John Amato at Crooks and Liars, who didn't take a position during the primary, tonight makes the case for Hillary as Obama's vice presidential candidate.

Do Biden, Bayh, Kaine or any other pick left standing represent his “change narrative?” No, because Obama is the narrative. He brings the change. He won the primary. Of course there are those that feel much differently. I’m just offering my thoughts. Many of my C&L writers don’t agree with me either. The blogosphere should be the place that we discuss these issues. There are so many undecided voters that I bet many of them are Hillary supporters. In my opinion her nomination would send a jolt of electricity throughout the country and into Denver.

I agree with John that Hillary vastly improves Obama's chances of getting elected because she will bring voters from the critical, not the tiny, swing states like Ohio and Florida. Even Pennsylvania isn't a lock for Obama.

Obama seems to be using his caucus state stratgy from the primaries -- going after little states -- to win the general election, and as I've opined many times, I think it's the wrong strategy. We need Ohio, PA, FL and MI. Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia pale by comparison.[More..]

Update: What a difference an hour makes. The Rocky Mountain News just updated its article to say a compromise is trying to be worked out that will allow Public Enemy to play at a concert in Denver.

****

Public Enemy Won't Play at DNC Protest Event

Earlier reports that Public Enemy will play at a Recreate '68 protest event during the Denver National Convention are false. [More...]

Sen. Barack Obama has made his VP choice. While he won't say when he's going to text it out, here's how he describes him:

Obama said he wanted somebody who is "prepared to be president" and who will be "a partner with me in strengthening this economy for the middle class and working families."

He said he was looking for not just a partner but a sparring partner. "I want somebody who's independent, somebody who can push against my preconceived notions and challenge me so we have got a robust debate in the White House."

So, who is it? [Update: Another Obama clue below:

Here's a shocker:

A voting system used in 34 states contains a critical programming error that can cause votes to be dropped while being electronically transferred from memory cards to a central tallying point, the manufacturer acknowledges.

You knew it was Diebold (now known as Premier Election Solutions), right?

NOTE - this post is Obama's fault because he did not announce his VP today.

Kos quoting a WaPo blogger:

If Obama's campaign had planned to roll out their vice presidential pick at any point today, that announcement is likely to be put on hold. Why? The campaign believes the story about McCain's many houses is political gold and they won't want to step on it with a veep announcement that would immediately change the day's storyline.

Actually, it does not make sense to me. Unless, all the Obama camp will be doing tomorrow re: the VP is the text message, which I find impossible to believe. The VP rollout requires an event - where the Presidential candidate and the Vice Presidential candidate appear together. That will happen tomorrow obviously and that clearly was the plan throughout. Which, btw, leads me to linking to poblano making a good point again:

My first video on my new Flip TV Mino is of Dr. Linda Shapiro of ProActive Health in Denver. Dr. Shapiro is an M.D. and a Ph.D, and an expert in nutrition and fitness.

The topic: How to maintain stamina and your diet while in Denver for the Democratic National Convention.

Note on the audio: My voice came out so much louder than Dr. Shapiro's. I tried to adjust the audio in editing, and was mostly successful except for the last five seconds when it sounds like I'm shouting. Oh well, hopefully I'll improve during the week to come.

This is an open thread.

Texas has not yet killed Jeffery Lee Wood. Nor should it.

Jeffery Lee Wood, 35, "has never taken a human life by his own hands," and "was outside the building in a car at the time of the murder," his attorneys said in a statement.

Daniel Reneau killed a store manager during a robbery. Texas has already executed Reneau. Wood was Reneau's accomplice in the robbery, but he didn't kill anyone. His moral responsibility for the murder is also diminished if, as Wood's lawyers argue, "his longstanding mental illness ... allowed him to be easily manipulated by the principal actor, Daniel Reneau."

A court may never agree to revisit the decision that Wood deserves the death penalty. At least Wood will not die today, as scheduled, thanks to a federal judge who stayed the execution in response to concerns that Wood is not mentally competent to be executed. [more ...]

Unlike the entire Left blogosphere, I could not care less how many homes John McCain's heiress wife has purchased for him. I worry about McCain's tendency to react like a madman regarding foreign policy issues (see the Russia-Gerogia conflict). But I do find it amusing that McCain's "reluctance" to discuss his prisoner of war experience does not extend to responding to silly charges about houses. Via TPM:

This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," [McCain] spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.

Aren't you glad Obama threw Wes Clark under the bus for saying getting your plane shot down was not commander in chief experience? I'm telling you, convicted felon former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Vietnam war ace, got a raw deal.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The great Gene Upshaw, a great football player and leader of the NFL Players Association, has passed away:

Gene Upshaw, the Hall of Fame guard who during a quarter century as union head helped get NFL players free agency and the riches that came with it, has died. He was 63. Upshaw died Wednesday night at his home near California’s Lake Tahoe, of pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed only last Sunday, the NFL Players Association said Thursday. His wife Terri and sons Eugene Jr., Justin and Daniel were by his side.

“Few people in the history of the National Football League have played the game as well as Gene and then had another career in football with so much positive impact on the structure and competitiveness of the entire league as Gene,” former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.

RIP, Gene Upshaw.

In a rare display of ethical responsibility, an assistant prosecutor has been fired and referred for disciplinary charges after he ignored evidence that proved the defendant was elsewhere when the murder with which he was charged was committed. TalkLeft discussed the wrongful conviction of Claude McCollum earlier this year.

Without providing details, the county prosecutor in Ingham County, Michigan announced the firing of Eric Matwiejczyk at a news conference yesterday. The prosecutor also "released a report from the state Attorney General's Office that he says exonerates his office of any allegations prosecutors knew about" the exculpatory evidence prior to trial. Matwiejczyk claims he gave the new evidence to the defense during the trial, but the defense attorney is uncertain whether it was provided during the trial or only after the trial ended. In any event, it's clear that Matwiejczyk went forward with the trial despite his knowledge that the new evidence demonstrated McCollum's innocence. Matwiejczyk's response -- he didn't believe the new evidence was accurate, even though it was furnished to him by the police -- is feeble. Matwiejczyk deserves to have his apparent misconduct investigated.

Kevin Drum reports:

..In a New York Times Magazine piece running this weekend, David Leonhardt does a good job of describing Barack Obama's economic worldview, which is dominated by a mindful friendliness toward market solutions for economic problems (Cass Sunstein calls him a "University of Chicago Democrat").

Since this comment is about Obama's economic views, I am fine with it. My problem with University of Chicago Democrats like Cass Sunstein are on civil liberties issues, the right to privacy and Executive Power. As a centrist, free trader, Rubin Democrat, Obama sounds good to me on trade and free markets. But how about all the "fair trading" populists? How do they feel about that?

Post Script - here is the NYTimes Magazine article and reading through it, sounds to me like Obama on his approach to economics is the second coming of Bill Clinton. I mean that as a a compliment.

by Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Nevada is one of those states where the map can change for Democrats. But it's tight according to this Research2000 poll (I find R2000 to have a slight tendency to favor Dems):

A new RGJ/KTVN Channel 2 poll being released today shows Nevada continues to be a true toss-up in the presidential race. In the poll of 600 likely Nevada voters, 44 percent favor U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and 43 percent favor U.S. Sen. John McCain. The results also indicate that support for Libertarian candidate, Bob Barr, expected to do well enough in Nevada to draw votes away from McCain, is slipping. He registered just 3 percent support, while independent candidate Ralph Nader is at 2 percent. Six percent of voters remain undecided. The poll was conducted Aug. 18-20 by Research 2000 and has a 4 percent margin of error.

Colorado, NM and Nevada are tighter than I thought they would be when I called Obama a shoo-in. Iowa is still Obama country. Virginia is tight. The rest of the map, at least to me, looks like the Red/Blue map we've seen for the past 8 years.

By Big Tent Democrat