by John McCormick
The whiteboard inside Patti Solis Doyle's office lists four key dates and corresponding notations: Aug. 4, V.P. staff arrives; ?, Announcement; Aug. 25, Convention begins; Oct. 2, V.P. debate in St. Louis.
That question mark for when Sen. Barack Obama will name his running mate is just one of the many unknowns inside the office of the Chicago native who will be the top staff member for the person ultimately picked.
Amid seemingly endless speculation about who Obama will select, a group of new employees arrived Monday at his Chicago headquarters to help prepare the campaign apparatus needed to support the vice presidential candidate. More than a dozen employees are now in place as part of a staff ultimately expected to total 30 to 40.
With a second campaign plane at the ready, they are a staff in waiting, just like the rest of the nation's political junkies who are eager to see what signals the Illinois Democrat and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) send with their selections.
While the "veepstakes" political parlor game is in high season, only a very small group of people in each campaign actually know anything for certain about finalists or timing.
With the Olympics starting Friday--and Obama expected to go on vacation in Hawaii next week--conventional thinking is that the announcements will either come this week or much later in August.
The rest of the story on the Barack Obama running mate staff in waiting is in Tuesday's Tribune.
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Comments
The Veepstakes will turn into a game of chicken between the two campaigns. Both would rather have their opponent pick first to get their publicity whirlwind later in the race.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | August 5, 2008 7:32 AM
The HILLARY SUPPORTERS that are left, especially after he's trying to count MI and Fla. now, say they want Hillary or else they are gone.
I don't think they're going to get her and it's a total insult because she got more of the popular vote that Obama, and she WOULD have won had they counted those 2 states back then.
Posted by: Shake the fence | August 5, 2008 10:02 AM
What is amazing this year is how many people have bought the fundamentally childish notion that, if you don’t the way things are going, the answer is to write a blank check for generic “change,” empowering someone chosen not on the basis of any track record but on the basis of his skill reading someone else's words from a teleprompter. Regardless of Saint Obama's VP choice, he and socialism will be defeated by intelligent, decent and caring Americans everywhere.
Posted by: Otto | August 5, 2008 12:26 PM
Name-calling Obama a Saint, and labeling him a socialist. Are you getting paid to pass along the McCain campaign talking points?
Posted by: Joe | August 5, 2008 1:18 PM