Dem Campaign Chatter 8-22-2008

George Wenschhof

Today, Obama is back home in Chicago, Illinois - he has no planned public events, except maybe the announcement of his running mate. Tomorrow, he is expected to be joined by his newly named running mate at a rally in Springfield, Illinois. Then, the duo are off on a quick tour of battleground states before arriving at the Democratic Convention in Denver next Wednesday.

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Ad wars take a turn to the worst - as the polls continue to show a dead heat, Obama has received criticism for not fighting back hard enough. After McCain defined rich as 5 million during the Saddleback Church forum last Saturday, yesterday he was not able to answer a Politico.com question pertaining to how many homes he owns.

The Obama campaign came out immediately with an ad about the number of homes fiasco and while on the campaign trail, Obama has been pointing out who Obama thinks is rich with comments like; "I guess someone making 3 million is middle class". Here is the Obama campaign video.

The McCain campaign immediately responded by tying Obama to convicted felon Tony Resko who was a early supporter and lives next door to Obama. In fact, Obama made a questionable purchase of land from Resko's adjacent lot to add to his own Lot. Here is the McCain campaign video.

With a little over ten weeks to go to Election Day, it is likely to get a lot worse. Stay Tuned.

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Obama begins calls to those not selected for VP - In a solid move, it is being reported that Senator Barack Obama is informing those on the short list he did not select - of course no one is talking......yet. However, if these calls are going out, expect the announcement to come momentarily. Read more here.

One of the areas of concern for Obama as he made his choice for VP, was the change versus experience argument. He felt by choosing a experienced Washington insider, it might detract from the time for a change theme. CNN.com has more here.

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Obama and McCain to appear at 9/11 forum - held in New York City on Sept. 11 and hosted by ServiceNation - it will be the opening event of their two day summit. Time managing editor Rick Stengel will moderate and the candidates will be interviewed separately. It will be entitled "A Nation of Service" and focus on service and civic engagement. Politico.com has more here.

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Russian troops slowly leave the republic of Georgia - now Russian statements say the majority of troops will be withdrawn within the next ten days. Expect troops to remain near South Osettia and Abkhazia. The Baltimore Sun has more here.

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Pakistan new government shows internal disputes - Asif Ali Zardari, head of the Pakistan Peoples Party (Bhutto) and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League - N (PML-N) continue to disagree on the reinstatement of Judges dismissed by Musharraf when he suspended the constitution. As issue is amnesty which was granted to Zadari on graft charges. These two men by joining together were able to force the resignation of Musharraf. It is a pretty shaky start. Reuters.com has more here.

The Presidential election has been set for September 6 and it is very likely Zardari and Sharif will be on the ballot. The New York Times has more here.

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Obama 45% McCain 44% per Gallup daily tracking poll - can't get any closer than this as the candidates get ready to announce their VP selections and attend their party conventions. Will either candidate receive a big bounce from their VP pick or their convention? With back-to-back conventions will voters be overloaded or will the Republicans have an advantage for being able to go last? Gallup.com has a good read here.