Tales from the Trail

WASHINGTON – With campaign observers in a frenzy awaiting the impending results of the 2008 vice presidential sweepstakes, filmmaker Michael Moore has stepped up with a provocative plea to an advisor to Barack Obama: “Caroline, Pull a Cheney!”

That would be Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, and the head of the group searching to find a running mate for the Democratic nominee.

“I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: “OBAMA-KENNEDY,” Moore wrote in an open letter to Kennedy posted on his Web site.

Moore, whose documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” went after President George W. Bush’s administration, apparently is discouraged by the fact that Kennedy’s name has not come up in discussions of vice presidential candidates.

“What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum,” Moore wrote.

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Barack Obama won’t say yet who his running mate will be but on Tuesday he did describe the qualities he wants in a vice president.

Briefly put: “he” will be the opposite of Dick Cheney, the man who currently holds the office.

“My vice president will be a member of the executive branch, he won’t be one of these fourth branches of government where he thinks he’s above the law,” Obama told a crowd in North Carolina.

WASHINGTON – With the expectation that Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain will announce their vice presidential running mates any day (or hour) now, rumors are flying fast, many of them contradictory.

Taegan Goddard over at Political Wire has a good summation of who is saying what on the VP hunt, while the candidates themselves are keeping their lips sealed.

The Palmetto Scoop (from South Carolina) is citing a source saying that Virginia officials were called into an emergency meeting to discuss a line of succession for possible Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine if he’s picked.

WASHINGTON – Pundits see Hillary Clinton fading as a possible running mate for Democrat Barack Obama. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday referred to her as “the big name” who “would make a great vice president.”

In an interview with Reuters on a range of political and legislative topics (as well as her new book “Know Your Power, A Message to America’s Daughters”), Pelosi said there was a deep bench Obama could choose from in rounding out the Democratic ticket.

Pelosi was asked whether the Obama campaign had signaled Clinton was out of the running because the New York senator and ex-presidential candidate has been slotted to speak on the Tuesday of the Aug 25-28 Democratic convention. The vice presidential nominee traditionally addresses the convention on Wednesday while Obama will speak on the final evening — Thursday.

(Posted by Donna Smith)

There’s a little bit of Dick Cheney in every potential vice presidential choice of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. At least that’s how the Democratic National Committee sees it. The DNC on Tuesday launched a new Internet site to drive home that point — www.TheNextCheney.com.

The Web site features an initial list of seven potential vice presidential choices for the presumptive Republican nominee and tries to tie them to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who suffer from low approval ratings in public opinion polls.

“After lamenting the missed opportunity to make Dick Cheney his own vice president in 2001, McCain will have a chance very soon to choose his own Dick Cheney and we think its important that the American people have all the facts at their fingertips,” DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said in a conference call with reporters.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.  – John McCain may not be giving any clues about who he wants as his No. 2, but the Republican presidential candidate does have a few ideas about how to choose. 

Rule one: Do no harm. 

“First, you want to make sure you have a candidate that’s not going to hurt the ticket,” the Arizona senator told a fundraising event webcast to American citizens in Bermuda.

“The second thing is, and I think it’s the key criteria, is it someone who shares your principles, your values, your philosophy and your priorities? Hardest thing for the president is to establish priorities.”

ALBUQUERQUE – Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Tuesday his search for a vice presidential running mate is proving difficult because he has many qualified candidates.

A host of high-profile names have been circulating for weeks who McCain might be considering for vice president, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

At a town hall meeting in Albuquerque, McCain specifically took a question from a youngster described as a reporter, and the youth asked him about his vice presidential search.

NEW YORK – White House hopeful Barack Obama had reporters in his entourage wondering on Wednesday if his search for a vice presidential running mate is intensifying.

While in Washington for some Senate votes, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee dropped by a Pennsylvania Avenue office building for some meetings but the campaign would not say what they were about.

The building happened to be the same one where former U.S. deputy attorney general Eric Holder works. Holder and Caroline Kennedy, daughter of slain U.S. president John F. Kennedy, are heading up Obama’s search for a No. 2.

WASHINGTON – Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to think so. But she is touting Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, not former presidential candidate John Edwards who twice ran for president and was the Democrats vice presidential candidate in 2004.

For the past few weeks, Pelosi, who will chair the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August, has been talking up the nine-term congressman from central Texas as a possible running-mate for Barack Obama.

She floated the idea to Obama’s vice presidential search team a few weeks ago and again on Tuesday more publicly, at a breakfast with a group of reporters.

WASHINGTON – Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are often described by many in the party as the dream team to recapture the White House in 2008 regardless who is atop the ticket. 

Clinton, whose presidential bid has been faltering in recent weeks, had previously hinted that she was open to the idea.  And now as Obama closes in on winning the party’s presidential nomination, he has not closed the door on Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.

If Clinton fails to mount a come-from-behind win, will her supporters be satisfied with the No. 2 spot and will Obama’s backers fear that she could hurt his chances of capturing the White House or possibly upstage him?