It doesn't look like Sen. Barack Obama will name his running mate after all this week. It's hard to imagine him naming someone on Wednesday when he's leaving for vacation in Hawaii on Friday. But to add to the Evan Bayh speculation, there's this, from his birthday party-fundraiser in Boston Monday night:

Introducing Obama, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said: "I asked Barack Obama what he wanted for his birthday. He said, 'Indiana, Colorado and Virginia,' " said Kerry, referring to three potential swing states Obama hopes to win in the Nov. 4 election.

Since both Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar have said they haven't been asked for documentation, that says to me Obama will pick either Kaine or Bayh. It would be crazy to pick Kaine who is personally anti-choice and has backed abortion restrictions. Between the Hillary supporters he's alienated and others who won't vote for a wishy-washy on abortion candidate, Kaine's negative impact on the ticket is obvious. That leaves Evan Bayh.

I suspect he will drop hints at his joint appearance with Bayh today in Indiana. Then his campaign can do a final round of polling before he makes a final decision.

One question: What if his final polling results indicate it has to be Hillary? [More...]

Bump and Update: Jose Medellin was executed tonight just before 10:00 pm. The Supreme Court declined to intervene. His last words:

“I’m sorry my actions caused you pain,” he said to the witnesses present. “I hope this brings you the closure that you seek. Never harbor hate.”

R.I.P. Jose Medellin.

Bump and Update: Medellin was set for texecution at 6pm. No word yet from the Supreme Court which is considering his case. Stay tuned, will update further. [More....]

Via Avedon at Sideshow, longtime political blogger Skimble is packing it in and closing up shop.

I have ceased to care about McStupid's Britney video and Obama's acting presidency. Or the New Yorker cover. Or Cindy McCain's 20 painkillers a day. Or the endless hand-wringing about the f**king narrative. The 24/7 minutiae of yet another artificial campaign horserace cannot captivate me. The big story is this....

Go read the rest, it's a well-deserved attack on the Dems, Harry and Nancy in particular.

This has been a lackluster, ho-hum election campaign since May when the primaries ended. I doubt it will pick up. Obama is just not as exciting to cover as he was when he had Democrats as competitors and McCain would put anyone to sleep.

It is what it is. From here on out, both candidates will play to the middle. The rest of us, right and left, will be marginalized. [More...]

Steven Waldman analyzes "the religion factor" as the candidates consider various potential running mates. Too bad he didn't mention the last clause in Article VI, section 3 of the United States Constitution:

but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Really bad advice:

Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel was caught on tape last week telling a crowd in Washington, D.C., that they should harass a federal prosecutor who helped bring criminal contempt charges against a Palestinian activist. ...

“Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time,” Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.

No matter what you think of this prosecution or any other, stalking a prosecutor, and particularly doing anything involving his or her kids, is way over the top, and will probably land you in jail.

Gravel's defense -- "that he personally wouldn’t do the things he’s recommended" -- doesn't excuse his comments. He should know better.

When I first heard today of the new website Drug Dealer Cindy, I thought it was going to be about Cindy McCain's past struggles with prescription drugs. It's not. It's about her family beer distributing business, Hensley & Company.

The site and the video are the work of Safer Choice, a Colorado organization whose goals I've supported in the past.

This new site makes me a little uneasy. I'd almost rather it was about the sweetheart deal Cindy McCain got for her prescription drug violations that others don't get -- and if her husband is elected President, won't get.

SAFER in the fine print says the site is not an attack on Cindy McCain but on the hypocrisy of our laws that tolerate alcohol abuse while punishing users of marijuana, a less harmful substance.

Sorry, SAFER, I see it as an attack on Cindy McCain and I think it will be viewed as mean-spirited. I'd rather you stick to attacking our unjust laws and the politicians who pass them. That's John McCain, not Cindy.

Raw Story has more.

The Tallahassee Democrat, mentioned in this post, has two interesting stories about the Tallahassee Police Department. Five TPD officers were placed on leave yesterday after a "botched drug sting" ended in the death of Rachel Hoffman.

Hoffman, 23, was working for police as a confidential informant when she was killed May 7, after the plan for her to buy drugs and a gun went awry. Police lost track of her, and her body was found 36 hours later in Taylor County. ...

In its presentment last week that cited police negligence in Hoffman's death, a Leon County grand jury reported the vice lieutenant — [Lt. Taltha] White — signed off on the flawed buy-bust plan but didn't actually read it. Grand jurors also said she was in charge of monitoring radio transmissions during the deal but was conducting a computer audit at the same and was distracted.

Drug police are famous for coercing those they arrest into working to set up busts of dealers. They too rarely mention the dangers involved in that effort. It's better to take the jail time than to end up dead. [more ...]

Go Paris! Here's the video TChris mentioned earlier.

Paris responds to John McCain's using her in a celebrity ad. Shorter version: She's got her own energy plan and she'll see us in the White House.

Update: The video has been removed from You Tube and substituted with the above censored version that blanks out the word "b*tches.

I like Paris Hilton. I defended her plenty on TalkLeft during her last brush with the law. (Scroll down for the almost daily posts on the raw deal she got. I even live-blogged her court hearings. Graphic here. )

This is an open thread.

At the Republican Convention, President Bush will speak on Labor Day, with the hope that backyard barbequers will be too busy to notice he was there. Dick Cheney might skip the event entirely, for equally obvious reasons. Also absent will the indicted Ted Stevens and the toe-tapping Larry Craig.

"Gordon Smith of Oregon, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine all face tough re-election campaigns" so they'll also take a pass. They may be hoping that voters don't realize they're Republicans.

In other Republican news:

A newspaper is asking John McCain's campaign why a black reporter assigned to cover a rally was singled out by security and told to leave a backstage area.

[more ...]

Only six representatives co-sponsored Barney Franks' sensible bill to end the federal prosecution of marijuana possession for personal use. One of them, Lacy Clay, mistakenly thought it was a medical marijuana bill. Is there now egg on Clay's face? Not at all.

Clay was worried about the reaction. Supporting the liberalization of marijuana laws is not often seen as a political winner, especially in Midwestern cities like St. Louis. But instead of stoner jokes, derision and righteous indignation, Clay was surprised to start getting praise from complete strangers. ...

So far, he said, his calls, mail and contacts are running 80-20 in favor of the bill. He was impressed enough that he decided to go ahead and step before the cameras last week with Frank and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) at a news conference touting the bill.

The prison and law enforcement industries, both of which see marijuana busts as job security, support the war against pot smokers. Many others realize, as Clay has come to believe, that it's a waste of federal resources. [more ...]

Author Ron Suskind has a new book out that's getting a lot of attention today. It's called “The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism.”

President Bush committed an impeachable offense by ordering the CIA to to manufacture a false pretense for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims.

....Suskind says he spoke on the record with U.S. intelligence officials who stated that Bush was informed unequivocally in January 2003 that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, his book relates, Bush decided to invade Iraq three months later — with the forged letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam bolstering the U.S. rationale to go into war.

As to the fake letter: [More...]

The schedule for the fall presidential debates has been announced:

• 9/26 in Oxford (Miss.), Jim Lehrer moderating.
• 10/2 in St. Louis, Gwen Ifill moderating.
• 10/7 in Nashville, Tom Brokaw moderating.
• 10/15 in Hempstead (N.Y.), Bob Schieffer moderating.