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‘INTENSIVE’ VEEPSTAKES PERIOD BEGINS; BAYH TO SPEAK: With Barack Obama leaving Hawaii for Chicago today, the Democratic veepstakes enters the homestretch. Obama has said, "The vice presidency is the most important decison I can make before I become president. .jpg)
This will be my final councelor in the White House." A CNN feature this morning listed Sens. Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the most speculated. Reporter Candy Crawley cited campaign sources as saying at least two other unnamed potential nominees have been told by Obama campaign "not to pay too much attention" to speculation around that trio. Crawley said that could mean the campaign may take an "entirely different direction." Washington Post reporter Dan Balz predicted that Obama will make a "relatively safe choice" since "there are enough questions about him." CNN airs an Anderson Cooper special at 10 tonight, "The Crucial Choice: The Next Vice President." Bayh, Biden and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are scheduled to speak on Wednesday Aug. 27 - the night the vice presidential nominee will speak - the Obama campaign announced Thursday. They are scheduled to speak earlier than the vice presidential nominee. Unscheduled speakers include Kaine, Sam Nunn, John Kerry and Al Gore.
DEMS MIGHT NEED 11 PICKUPS TO CONTROL SENATE: Earlier this week, we explored the possibility of Senate Democrats controlling 60 seats following the fall election — a scenario we deemed a long shot at best (Cillizza, Washington Post). In the interim, two addenda occurred to us. The first, pointed out by NBC’s Matthew Berger, is the tenuous relationship between Senate Democrats and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). While Lieberman currently caucuses with Democrats, he has emerged as one of the leading critics of Barack Obama and is being actively mentioned as a potential vice presidential pick for John McCain. As you might guess, that doesn’t sit very well with Democrats, many of whom are urging — privately and publicly — to toss Lieberman out of the Democratic caucus when Congress reconvenes in January. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) are both on the vice presidential short list but with different candidates. (Photo by Freddie Lee/FOX News Sunday via Getty Images)Lieberman could also decide that he and his Democratic colleagues no longer see eye to eye and simply become a caucus of one or even head over to the Republican conference if he so chose. Either way, Democrats would be down a seat — even if their dream 60-seat scenario comes to pass in November. The second is the possibility that Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.) will be named by Obama as his vice presidential choice — a move that, if Obama were to win in November, would create a vacant seat in a state that currently has a Republican governor and tilts toward the GOP at the federal level. That possibility puts even more importance on the race between Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) and former Rep. Jill Long Thompson(D) going on in the Hoosier State this fall. Should Daniels win re-election he would almost certainly appoint a Republican to replace Bayh (perhaps even himself?), an appointment that would reduce Democrats’ ranks by one seat until 2010. Given these two variables, it seems as though if Democrats really want to be safe in their filibuster-proof majority, they would need to claim 11 pickups in November, a total that would bring them to 62 seats in the upper chamber. And that is a VERY tall order.
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