memeorandum: Obama Touts Troop Withdrawal Timetable, Blasts McCain (Washington Wire)

9:10 PM ET, August 22, 2008

Top Items:

Hillary gets stiffed — There's one Democrat who would seem to have little or no chance of being picked by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to be his running mate - his former opponent, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). — But it's not for the reason you think.

KMBC Kansas City's Channel 9:

Bumper Sticker Could Indicate Bayh Is Obama's Veep — LENEXA, Kan. — After weeks of speculation and days of intense rumors, the answer to who Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would name as his running mate may have come down to a bumper sticker printed in Lenexa.

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Washington Post, Taegan Goddard's …, Anne Schroeder's Blogs, Hot Air, The Caucus, Gateway Pundit, Donklephant, Stop The ACLU, TigerHawk, rubber hose, Wake up America, Political Radar, NewsBusters.org and Sister Toldjah

Marc Ambinder:

Fun With Local TV News Stations: Obama-Bayh Stickers? — I doubt the following story.... the bumper sticker is just too ugly to be official. — From KMBC in Lexena: … http://www.kmbc.com/politics/17267009/ detail.html

Discussion: Undiplomatic

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

Obama is hours away from naming running mate — WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidential candidate Barack Obama is hours away from naming his running mate, as little-known Texas congressman Chet Edwards is emerging as a finalist. — Democratic officials say that Edwards was one of the few Democrats whose background …

Discussion: The LA Times President …, Newsweek Blogs, TIME.com, Open Left, The Reaction, Ben Smith's Blogs and The Democratic Daily

August J. Pollak / Some Guy With a Website:

I'm sorry. — Obama Names Musician Rick Astley as Running Mate — Self-proclaimed “greatest prank evar” required 18 months, $390 million in prep work — Springfield, IL - August 23, 2008 - In front of a cheering crowd as well as in a text message to over three million anxious supporters …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Text hoaxes plague Obama VP plan

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Wake up America, Top of the Ticket, The Caucus, NO QUARTER, Gristmill, Political Radar, Los Angeles Times, The Swamp, JammieWearingFool and Boston Globe

Marc Ambinder: Veepstakes Tidings — CNN first reported, and I can confirm …

CNN:
Obama set to announce his VP pick

Discussion: Hot Air, Associated Press, New York Magazine, The Democratic Daily, The Reaction, Wonkette and www.redstate.com

Marc Ambinder:

Fun With FlightAware: What's This Flight? — http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ EJA863 — A flight from Midway to New Castle, DE... to pick someone up? Who knows? No other flights from anywhere in and around Chicago to anywhere in and around Delaware... or vice versa. Just this charter.

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Matthew Yglesias, Ace of Spades HQ, The Washington Note, www.redstate.com, Taylor Marsh, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Newsweek Blogs

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:

A Timetable By Any Other Name — In agreeing to pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraqi cities by June, and from the rest of the country by 2011, President Bush has apparently consented to precisely the kind of timetable that, when Democrats called for one, he dismissed as “setting a date for failure.”

Discussion: Commentary, democracyarsenal.org, cab drollery, Think Progress, American Power, TPMCafe, The Political Carnival, The Washington Independent, TIME.com, Washington Monthly and Eschaton

Washington Wire:
Obama Touts Troop Withdrawal Timetable, Blasts McCain

Discussion: Donklephant

Laurin Manning / Barack Obama:
Statement of Senator Barack Obama on Reports that U.S. and Iraq …

Discussion: Firedoglake, ATTACKERMAN, Crooks and Liars, Reuters, The RBC and Democratic Strategist

Think Progress:

Fox News Accidentally Airs Controversial Right-Wing Ad That It Had Declined To Run — The right-wing American Issues Project has spent $2.8 million on an ad questioning Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) relationship to William Ayers, a founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Newshoggers.com, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Washington Post, Election Law and MyDD

The Politico:

Exclusive: Obama's lost law review article — As president of the Harvard Law Review and a law professor in Chicago, Senator Barack Obama refined his legal thinking, but left a scant paper trail. His name doesn't appear on any legal scholarship. — But an unsigned — and previously unattributed …

Discussion: TownHall Blog, The Opinionator, Commentary, The New Republic, The Caucus, Associated Press, Law Blog, Power Line, The Swamp, Althouse and Sweetness & Light

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy: OBAMA'S CASE NOTE: I just read the piece, and it is as calm …

Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:

Thoughts on the State of the Race — With Barack Obama about to make his vice-presidential selection, the general election is finally set to begin. Thus ends the middle period between the nomination campaign and the general election campaign. I would like to offer some reflections …

Discussion: American Spectator

William Kristol / Weekly Standard Blog: Kristol: Read Jay Cost

Jeff Schreiber / America's Right:

Obama Sued in Philadelphia Federal Court on Grounds he is Constitutionally Ineligible for the Presidency — A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, rubber hose, DBKP, Ace of Spades HQ, Vox Popoli and Liberal Values

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:

Wait Til America Gets to Know JILL BIDEN — I had the opportunity a few years ago to enjoy a rolling set of events with Senator Joe Biden, Wes Clark and other national notables. — My partner was with me and normally hates these kinds of things. But he bonded with Jill Biden.

Scott Martelle / Top of the Ticket:

Robin Leach on the lifestyles of the rich and political — John McCain — Robin Leach isn't your usual political pundit. But the former champagne-toasting host of the TV hit of the mid-'80s to mid-'90s, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” may be more qualified than most to opine …

Discussion: Firedoglake, AMERICAblog News and Balloon Juice

Fox News:

Obama Stops Advertising in Red Battleground States — Barack Obama's presidential campaign has put the brakes on ads that were running in seven states carried by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election, FOX News has learned. — Of the seven states — including Alaska, Georgia, Montana …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight.com, www.redstate.com, Patterico's Pontifications and Real Clear Politics

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

What the Hell Is Taking So Long? — I have no idea, but I'd guess it points to a bigger name rather than a smaller one. (I think Jonathan Cohn made a version of this point earlier in the week, though I can't remember if he did it online or during one of our many rounds of internal speculation.)

Discussion: Pollster.com

Mandi Illuzzi / Us Weekly:

Barack Obama Inspires New Handbag — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama inspired celebrity handbag designer Timmy Woods to create a handbag based on the signs used by his campaign at rallies and speeches. — The first Obama Handbag will be given to the senator's wife, Michelle.

Discussion: QandO

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Seeking More Viewers, MSNBC Turns Left — WITH the promotion of Rachel Maddow, the Air America radio host, to a prime-time television spot this week, the longtime third-place cable news network MSNBC cemented its identity as a channel for a liberal audience. — But is that what advertisers want it to be?

Discussion: Washington Monthly