 Whoever the "high ranking Democrat" who leaked the Biden veep news to the Associated Press is, they had better keep their identity deep, deep under cover. They have got to be the most hated person in Obama world. A few more hours and Team Obama could have pulled off the announcement coup of the century, simultaneously texting millions of supporters and possibly even having Chuck Todd find out on the air at the same time as their volunteers. Instead, the leaker ensured that the old media got the scoop first, and the Obama camp had to rush the announcement, sending out a text message that I got at 3:32 a.m. It read:
"Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3 pm ET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word!" The good news for the Obama campaign is that they did keep the media talking about something other than McCain's "celebrity surge" for a solid week, and they kept the news from leaking longer than anyone thought possible. In retrospect, it might have been better to drop the news on Friday, to take full advantage of the news cycle, and to not push their luck on leaks, but there you go. The millions of new email addresses and cell phone numbers they collected, which will be hella useful at Get Out The Vote time, were well worth the leak.
| Labels: 2008 election, 3 a.m., Barack Obama, campaigns, Joe Biden, presidential candidates |
