Senator Obama // Current

18,000 gather for Obama Rally in Newport News, Virginia

Senator Obama visits Virginia for the sixth time since the end of the primaries. He is greeted by 18,000 supporters. Barack's... more

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BIDEN SAYS HE WILL BE ‘UNRELENTING’ WITH PALIN

ST. PAUL — Joe Biden said Thursday he will be “unrelenting” in his debate with Sarah Palin on the issues, but... more

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Obama says economic issues will decide election

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio (AP) -- Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, pouncing on a top Republican aide's claim that... more

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Unconventional Polls: Obama's Speech Draws Record 38.4 Million Viewers

John McCain will have to do better than naming Tina Fey his vice presidential choice if he expects to attract 38.4 million people... more

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Obama embarks on 67-day sprint to election

DENVER (AP) -- Fresh off his historic nominating convention, Democrat Barack Obama is embarking on what likely will be the most important 67 days of his campaign for the White House. Republican John McCain is looking to upstage his rival with the announcement of his running mate.

Obama leaves the convention city of Denver as the first black man to be nominated for president by a major political party. The 47-year-old Illinois senator won over the party faithful - even some die-hard backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton - but the broader electorate awaits.

His first stop: the battleground states of the Midwest. On Friday, Obama flies to Pittsburgh, where he and running mate Joe Biden will kick off a bus tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

The goal is to maintain the buzz of a convention that culminated Thursday night with Obama addressing an energetic, flag-waving crowd of 84,000 packed into Denver's pro football stadium.

"Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time," Obama told the adoring crowd at Invesco Field. "America, this is one of those moments."

McCain, who marks his 72nd birthday on Friday, was determined to create his own gift - steal some of the spotlight from Obama by revealing his choice for vice president. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty canceled several media interviews Thursday, stoking speculation that he was the one.

McCain and his No. 2 are expected to appear together for the first time at one or more rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri in the run-up to the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday in St. Paul, Minn.

In the jam-packed football stadium, Obama promised an end to eight years of "broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush" and argued that McCain "doesn't get it."

He pledged to cut taxes for nearly all working-class families, end the war in Iraq and break America's dependence on Mideast oil within a decade. Portraying a McCain administration as a continuation of the current Bush White House, Obama said, "On Nov. 4, we must stand up and say: 'Eight is enough.'"DENVER (AP) -- Fresh off his historic nominating convention, Democrat Barack Obama is embarking on what likely will be the most... more

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3 months ago

Obama: I'm ready to beat John McCain

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama laid out his plan to lead the country into an era of change as he accepted the... more

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3 months ago

Obama draws parallels to MLK

DENVER -- Embarking on the final leg of his historic presidential run, Barack Obama on Thursday invoked the promise of Martin... more

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3 months ago

Obama seeks to woo nation with historic speech

DENVER - Barack Obama stands before delegates and the nation Thursday; the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s... more

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3 months ago

Obama makes history as Democratic nominee

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- On a historic night for America, Barack Obama secured the Democratic Party's nomination for... more

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3 months ago

Obama makes surprise visit!

Sen. Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at the Pepsi Center tonight just hours after delegates named him the Democratic... more

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3 months ago

Choice of Biden as VP candidate praised overseas

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- From confronting Russia to dealing with climate change, Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as his vice presidential candidate Saturday was seen abroad as adding weight and depth to the foreign policy of a potential Obama administration.

European analysts said the crisis in the Caucasus provided an appropriate backdrop to Biden's nomination.

In Accra, experts attending a U.N. climate change convention said Obama was sending a strong signal of change on what many see as a foreign policy debacle by the outgoing Bush administration regarding the battle against global warming.

"Biden owes his selection to (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin," said French political analyst Dominique Moisi. "Russia's invasion of Georgia reinforced the American worry about international tensions." The choice of the foreign affairs veteran was intended to reassure the electorate concerned about Obama's lack of credentials, Moisi said.

In Britain, the North America editor for the British Broadcasting Corp., Justin Webb, said Biden was "Vladimir Putin's contribution to American politics - he is a necessary antidote to the Obama lack of worldly wisdom, which before Georgia was a bit academic to most Americans."

Webb said Republican presidential candidate John McCain had acquitted himself well during the Russian invasion of Georgia this month. McCain "took the 3 a.m. call. Obama needs a pal who can do the same," Webb wrote in his blog.

Biden's selection drew mixed reviews Saturday in Iraq because of his call two years ago to divide the country into autonomous regions along sectarian and ethnic lines. The proposal, made in a 2006 op-ed article in The New York Times, drew sharp criticism, especially from Sunni Arabs who opposed autonomy provisions that were written into the Iraqi constitution in 2005.

"Basically, this is an internal American affair, but it is giving us cause for concern because Biden was clear in his calls to divide Iraq according to sectarian and ethnic lines," Sunni lawmaker Adnan al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.

A spokesman for anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who controls 30 seats in the 275-member parliament, said he doubted the Biden proposal would become American policy even if the Democrats win the November election.

The sentiment was shared by Kurdish elder statesman Mahmoud Othman, who said even if Biden is elected, he doubts it will make much difference "because it is the Iraqi people who will have the last say about their future.ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- From confronting Russia to dealing with climate change, Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as... more

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3 months ago

Biden wastes no time to attack McCain

DENVER (AP) -- Barack Obama says Joe Biden is ready to step in as president. He's not bad in the role of attack dog, either, wasting no time gnawing at GOP rival John McCain.

"He will have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at" when considering his own economic future, Biden said - a blistering reference to McCain's embarrassing admission, particularly during a period of financial turmoil, that he didn't know how many homes he and his ultra-wealthy wife own.

Named Obama's running mate before dawn Saturday, a feisty Biden appeared with the top of the ticket at an afternoon rally in Springfield, Ill.

He gave a speech filled with subtle jabs and outright punches at McCain, a sharp tone intended to send a message to nervous Democrats: Never fear, the vice presidential attack dog is here - and he's itching for a fight.

As polls show the race tightening, Democrats increasingly have been questioning whether Obama can play the game of brass-knuckle politics against McCain. Some are fearing a repeat of 2004 when a Republican-aligned group called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth got the best of slow-to-respond John Kerry and his soft-touch No. 2 John Edwards.

Biden, however, left no doubt he's comfortable going for the jugular.

In one breath, he called McCain "generally a friend of mine" over a 35-year period. In the next, the Democrat skewered his decades-old Republican colleague and linked McCain to the unpopular President Bush at every turn.

"The American dream under eight years of Bush and McCain, that American dream is slipping away," Biden said - suggesting that McCain, too, served in the White House during that period and overlooking the times when the Arizona senator broke from his own party's standard-bearer.

He jabbed at McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war who is arguably the county's most vocal supporter of the U.S. mission in Iraq, next to Bush. Said Biden: "These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader. A leader who can deliver."

The Delaware senator also used McCain's own words against him to argue that the Republican can't change the country when he offers more of the same, though he left out details and cherry-picked quotes as he sought to make his case.

He noted that McCain voted with Bush some 90 percent of the time and read McCain quotes that he said has been "totally in agreement and support of President Bush" on "the most important issues of our day," and that "in the Bush administration we make great progress economically."DENVER (AP) -- Barack Obama says Joe Biden is ready to step in as president. He's not bad in the role of attack dog, either,... more

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3 months ago

Biden brings ticket Decades of Foreign Policy Experience

The day Joe Biden officially launched his 2008 presidential run in February of 2007, he virtually ended it with a classic Biden gaffe — this one involving the man on whose ticket he'll be a part of in the race for the White House. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said, apparently oblivious to his implied slur of previous African-American politicians. Although Obama brushed aside the comment, other prominent African-Americans and much of the Washington political class came down hard on Biden. He apologized and Obama accepted, but Biden never gained traction, and dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, a year later.

Biden's gaffe made him an unlikely running mate, and much will be made of the bridge-building that Obama's choice represents. But in the end, Obama picked him for the simplest of reasons: The six-term Senator from Delaware is strongest in areas where the freshman from Illinois is weakest. Biden's tenure in the Senate, his foreign policy expertise, his religion, and his suburban middle-class background, all fill gaps in Obama's own presidential profile.

Most of all, where Obama is reserved and cautious in a political knife-fight, Biden comes out swinging. Tapping Biden is a signal that the Obama campaign is ready for a battle — and to take the risks that come with it.

Biden's experience is his biggest asset. His 36 years in the Senate have earned him chairmanships of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, positions he has used to establish himself as a familiar and respected, if partisan, spokesman for the Democrats on everything from Supreme Court appointments to complex national security issues during and after the Cold War. Obama's lack of comparable experience has him trailing John McCain by as much as 15 points on some foreign policy issues; if a vice-presidential pick can offset voters' concerns on those issues, Biden's resume should help.

Obama also needs help with key voting blocks such as Catholics and white, blue-collar swing voters. Biden ranks with Ted Kennedy among the Senate's best-known and longest-serving Catholics. Although he comes from a middle class family, his pro-union, moderate-to-liberal voting record and Irish-American family background give Biden popularity with working class and ethnic voters. Although Delaware has only three Electoral College votes, Biden's background could help garner a few more next door: Biden lived in Pennsylvania until age 10, and a grandfather served as a State Senator there.
The day Joe Biden officially launched his 2008 presidential run in February of 2007, he virtually ended it with a classic Biden... more

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3 months ago

Obama Biden campaign ads already?

A little something I found on you tube...

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3 months ago

McCain misfires as he attacks Obama's home purchase

On the defensive over the extent of multiple McCain homes, the GOP candidate strikes back. But his TV spot gives an oversimplified... more

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3 months ago

Waiting for Obama

DENVER -- And so we wait. We wait here in Denver and in Washington and in Chicago and across the country. We wait for a leak, a... more

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3 months ago

Obama prolongs the suspense on No. 2 pick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama prolonged the suspense on his vice presidential pick on Friday, saying he has chosen... more

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4 months ago

Obama gives runners-up the bad news

(CNN) – Sen. Barack Obama called some people on his short-list for the vice presidential slot Thursday night to tell them he... more

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4 months ago

The whereabouts of potential veep picks

DEMOCRATS

-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and his staff had a 15-minute meeting with Obama at a hotel in Richmond, Va. The governor later joined Obama at a campaign event in Chester, Va., and said he would let the campaign speak about whether he's been asked to be the No. 2. Kaine planned to fly late Friday night directly from Virginia to Denver, where the Democratic National Convention begins Monday, according to three people with knowledge of his travel plans.

-Sen. Joe Biden had no public events Thursday, his staff said. He spent most of the day at his home in northern Delaware with his wife, Jill; son, Beau, who is Delaware's attorney general; and his niece, Missy Owens, who has worked in his campaigns.

-Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius participated Thursday morning in a U.S. Energy Department contest for students at a Topeka-area high school. She later flew to Iowa to campaign for Obama in the afternoon.

-Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh was working and spending time with his family at his home in Washington, said his spokesman, Eric Kleiman.

-Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed was working and spending time with his family at his home in Jamestown, R.I., Reed spokesman Chip Unruh said. Reed told an Associated Press reporter late Thursday that he was not Obama's choice and had not been asked for any background information.

-New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent Thursday in Florida. She addressed sheet metal workers in Lake Buena Vista and campaigned for Obama in Boca Raton and Taramac.

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REPUBLICANS

-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty met Thursday with young supporters for McCain in a bar across the street from the GOP convention site in St. Paul. Otherwise, he stayed away from his Capitol office; aides said he was in Minnesota, but wouldn't provide details.

-Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney spent Thursday in the state. He was scheduled to make calls to several radio stations for McCain.

-Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was wrapping up a three-day trip to Georgia, Ukraine and Poland. He was expected back in Washington on Thursday night.

-Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was spending private time with his family Thursday, said Michele Nix, spokeswoman for Ridge's Washington, D.C., consulting firm.DEMOCRATS -Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and his staff had a 15-minute meeting with Obama at a hotel in Richmond, Va. The governor... more