Dem Campaign Chatter 8-25-2008

George Wenschhof

Today, Obama is in Davenport, Iowa for a town hall meeting- he continues a swing through battleground states prior to heading to Denver on Wednesday. Tonight, his wife Michelle gives the keynote speech at the convention.

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New Poll shows a 47% - 47% Tie - a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. telephone poll conducted Saturday and Sunday shows a tie between Obama and McCain. CNN.com has more here.

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Full delegates restored for Michigan and Florida - the Democratic national committee voted to restore full delegates to these states. They were initially punished by moving their primaries up to a non-sanctioned date, a move that came back to haunt the DNC. In June, the Rules and Bylaws committee voted to allow all the delegates to be seated but with 1/2 vote. Read more here.

Senator Hillary Clinton will meet with her delegates on Wednesday and release them prior to the roll call vote. All of her delegates would not have voted for her anyway so this was a good move on her part prior to the roll call.

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AFL-CIO begin mailings to union members in support of Obama - this week one million voters in 4 swing states (Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania) will receive brochures introducing them to Obama. They plan to contact 13 million voters in 24 states and spend 53 million. Read more here.

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New electronic voting machine glitch - a company named Premier Elections Solutions, informed at least 1,750 jurisdictions that ballot totals for entire precincts could be dropped. Since 2003, 1.5 Billion has been spent in voting equipment. After much concern, many states are purchasing new equipment that provide paper trails of the results. McClatchydc.com has more here.

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More tension in Pakistan as they move to September 6 Presidential election - Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League - N, pulls out of the opposition coalition. His party and the Pakistan People's Party, led by Asif Ali Zadari (husband of slain Benazir Bhutto) had joined forces and won a majority in Parliament to force President Musharraf's resignation. Keep an eye on these internal developments. Reuters.com has more here.

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Russian Parliament approves Resolution calling for the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, currently part of the republic of Georgia, as independent states - another reason why Senator Joe Biden was a good choice for the running mate with Senator Obama. This is another international pressure cooker that requires calm, measured and wise responses from the U.S. and not the cowboy bluster we have seen from Senator John McCain. Read more here.