Barak Obama's campaign is historic by any measure. He's possibly on the road to becoming the first African American President. Now of course he's facing a big decision.
Who to pick as his Vice President..
I've heard a lot of names tossed out. But one name consistantly snuffed out..Hillary Clinton.
I think much of the excitement in the Democratic Primary contest was the rivalry between the first African American with a serious chance to become president and the first woman with a serious chance to get elected.
Some of that excitement has wanned since Hillary got out of the race. The question is can Obama keep that same level of interest on his own. That may be a tall order.
For weeks polls have been showing Obama's race with McCain tightening.
A Pew Poll after his race with Hillary ended showed that half the public was tired of hearing about Obama'.
There's a simple explaination. Without Hillary and Bill as targets for the media, Obama is left the take all the arrows himself and his teflon seems to have been stripped away some time ago.
In my opinion the only way to re-energize his campaign is to bring back Hillary and Bill.
If they became the whipping boy once again Obama could soar back to his once lofty heights..And have a better chance of gliding into the While House.
None of the other names on his short list of Vice Presidential Candidates will give him nearly the lift that Hillary could. Lets not forget she landed 18 million votes, and racked up a sizable number of state victories in the Primary race.
Right now Obama is taking of fire from the McCain campaign, through attack TV ads, plus he's gotten hammered in the aftermath of the Saddleback appearance.
The New Zogby poll shows McCain ahead by 5 points.
Add to it ,the Republican's haven't even openned up on him with their heavy guns yet. That's coming.
Obama needs a strong defense, plus some tough attack dogs to fend off the expected in-coming fire...Who better than Bill and Hillary...And as and added bonus you'd get James Carville too..Probably the best Democratic pit bull dog in the business.
You don't have to like your VP choice. Kennedy wasn't that fond of Johnson, Ford had no love for Jack Kemp, The first Bush called Reagan's economic policy voodoo economics yet Reagan picked him, Roosevelt barely knew Truman..and the list goes on and on.
As for McCain the tightenning polls makes his job a lot easier. As one news article said before he may have been force too make a radical choice like Former Governor Tom Ridge or Senator Joe Lieberman to shake up the ticket and add some excitement if possible.. (Former Governor Ridge is Pro-Choice-Lieberman a Democrat/Independent) Now McCain has the luxury of playing it safe, and not rocking the conservative boat that's got him to this point. in a year the Republican's were supposed to have no chance of winning.
If Obama wants to throw a monkey wrench into the Republican machinery..he'll get the Hillary and Bill show..back on the road.
At the very least it would be fun to watch.
I've been pouring over the travel records of Governor Rod Blagojevich's trips on the state owned airplane between Chicago and Springfield..I've calculated he's taken 101 flights on the plane that costs you $5,800 a trip.
That's part of the trouble with a commuter governor who insists on living in Chicago year round as opposed to staying in Springfield when the Legislature's in session..No wonder there's always budget gridlock, which hurts Illinois taxpayers in the end..
A state audit questioned the the way the state runs it's flight service..You won't like what it says..
Stay tuned to You Paid For It.
Sometime we have to go above and beyond to catch an official.
That's the case when we wanted to reach Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
It's the first time I've actually had to chase an official's airplane. That's a new one.
We believe officials should be responsive when questioned about expenditures of public money.
I find everyone wants to talk when it's good news. But they run for the hills when the news is bad.
I couldn't believe the lengths the Governor went through to avoid talking to me..But you'll see it in May.. Yes we actually chase THE GOVERNOR'S AIRPLANE
It gets pretty funny.
