Steve Kornacki

Joe Biden ran for president this past year and even after giving hundreds of speeches, sitting for countless interviews and participating in more than a dozen televised debates, no one really noticed. He finished at the bottom of the pack in Iowa and dropped out. Half the country had no idea who he was or that he'd even been in the race at all.

Tonight, finally, people noticed. For 30 minutes in primetime, with tens of millions of viewers watching on broadcast and cable television, Biden had the chance to introduce himself, to tell his story and to explain why he's in politics and why he wants to help lead this country – exposure he'd never before had in a political career that has spanned four decades.  read more »

DENVER--You'd really have to strain to see any trace of Bill Clinton's residual primary-season resentments in his ecstatically received convention speech about Barack Obama. For 20 minutes, the former president spoke and, but for a few references to his wife's primary campaign at the very beginning, used his time to talk up Obama and to take on John McCain and the G.O.P.

In particular, Clinton vouched for Obama's national security credentials - his prime vulnerability, the G.O.P.'s eyes - arguing that Obama will work for diplomacy but that "when he cannot convert adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them."

Perhaps more effectively than any other speaker at this convention, Clinton also went after McCain, prefacing his critiques with praise for McCain's heroism and his willingness to stand up to his party on several high-profile issues.  read more »

Only one half of the Democratic ticket is actually set. With this afternoon's acclamation vote, Barack Obama is now officially the party's candidate for president. But Joe Biden, his handpicked running mate, must still win the convention's formal blessing. Technically, the party could go through another time-consuming roll call of the states to nominate Biden, but there's no need for that. Instead, Biden will be nominated just after 10:00 tonight (after Bill Clinton's speech) by Quincy Lucas, a Delaware woman and domestic violence activist. There will be no seconding speech; to save time, delegates will simply be asked if anyone seconds the nomination -- and hundreds of them will shout back "I do.  read more »

It's been known for months that this convention would officially nominate Barack Obama for president, but never before has there been so much speculation and negotiation about how the mechanics of the vote that would formally anoint the nominee.

In the modern era, the roll call vote -- even in years like 2004, when virtually every delegate arrived at the convention pledged to the same candidate -- has been carefully choreographed with an eye to the general election, with a swing state being selected ahead of time to cast the decisive votes to put the nominee over the top. (To make sure this happens, bigger states are typically asked to pass, thus ensuring that the nominee won't go over the top ahead of schedule.  read more »

For the first time since Jerry Brown in 1992, a candidate other than the party’s presumptive nominee has been formally nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention – and the roll call is now underway.

Brown was nominated in ’92 because it was his only way of securing a speaking slot (Bill Clinton had refused to grant him one unless Brown first endorsed him). Hillary Clinton was nominated today, apparently, as part of a deal with Barack Obama that (in theory) will make her supporters feel they were treated fairly at the convention.

Just before the nominations, Clinton formally released her delegates, freeing them to vote as they pleased.  read more »

Obama wants Israel destroyed, apparently!

With Bill Clinton scheduled to speak shortly before Joe Biden tonight, it seems a logical question to ask: Will the former president upstage the party's vice-presidential nominee?

This is no small concern for Democrats, since Biden's speech is crucial on two levels. For one, Biden - even though he ran for president this year and has been a staple on Sunday morning newsmaker shows for years - is unknown to tens of millions of voters. A primetime speech carried live by every broadcast network and cable news channel represents his best chance to lock in a favorable impression with these voters. Plus, his speech  read more »

Hillary Clinton will be formally nominated and a traditional roll call vote will proceed when the convention is called to order at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time this afternoon, according to the podium schedule issued by the Democratic National Committee today.

Nominating and seconding speeches for Clinton will be delivered first, followed by two speeches for Barack Obama. The schedule doesn't say who will deliver the speeches. (Often, nominating speeches are delivered by high-profile figures–-Mario Cuomo formally nominated Bill Clinton in 1992, and Clinton himself nominated Michael Dukakis in 1988--a speech most famous for the crowd's gleeful reaction when the long-winded Clinton finally said, "In conclusion…")

After they are nominated, a roll call vote will proceed, but whether every state will be called is unclear.  read more »

As a public speaker, Hillary Clinton tends to sound like she’s reading the words in front of her much more than she’s feeling them. She’s hardly unique in this way, but the absence of overt emotion from her delivery and body language makes it inviting for skeptics to question whether she really meant what she just said.

So it is that the convention speech she delivered on Tuesday night, the subject of a level of build-up and anticipation usually reserved for the Super Bowl, amounts to a rhetorical Rorschach test – viewers most likely heard what they wanted to hear.

(FOX's raw transcript of the speech is  read more »

Line from Hillary Clinton's convention speech as prepared: "Those are the reasons I ran for president. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too."

Line as delivered by Hillary Clinton: "Those are the reasons I ran for president. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president."

As in 2004, the three broadcast networks ignored the keynote address at the Democratic nomination, sticking with their usual prime-time entertainment line-ups in the 9:00 to 10:00 hour.

That created an extra challenge for Mark Warner, this year's keynote speaker, to make his address so compelling that the networks would end up talking about it and running clips from it anyway. That's what Barack Obama did as the keynoter the last time around, marking the first time in modern convention history that the most memorable speech of the entire week was delivered to such a small television audience.

That was probably an unfair and maybe even impossible standard for Warner to meet - and not surprisingly, he didn't meet it.  read more »

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano noted at the top of her speech that three previous presidential candidates from her home state - Barry Goldwater, Morris Udall, and Bruce Babbitt - were all unsuccessful in their efforts.

"Speaking for myself, and at least for this coming election, this is one Arizona tradition I'd like to see continue," she said.

Not a bad line. Of course, the track record for presidential candidates from Barack Obama's Illinois isn't much better than for those from John McCain's Arizona:

* Adlai Stevenson twice served as the Democratic presidential nominee, suffering lopsided defeats to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 (442-89 in the Electoral College) and 1956 (by a 457-73 spread).  read more »

DENVER—Barbara Boxer just spoke to the convention, one of eight female Democratic senators (none of them named Hillary Clinton) to offer brief remarks. (This parade of women was introduced with a video message from Clinton.) Boxer spoke optimistically about the party’s prospects this fall, both in the presidential race and in Senate contests.

“When it comes to the United States Senate,” she said, “60 is the new 50.”

But if Democrats do make major gains this year, it could complicate Boxer's own political future.

Boxer, who was first elected in 1992 (“The year of the woman”), next faces California voters in 2010.  read more »

Just moments ago, a tribute to prominent Democrats who have died since the 2004 convention was screened at the Pepsi Center. With somber music in the background, the names and faces of the departed were presented for a few seconds each in a kind of slideshow. (The same thing is done at the Academy Awards every year.)

It was a thoroughly respectful salute – until it was Eugene McCarthy’s turn. Or, as he was labeled in the slideshow, “Joseph McCarthy.”

Despite sharing a last name, Eugene Joseph McCarthy and Joseph Raymond McCarthy were very different men.

Just to clear things up: Gene McCarthy was a Democratic Senator from Minnesota who was good friends with poet Robert Lowell and whose 1968 presidential campaign channeled frustration with the Vietnam War and forced Lyndon Johnson to abandon his re-election hopes.  read more »

There is now word that Hillary Clinton’s supporters will formally place her name in nomination at the convention tomorrow night, a process that requires a nominating and a second speech, as well as the consent of the candidate herself.

This may be part of a deal with the Obama camp; negotiations about how exactly to handle Obama’s formal nomination are still apparently ongoing. But with this development, it’s worth remembering that the Clintons drew the line at allowing their opponents’ names to be placed in nomination back in 1992, when Bill Clinton was formally anointed as his party’s standard-bearer. Back then, the Clintons told their two main rivals, Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown, that they would not be allowed to speak in primetime if they didn’t first publicly rule out allowing their names to be nominated. Tsongas complied and Brown didn’t, so there was a roll call anyway.

Suddenly, the decision to anoint former Virginia Governor Mark Warner as this year's keynote speaker doesn't seem that wise.

Warner will address the convention between 9:00 and 10:00 (E.S.T.) tonight, the main non-Hillary Clinton event of the night. On paper, he's a logical pick–a moderate former business executive who won massive popularity in red-state Virginia by shying away from overtly partisan rhetoric and themes, winning many Republican admirers in the process. He's running for the Senate this year against Jim Gilmore, but almost certainly won't even break a sweat; it's probably the least competitive open-seat race in the country.  read more »

Quick question: Will the broadcast networks – all of which shunned Barack Obama's keynote address in 2004 only to end up talking about him for the rest of the week (not to mention the next four years) – rethink their policy and air Virginia Governor Mark Warner's keynote address tomorrow night, even though it is scheduled for before the 10:00 p.m. window? 

It's not unusual for a presidential nominee to appear at the convention, either in person or on video, before his formal acceptance speech. Done properly, the pre-acceptance cameo can stir some extra excitement and build anticipation for the nominee's Thursday night speech.

Perhaps the finest execution of this tradition was Bill Clinton's march to Madison Square Garden when he officially clinched the nomination during the roll call of the states in July 1992. As patriotic music blared and delegates celebrated in the hall, Clinton, along with his wife and daughter, walked from his hotel room, across a street and through a department store and to the Garden, where he waded through the sea of delegated on the floor before reaching the foot of the stage.  read more »

The peak viewership 10:00 P.M. window opened with veteran Iowa Senator Tom Harkin addressing the convention in American Sign Language - a tribute to his late older brother Frank, whose deafness led to Tom Harkin's emergence as one of Congress' most outspoken champions of the disabled.

But Harkin's main role was to introduce his fellow Iowan, former 15-term Republican Congressman Jim Leach, who lost his seat in perhaps the biggest upset of the '06 cycle. Leach, who appeared without his customary sweater, was always one of the most liberal (or perhaps least conservative) congressional Republicans - he actually voted against the Iraq war in 2002 - and he endorsed Barack Obama earlier this year.  read more »

Ted Kennedy not only appeared on stage, he actually delivered a ten-minute address. Around 9:30, just after his niece Caroline spoke and a video tribute was broadcast, the 76-year-old Democratic lion, accompanied by his wife Vicki, stepped out from behind the video screen and onto the stage. A stool sat next to the podium, but Kennedy didn't need it.

He made no direct mention of his battle against an aggressive form of brain cancer, which has been known to claim the lives of its victims within months of its diagnosis, but made it clear that he's not planning to go anywhere anytime soon.  read more »

Some nominees treat Jimmy Carter better than others. This marks the seventh Democratic convention of Carter's decorated post-presidency, but he wasn't exactly shown a great deal of respect by Barack Obama and this year's planners.

Carter addressed the convention in a pre-taped video message that aired well before primetime, after a speech by a New Orleans jazz singer and before remarks by Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. The video featured clips of Carter describing his personal observations of the devastation in New Orleans and footage of Carter surveying the damage and meeting with victims. Several times he praised Obama, saying that the Illinoisan would never fail disaster victims the way the Bush administration had.  read more »

For the first time tonight, millions of Americans will meet Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson, who will introduce a video about his sister that will be screened before her primetime address.

So who is Craig Robinson?

The first thing to know is that he is not the same Craig Robinson who plays Darryl, the warehouse manager on NBC's "The Office," and who was recently arrested and charged with felony drug possession.

The Craig Robinson who will speak tonight may end up famous in his own right, for reasons that have nothing to do with his brother-in-law's presidential campaign.  read more »

One of today's listed speakers was Silvestre Reyes, the Texas congressman who was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's handpicked choice to lead the House Intelligence Committee, is due to address the convention shortly. Pelosi picked him after denying the slot to Florida's Alcee Hastings, who had been due to assume the chairmanship, but whose ethical baggage made him a ripe target for the G.O.P.

 

Not surprisingly, the likable and good-natured Reyes' speech centered on national security issues, and on how tough Barack Obama will be on terrorists.

 

One problem with all of this: Less than two years ago, Reyes was asked an elementary question about national security – Is al-Qaeda a predominantly Sunni or Shiite group? – and answered incorrectly.

The star of the opening night of the Democratic convention is supposed to be Michelle Obama, but it's a fairly safe bet that more people will be talking tomorrow about Ted Kennedy, who apparently will appear on stage after a video tribute is screened in prime-time tonight. The presence of the ailing Kennedy, diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer back in late May, figures to provide the convention with its most emotional moment. Inevitably, this will stir memories of the two previous Democratic conventions that were also brought to a halt by emotional tributes to Kennedys.  read more »

A deal is apparently in the works that will allow the roll call of the states to proceed as usual on Wednesday night, with delegates free to vote for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton (or anyone else, for that matter). But, according to the Associated Press, the proceedings will be interrupted early on with a call for an acclamation vote on Obama's nomination. The A.P. report suggests that Clinton herself, speaking from the floor with the New York delegation, may be the one to make the formal acclamation request.

This is essentially the same strategy convention organizers used in 1984, when the fractious Walter Mondale-Gary Hart primary race similarly divided the party.  read more »

Ideally, a political convention serves to introduce or reintroduce the public to a party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees in a way that produces a meaningful “bounce” in the polls. It doesn’t always work. Here’s a brief summary of the Democratic nominations of the modern era, ranked (from best to worst) in terms of how effective they were in positioning the party for victory in the fall.

 

1992: It’s unlikely that any future convention for either party will ever be as successful as the Democrats’ 1992 gathering. Bill Clinton came to New York a battered presumptive nominee, lucky to be running ahead of Ross Perot (but still well behind George H.  read more »

Strictly in terms of the November election, it's fair to liken Joe Biden to Dick Cheney, who was tapped to serve as George W. Bush's running mate in 2000 in an effort to reassure voters who were made uneasy by Bush's thin national security résumé.

The ploy worked for Bush: Cheney, a stern former defense secretary who had overseen the first Gulf War, was celebrated by the media for his "gravitas" -- and he went on to score an unexpected victory in his vice presidential debate with Joe Lieberman. In the same way, Barack Obama hopes that the presence of Biden, a gray-haired 35-year veteran of the Senate who's on a first-name basis with numerous world leaders, will make it easier for voters to pull the lever for a presidential candidate who was a member of the Illinois state legislature less than four years ago.  read more »

The latest ad from John McCain's campaign seeks to widen and exploit lingering divisions among Democrats from this year's primary campaign with clips of Hillary Clinton taking shots Barack Obama. As Marc Ambinder points out, the exact message is rather convoluted and contradictory—the ad suggests Clinton was not offered the vice presidency because she spoke "the truth" about Obama during the primaries, but (as the McCain campaign notes in a separate ad) Joe Biden also criticized Obama during the primaries.

Even so, the tactic is hardly new. After the similarly divisive 1980 Democratic primary campaign, which culminated in Ted Kennedy's refusal to link arms with Jimmy Carter at the New York convention, Ronald Reagan's campaign used some of Kennedy's harshest words about Carter in this fall ad.

Exactly 21 years ago on Saturday, Joe Biden opened his mouth and inflicted a mortal wound on his White House aspirations – and, it seemed, his entire future in national politics.

The setting was the Iowa State Fair and the occasion was the second debate between the candidates for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination – dubbed “the Seven Dwarves” by unimpressed pundits. The 44-year-old Biden had spent the summer tangling with Michael Dukakis, Paul Simon and Richard Gephardt for the front-runner’s mantle, after the May implosion of Gary Hart – and the results, thanks to his youth, energy and impassioned oratory, had been encouraging.  read more »

It was probably inevitable that things would end up like this. Here we are on the eve of the Democratic National Convention that will crown Barack Obama, and the national political conversation remains preoccupied with Hillary Clinton and her supporters. What will Clinton say in Denver? And how will her backers respond?

The speculation has endured since the close of the Democratic primary season in part because of the compelling Obama-vs.-the-Clintons human drama, but mainly because, according to poll after poll, Clinton’s primary season supporters have stubbornly clung to their candidate, refusing to close ranks around Obama – and even, in some cases, defecting to John McCain.  read more »

If Rudy Giuliani were a Democrat, we might now be talking about his bright future on the national political stage. For whatever reason, the keynote speaking slot at the Democratic convention has evolved to serve as an unveiling of one of the party's rising or underexposed political talents. Mario Cuomo, Evan Bayh, Harold Ford and some guy named Barack Obama are all recent alumni.

But the Republican keynote slot that Giuliani was selected for on Wednesday to fill has a different pedigree. G.O.P. keynoters tend either to be established political stars -- like Colin Powell in 2000 -- or to be less obviously ambitious politicians chosen because they have specific attributes that (in theory, anyway) will help with the party's general election imperatives.  read more »

For most of the summer, Biden contracts were trading at around 10 on the Intrade political market, while Evan Bayh contracts traded much higher – peaking at 40 about 10 days ago. But look at what’s happened in just the last day, as the media has begun portraying Biden as the most likely selection.

Other notable values on the Democratic V.P. market: Tim Kaine is now trading at 15.4, which is actually up slightly from yesterday, and Kathleen Sebelius is at 14.8 – almost a five-point jump for her from yesterday. Hillary Clinton is at 9.3, unchanged from yesterday. But maybe we shouldn’t read too much into this: Wesley Clark is at an absurdly overvalued 13.8.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney is top at 31.1, followed closely by Tim Pawlnety at 29.9.

Not surprisingly, a column in Sunday’s Washington Post by Deborah Howell, in which the paper’s ombudsman (ombudswoman?) wrote of the considerable disparity in the volume of her paper’s coverage of Barack Obama and John McCain, is causing a stir on the right.

Conservative media watchdog groups like the Media Research Center and NewsBusters have hyped Ms. Howell’s column, particularly her conclusion that the disparity in The Post’s coverage of both candidates “is so wide that it doesn’t look good,” as have numerous conservative cable and talk-radio shows. It’s all further proof, in their minds, that the liberal media is in the tank for Mr.  read more »

Evan Bayh has now been a serious vice presidential contender for three consecutive elections. In 2000, he was one of Al Gore’s four finalists (Joe Lieberman, John Kerry and John Edwards were the others), in 2004 he was given a serious look by Kerry’s campaign, and this year he is – by most press accounts – on Barack Obama’s very short list.

Maybe three times will prove the charm, and maybe not. Certainly, this story – which raises all sorts of conflict of interest questions about the seven corporate boards on which Bayh’s wife serves – won’t help his chances.

If Obama doesn’t pick him, Bayh will probably just go through this whole process again in four years or eight years or whenever a Democratic presidential nominee next needs a running mate.  read more »

Maybe it will be Joe Biden after all. The buzz around him is only increasing. Here’s what Howard Fineman reported just a few minutes ago:

Within the last few hours I've spoken with two of the finalists for the role of Barack Obama's running-mate, and to two other sources who are close to the process.

My bottom line is this: Barring a big surprise or last-minute change of heart, the choice is likely to be Sen. Joe Biden of Deleware [sic] chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee….

"If I had to bet my life on it, I'd bet it is Joe," said one of the other contenders.

 read more »

John McCain isn’t the first presumptive presidential nominee to announce ahead of time when he will announce his running-mate.

Just as speculation over Barack Obama’s imminent V.P. selection reached fever pitch yesterday, McCain’s campaign not coincidentally leaked to the Politico news that the G.O.P. candidate will make his own choice public on August 29 – the day after Obama’s acceptance speech (and McCain’s 72nd birthday). The goal is to shift the focus away from Obama as soon as his speech ends, denying him (in theory, anyway) a post-convention bounce.

Actually, the announcement-of-an-announcement strategy has been used before – by Al Gore in 2000. Lagging behind George W.  read more »

I can’t help but think of Bob Kerrey right now. In 1992, the then-Nebraska senator (and current New School president) was one of Bill Clinton’s two vice-presidential finalists, and conventional wisdom strongly suggested Kerrey would get the nod.

The reason was simple: Clinton was an inexperienced small-state governor whose Vietnam draft avoidance would be a major issue in the fall – especially since he was running against a World War II hero, George H.W. Bush. The presence of Kerrey, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran widely celebrated for his sacrifices, would inoculate Clinton against the G.O.P.’s ugly attacks, just as Kerrey’s Senate experience would complement Clinton’s gubernatorial resume.  read more »

When it comes to Barack Obama’s running-mate search, the question of “when?” is now being asked just as often as “who?”

The Politico is reporting that Obama’s decision is expected this week – but that it also might come “as late as this weekend,” or even “the beginning of next week” at the Democratic convention. Which doesn’t really narrow it down at all. Marc Ambinder, meanwhile, notes that Obama is scheduled for a down day in Chicago this Friday and that “Democratic advance folks are being called to Chicago,” suggesting an end-of-week announcement could be in the works. Or maybe not.

It’s worth noting that the last time a VP choice was announced during a convention was in 1988, when George H.  read more »

The New York Times has endorsed city Councilman Michael McMahon over lawyer/'06 (corrected) nominee Stephen Harrison in the 13th District Democratic congressional primary.

Scott Stringer has endorsed Dan Squadron in his Democratic primary challenge to state Senator Marty Connor.

And pictured above is none other than the vacationing Azi Paybarah, who had this photo snapped earlier today when – on his way to Alcatraz – he ran into former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

O.K., so this may prove to be one of those flare-ups that’s extinguished and forgotten before anyone really notices, but there’s plenty of chatter in the blogosphere today about the striking similarities between the moving personal anecdote from his Vietnamese captivity that John McCain recounted at Saturday’s Saddleback forum and one that the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn told from his gulag days.

Here’s what McCain said on Saturday night, to a question about what his faith in Christ means to him personally:

It was Christmas Day. We were allowed to stand outside of our cell for a few minutes, and those days we were not allowed to see or communicate with each other, although we certainly did.

 read more »

I alluded to this in today’s Morning Read, but if common sense hasn’t already killed them, maybe we can use this tidbit from the Associated Press to put an end to the absurd John Kerry-for-VP rumors that proliferated last Friday and over the weekend.

Democrat Barack Obama met yesterday with Texas oil baron and longtime conservative activist T. Boone Pickens to discuss strategies for developing alternative energy.

The presidential hopeful praised Pickens, a native of Oklahoma, as a "legendary entrepreneur" and deflected a question about the billionaire's role in helping to fund a television ad campaign that undermined John F. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee.

 read more »

There’s plenty of of noise coming from the right these days, dire warnings to John McCain about the terrible consequences that will befall him if he fails to appease the Republican Party’s base with his VP selection. These voices come in response to McCain’s apparent openness to choosing a pro-choice running mate – possibly Tom Ridge, but more likely Joe Lieberman.

His dilemma calls to mind the one faced by George H. W. Bush 20 years ago. Bush, much like McCain now, was not particularly liked or trusted by the right (although, unlike McCain, he had spent the previous eight years bending over backward to alter this reputation).  read more »

The problem with the post-season in most sports is that one league or conference is often much stronger than the other league or conference. When this happens, the playoffs become anticlimactic, with the actual championship series or game becoming a foregone conclusion once the stronger conference crowns its champion.

A good example of this came in 2004, when the Red Sox and Yankees slugged it out in seven memorable games in the A.L.C.S. They were clearly the two most talented teams in baseball and massive audiences tuned in for each game, knowing that it was the de facto World Series. Which it was.  read more »