What advantage was it to team Obama to annouce his VP pick in the middle of the night?
Asked by
Snoopy (
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August 23rd, 2008
I was listening to the BBC at around 3am (don’t ask) and they were discussing the pick and how he initially announced via text/email. All-of-the sudden: “Its really official! It just went up on his website!”
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24 Answers
CNN broke the news. Obama would have waited until the early morning (post-6am) to announce it in order to make the news cycle of the day.
David Brooks, in an op-ed column in yesterday’s NYT (deadline was early Friday AM) suggested Biden. Either he(Brooks) is prescient or heard something through the grape vine.
Prescient? No. Just beating the same drum as everyone else I think….
Lots of people heard something through the grape vine. It was narrowed to Bayh, Kaine, and Biden according to many sources. Obama had called Kaine and Bayh to tell them that they were not his choice. It wasn’t much of a surprise at the time David Brooks wrote his column.
@snoopy: The governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, is on McCain’s shortlist.
OH> Correct (!!!!) Oops sorry! I just had an aneurysm.
Let me see if that edit thing really works….
It does! Thank heavens! Good grief!!!
It happens to all of us ;)
good catch lefteh! Thanks! Yikes!!!
Back to the question, why announce now?
First, it kept the media focussed on Obama pretty much for the last 10 days. This kind of attention on either candidate is supposed to contribute to a “bump” in the polls. Second, with the announcement out of the way, the media attention during the convention next week will be on the speeches and party unity.
It is seen as such a good idea that McCain has announced that he will name his running mate next week, thus taking some of the attention away from the Democratic Convention.
McCain will not be announcing his VP until the 29th, after the Democratic Convention is over.
Well then as the 29th approches the media will be spending a lot of coverage on the possible choices, staking out their homes and following them around. With that many resources involved they have to include the story on every broadcast. The convention loses the monopoly on news.
I disagree. I think that McCain would be smart to announce his VP on the first or second day of the convention if he wants to steal their coverage. The media will be focusing Obama’s stadium speech, not a battle to the death between Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Bobby Jindal.
After the announcement, the interest will wane. It immediately becomes old news while the convention is going on. The absolute best time would be during Obama’s acceptance speech. But maintaining the tension during the week takes some of the focus everyday
During his speech? Now, I vehemently disagree. The McCain camp knows that this convention is going to get more coverage than any convention has ever received in the past. This is going to be the news story from the day the convention opens until the day the Republican convention opens.
….plus it would look childish, obvious and rude….
obama’s strategy was great! it demonstrates on a personal level using today’s technology that he can be a patient leader that can keep other worldy forces scratching their heads. you have to ask, “what is he thinking?” you have to say, “i know he’s up to something, but the outcome will be for the better.” obama is a thinker before a “do-er.” you have to give him props for secrecy and tactics in light of war and terrorism.
Yes, and I am sure the Democrats, Libertarians, etc. would never stoop so low either…..
Of course they would, lefteh was saying that my appraisal of the timing issue was incorrect, I was just proving my point. If you read the earlier post, I said the Democrats dragging out the announcement about Biden was meant to keep the attention on Obama and that the Republicans would do the same thing. Lefteh seemed to disagree.
I agree with you on the reasoning behind drawing out the Biden announcement. But that is a luxury reserved for the first to choose. Unless I am very wrong, McCain will not announce his VP candidate until at least the 29th, and obviously no later than the 2nd. He has a very small window in which to announce his candidate.
same effect by sending Rudy & Mitt in to offer themselves as commentators and hold a ‘press conference’-unprecedented
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