If Obama wanted to delay the VP announcement to work the "Houses" an extra day, I'm good with it.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

I want the campaign to be flexible and to respond to contingencies, good and bad, as they arise. The house thing is a huge, unexpected gift. To exploit such an opening to the maximum degree is the right decision, even if it meant putting their text message campaign in jeopardy of being scooped. I know some people (many of whom are determined to find fault with Obama and his campaign in any event) don't think this is a good angle to pursue, but I disagree.

The text message thing was a gimmick anyway, to generate hype and harvest numbers. If it is in fact Biden as it appears, and the text messages got scooped by Secret Service etc., it ain't no big thing in my view. I would have preferred to get the message as originally laid out in the promotion, but most people who have signed up for this are Obama supporters any way and aren't likely to hold it against the campaign or candidate in a serious way, as there were reasons on the ground to let it play out as it has. There are bigger fish to fry. My 2 cents.

[RB TexLa]

1. Or he was turned down by a VP choice.

[eshfemme]

3. That's possible. Maybe Webb?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Or that. Either way, no big thing in my view.

[RB TexLa]

5. I don't think it is a big thing either. And created some suspense.

[WeDidIt]

7. NOBODY turns down a Veep offer

IF you're going to turn it down, you turn it down when approached for vetting, not when it's offered.

[RB TexLa]

9. The answer to "will you accept if offered" can change

[WeDidIt]

10. No, it cannot.

IF it changes, you have ruined your political career from that point forward.

[RB TexLa]

12. No, because it would never come out.

The candidate that was turned down isn't going to let it out and someone who was willing to accept and then changed their minds isn't going to let it out because if they got that far they support the presidential nominee too much to let it out.

[WeDidIt]

13. Oh yes it would come out!

Only to the people that matter, though.

Your political career woudl end the day you declined the offer after accepting the vetting process.

[babylonsister]

2. It was more than that...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6704868

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. This is very sound reasoning, and I posted a reply in that thread.

Especially with Drudge, Begala and Carville pimping the "Hillary got dissed" angle now, I can see how having prevented an additional 2-3 days of that kind of media was a good idea.

[babylonsister]

11. Thanks for reading. One never knows if their effort pays off. nt

[cliffordu]

8. EXCELLENT POST!!!!! K&R!!!

The housing thingy HAD to play for as long as possible. HAD to.

[I Have A Dream]

14. I just posted the same thing in another thread. I think that there was...

a very good chance that they had planned to announce the VP choice today, but why do that when the MeCain "number of houses" story was getting such great coverage?

I also thought that the text message thing was a way to harvest numbers. I can't blame them for that, even though I didn't sign up for it.