Terry McAuliffe was caught on video saying the Obama camp has given signals they've settled on Hillary. The footage isn't the best, but here it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

Bill Clinton's Obama ad is probably the best thing they could do for him.

And Harry Connick's "Yes We Can Can does more for Obama than singing him "Happy Birthday". That was just too Marilyn Monroe.

Nice move, Aqua. My karaoke jockey mentioned something about this to me this past weekend. What does this mean?

It's early, but so far the Republican dirt machine has done a good job of portraying Obama as being in over his head. Given those dynamics, picking Clinton makes alot of sense and there are certainly other assets to choosing her also. The Hillary haters weren't very likely to vote for Obama anyway, but they could lose a few fence sitters. Overall, I'd say it would be a big plus at this point.

Is it just a portrayal? Or is it what Hillary said would happen?

Obama's VP Pick is:
Hillary Clinton
Chuck Hagel
Tim Kaine
Evan Byah
Hillary Clinton

or we could just wait for the announcement.

There is absolutely no way what so ever its going to be Hillary, and if you don't believe me you should read the story that Howard Fineman, a brilliant journalist im my opinion wrote on MSNBC this morning about the "relationship" between the Clintons and Obama camp. Its not pretty. Hillary is not at all happy and claims the Obama camp has not helped her out nearly enough with her enormous campaign debt, and also claims that Obama seems to think he can win without her or much of her support, and then there is Bill, who the other day in Africa was asked if he thought Obama was ready to lead, and replied, " you could argue that no one is ever ready to lead." A ringing endorsement? Not exactly! Fineman pointed out, it was up to BOTH camps to work togther to repair the damage that was done during the brutal primary battle. As of now, if I had to say who Obama would pick for V.P., I would put money on Bayh of Indiana, or Kaine, of Virginia.

Would you ever pick a person who mentioned assassination as a reason as to why she shouldn't have dropped out of the primary?

Forget all the other reasons Obama shouldn't pick her, the president or a presidential candidate has enough to worry about, let alone having to look over his shoulder hoping his own bitter, jaded, and opportunistic VP isn't secretly trying to have him whacked.

Great points. The ironic thing is that it's part funny and part true, which makes the whole thing rather sad. And I saw the interview that hockeyTom is referring to... where Bill said, "You could argue that no one is truly ready to lead," when asked Obama is ready to lead. Bill went on to say that even a vice president who's been serving for 8 years truly may not be ready because the job of president is so different. I kinda thought that was a jab at Gore, who ended up endorsing Obama. It's so depressing to see what Bill has become. He was kinda the savior of the party for so long I thought, and I had tremendous respect for him until this year when he took a very sad route in trying to secure the nomination for Hillary.

Yes. I hear that Bill is still pretty unhappy over what happened and the things he said and was alleged to have said during the primary, and that his wife wasn't the nominee. The baton is being passed for the most part from the Clintons on to Obama, and thats not always an easy thing for the supporters of Hillary and Clinton fans over the past many years when Bill was President. I get and understand that...but I am going to be watching to see when and if he decides to climb onboard the Obama bus, or even IF he does. I guess Hillary is in Nevada today pushing for Barack.

That's another thing I found funny. Hillary is out "campaigning for Barack" this week in what they're calling, "the key swing states of Nevada and Florida." But when you look at the itinerary, she's going only to Las Vegas and Miami. Don't those sound a tad more like vacations? What's next... campaigning in Honolulu?

Please...Bill nor Hillary are truly campaigning for this man. They can't believe that he swooped in and "stole" what they felt they were entitled too. They are desperately hoping he loses in the fall so that they can officially put Hillary '12 into action. They are fooling no one. Do I believe Bill Clinton is racist? No. But I do believe there are people out there who like to brag about how many black friends they have or talk about not having any problem with black people. But as soon as one threatens their status or dare to excel above them....all bets are off!!

Obama does seem to need some help. The polls indicate he is somewhere between 0 and 5% ahead of McCain in the polls. Pretty slim lead considering the sluggish economy, gas prices , war etc. The hard campaigning hasn't even begun yet so I would have expected a much greater lead for Obama. Hopefully who ever he picks will add some gravitas to his campaign because I worry that the Dems have once again grasped defeat from the jaws of victory in selecting Obama.

There was an article this morning where Hillary said that she is not averse to a floor vote at the convention, as it will allow her supporters "to be heard".

WTF????? If I were the DNC leadership, if she tried that, I'd yank her and slick willy's memberships in the party.

I also heard something about some kind of a parade some of her supporters wanted to have somewhere in Denver, they called it a "PUMA" parade..( Part unity my ass)...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....I should imagine Howard Dean will be doing some talkings to people leading up to the convention....

Why not let Hillary have a floor vote and a roll call? I don't think she's going to be VP, but Obama should do everything he can to accommodate her at this point, especially in terms of retiring her campaign debt. She's only an asset from now out.

More generally, Obama's leading in the national polls. It was never going to be easy for him, but he is leading where he needs to, and as some polling experts have repeatedly suggested, even a 4-5% national lead will translate into an electoral victory. He's leading in every state Kerry won, as well as a few others: Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and Nevada. It would only take winning Ohio or Virginia to put him over the top. He also is very competitive in North Carolina, Florida, and New Hampshire. So while it's close and will remain so, he is in a good position to win it all. I'm most curious to see how his VP pick, the Democratic convention, and his debates with McCain affect his electoral edge. So long as he and the Democrats figure out how to control the narrative on each, he could get major boosts from all three.

I think that if there is going to be a turning point, putting Obama way ahead, it will start with his Veep choice, but the real turning point will be the debates. I don't think there's any amount of coaching that can prepare McCain for the debates. Obama needs to hit him on policy, economy, ties to Bush etc. It also wouldn't help if Obama can bring out the famous McCain temper. Given that Obama's can debate rings around the "wrinkly old white haired dude", he should shine in the debates.

But never underestimate the Rethuglican attack machine. Push polling anyone?

Lk as usual, your spot on. You simply cannot underestiamte the Republicans. They are desparate to hang on to the White House, while behind the scenes Republicans who are up for re-election in Congress are basically told your on your own. Several key Republicans are up for re-election, and are NOT planning on showing up to their convention. Hows that for confidence in what may happen! If and when the Republicans go lower, and you can count on it, I hope somebody videoed McCain addressing that rally in Sturgis this past week. He was stumbling and tripping and stuttering all OVER himself, way worse than even Bush has. The main is NOT ready to lead or be President, and sooner or later the temper will resurface.