pumas that would do nothing to bring in support from Republicans, etc.

Sorry tep, after your Bayh-performance last night - especially your being taken in so well by the fake bumper sticker - I'm not going to take anything you say on the elections seriously.  Now, don't take this personally, but I get a feeling that it is YOU who in all this flash and anger and spit and spittle is looking for empty attention on these threads.  

Agree entirely with jingu. My suspicion is that this is probably the final nail in the coffin for Romney, assuming McCain cares at all about the perception that the Republican ticket is filled with uber-rich, out-of-touch plutocrats.

Biden was always the best choice and, as has been pointed out in another thread, so far there's little evidence that Biden singled out Obama for any attacks that were beyond the pale.

Time to go back to skipping Tep.

"Biden is good, but still he failed the surge test."

That's funny.

Wow, Obama just can't do right by Tep.  That last paragraph looks like it was cut and pasted from the Hillaryis44 blog.

Speaking of  which, their entry today is hoot for anyone who's got the  stomach for that kind of thing.

"Wow, Obama just can't do right by Tep."

That isn't entirely true. Tep likes the UHC plan (at least last time he talked about it he did) and will vote for him in November (with nose firmly held shut, or so he indicated when last addressing the issue). Tep's problem is that he's paranoid as hell that Obama is going to screw the pooch a la Kerry/Gore and is intentionally keeping his expectations at the bottom of the barrel so that if anything good happens in November he will be able to be happy. Did I miss anything?