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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/36d07254-6c82-11dd-96dc-0000779fd18c.html
Guessing grows over US running mates
By Edward Luce and Andrew Ward in Washington
Published: August 17 2008 18:51 | Last updated: August 17 2008 18:51
Barack Obama and John McCain enter their final week before the start of the US presidential nominating conventions amid intense speculation about who they plan to choose as their respective running mates – with Mr Obama almost certain to make his choice in the next few days.
Mr Obama, whose four-day Democratic convention starts next Monday in Denver, will this week attend election rallies and “town hall” meetings in the swing states of New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia – any of which could provide a potential venue to announce his pick.
Obama aides deny any knowledge of the possible timing or venue of what is traditionally the most closely guarded secret in a presidential campaign. But veteran Democratic operatives say the choice is likely by Thursday. The Republican convention in Minneapolis starts in two weeks.
“Obama cannot announce during the Denver convention and it makes no sense in terms of the news cycle to announce during a weekend,” said one Democrat with no ties to the Obama campaign. “So I would be very surprised if he left it later than Thursday.”
Attention has narrowed to three or four names, including Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and former presidential candidate, who travelled on Sunday to the embattled country of Georgia to meet its president, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Mr Obama, who goes into next week’s critical convention with a strong financial advantage over Mr McCain, is also thought to be looking closely at Evan Bayh, the centrist senator for Indiana, Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia, and Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas.
Other possible names include Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and former presidential candidate whom Mr Obama will meet on Monday, Sam Nunn, the hawkish former senator for Georgia, which the most optimistic Obama operatives believe could be a swing state, and even John Kerry, the former presidential candidate and one of Mr Obama’s most vocal backers.
Mr Obama, who maintains what Democrats believe is an uncomfortably narrow two to four-point lead over Mr McCain, goes into the convention with a very large financial lead over his rival, with $68m (£36.4m, €46.3m) in cash on hand against $21m for Mr McCain. In spite of spending more than a week in foreign countries in July, Mr Obama raised almost double Mr McCain’s tally last month with the help of 65,000 new donors – many of them giving online.
That advantage could widen next month when Mr McCain switches to the public financing system that gives him a total of $84m but restricts him from raising any more private funds. Mr Obama, who has now raised more than $400m since the start of the campaigns, has opted out of the system.
On Saturday night, the two candidates squared off for their first joint event in consecutive one-hour interviews at the progressive Saddleback church in Southern California. Neither candidate slipped up – although Mr Obama, who has made an aggressive pitch for traditionally Republican white evangelical voters, elicited murmurs from the audience when he responded to a question about abortion by quipping that it was “above my pay grade”.
Mr McCain, who is considering Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania and secretary for homeland security, as his potential running mate in spite of Mr Ridge’s pro-abortion stance, got strong applause when he said life began at conception.
Guessing grows over US running mates
By Edward Luce and Andrew Ward in Washington
Published: August 17 2008 18:51 | Last updated: August 17 2008 18:51
Barack Obama and John McCain enter their final week before the start of the US presidential nominating conventions amid intense speculation about who they plan to choose as their respective running mates – with Mr Obama almost certain to make his choice in the next few days.
Mr Obama, whose four-day Democratic convention starts next Monday in Denver, will this week attend election rallies and “town hall” meetings in the swing states of New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia – any of which could provide a potential venue to announce his pick.
Obama aides deny any knowledge of the possible timing or venue of what is traditionally the most closely guarded secret in a presidential campaign. But veteran Democratic operatives say the choice is likely by Thursday. The Republican convention in Minneapolis starts in two weeks.
“Obama cannot announce during the Denver convention and it makes no sense in terms of the news cycle to announce during a weekend,” said one Democrat with no ties to the Obama campaign. “So I would be very surprised if he left it later than Thursday.”
Attention has narrowed to three or four names, including Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and former presidential candidate, who travelled on Sunday to the embattled country of Georgia to meet its president, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Mr Obama, who goes into next week’s critical convention with a strong financial advantage over Mr McCain, is also thought to be looking closely at Evan Bayh, the centrist senator for Indiana, Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia, and Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas.
Other possible names include Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and former presidential candidate whom Mr Obama will meet on Monday, Sam Nunn, the hawkish former senator for Georgia, which the most optimistic Obama operatives believe could be a swing state, and even John Kerry, the former presidential candidate and one of Mr Obama’s most vocal backers.
Mr Obama, who maintains what Democrats believe is an uncomfortably narrow two to four-point lead over Mr McCain, goes into the convention with a very large financial lead over his rival, with $68m (£36.4m, €46.3m) in cash on hand against $21m for Mr McCain. In spite of spending more than a week in foreign countries in July, Mr Obama raised almost double Mr McCain’s tally last month with the help of 65,000 new donors – many of them giving online.
That advantage could widen next month when Mr McCain switches to the public financing system that gives him a total of $84m but restricts him from raising any more private funds. Mr Obama, who has now raised more than $400m since the start of the campaigns, has opted out of the system.
On Saturday night, the two candidates squared off for their first joint event in consecutive one-hour interviews at the progressive Saddleback church in Southern California. Neither candidate slipped up – although Mr Obama, who has made an aggressive pitch for traditionally Republican white evangelical voters, elicited murmurs from the audience when he responded to a question about abortion by quipping that it was “above my pay grade”.
Mr McCain, who is considering Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania and secretary for homeland security, as his potential running mate in spite of Mr Ridge’s pro-abortion stance, got strong applause when he said life began at conception.
