McCain Veep Leak

Veep leak tonight?

CNN’s Dana Bash reported about 20 minutes ago that, per a senior McCain adviser, there would be no veep leak tonight.

“This is Barack Obama’s night,” Bash quoted her source as saying.

A McCain source also tells me that there will be no announcement night.

This doesn’t, of course, preclude an unplanned leak. But it does indicate that all the Drudge teases were just that.

A Quick Thought on the Veep Leak Rumor

Obama communications director Dan Pfeiffer tells Politico that McCain would be committing “political malpractice” by leaking his veep pick tonight. I disagree. McCain would be committing political malpractice by formally announcing his veep pick tonight, since Obama’s speech would overshadow the announcement far more than vice versa. But leaking the pick seems win-win. It’ll distract the media a bit, but most voters won’t notice and will come to the news pretty fresh tomorrow.

Having said that, I think the potential gain here for McCain is exceedingly marginal. It’s not like the networks are going to cut away from the Obama speech to report on a leak. It’s not like the leak is going to bump Obama off page one tomorrow. At best, the Republican veep discussion creeps in slightly at the margins, but not in a way that really dampens the speech.

—Noam Scheiber

Interesting is that what I said the GOP has done in the past, is going to happen on Friday at 12:00.  The Veep hopefuls will all be descending at the same time to the venue to throw off media.  Its one of GOP tricks.  I have heard on Fox and a few others that some of Romney’s family has, “high level security”  That looks a lot like Secret Service.  That’s another GOP trick as there will probably be reports of each having a security detail assigned to them: Meg Whitman, Tim Pawlenty, Joe Lieberman, and Kay Bailey Hutchison. 

My pick is with Romney as I think his addition to the ticket will trump the Dem ticket with Economic and Exec experience.  The other way to go is with an energy Governor like Alaska.  Or to go with a successful business woman to pull those female votes and one who knows how to run a company well, So Whitman. 

I see Romney, Pawlenty and Liberman top the CNN stock challenge.  So all I will do tonight to remain safe, LOL is to say that my pick is Romney.  If I pick up anything I will email you. 

The Obama camp says that it is Politically wrong to announce or leak the pick tonight.  Politics is a contact sport.  The way we play is strategy is to redirect attention.  It is absolutely permissible to do so.  I would expect the convergence and security detail leaks are all about pulling attention away from the Speech tonight.  Expect the best leaks at just before speech time. 

No Veep Leak Tonight

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