Morning Jolt - Will Romney Pick His Veep Now? How About . . . Now?

NRO Newsletters . . .

Morning Jolt

. . . with Jim Geraghty

August 7, 2012

In This Issue . . .

1. Will Romney Pick His Veep Now? . . . How About . . . Now?

2. Two Front Row Seats for Obama's Convention Address, Going Cheap

3. Secretaries of State Usually Worry About the Other Kind of Bugs

4. Addendum

Here's your Tuesday Morning Jolt.

Enjoy!

Jim

1. Will Romney Pick His Veep Now? . . . How About . . . Now?

With Romney back from his overseas trip, and the Olympics ending this weekend, the veepstakes talk is kicking into higher gear.

I don't know if Bill Kristol has any inside scoop... but he certainly has perfected the art of sounding like he does:

On Monday, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol appeared on Fox News Channel where he discussed an editorial published over the weekend in which he recommends Mitt Romney "go for gold" and select either Rep.Paul Ryan (R-WI) or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to be the vice presidential nominee. Kristol said that he expects the vice presidential pick to be announced on Thursday in preparation for a bus tour which will take the 2012 GOP ticket to a number of battleground states.

"If you look at Governor Romney's schedule, he's got events in Illinois Tuesday, Iowa Wednesday, a fundraising breakfast Thursday morning in New York - his calendar then is clear, so far as I can tell, Thursday afternoon and Friday," said Kristol. "Then he begins a barnstorming tour Saturday in Virginia, North Carolina Sunday, Florida Monday, Ohio Tuesday."

"It'd be pretty weird, I think, to do this four-day tour through four swing states - big bus tour, a lot of excitement - without having picked a V.P. and with that, sort of, hanging over him and dwarfing whatever message he wants to get out," Kristol continued.

"I now believe the pick would be made Thursday afternoon or Friday," said Kristol, saying that he believes Thursday is the more likely of the two days to reveal a running mate. "Let the guy go on the morning shows Friday morning. Dominate the news over the weekend - very exciting bus tour - with Romney accompanied by either Christie, Ryan or Rubio."

Micah Sifry offers a leading indicator:

The Romney campaign wants you to download its mobile app to be among the first to find out who Mitt is going to pick as his running mate, but if past history is any guide, you might want to instead be looking at Wikipedia - and whether any of the leading contenders' entries are being suddenly brushed up.

Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page was updated at least 68 times the day before John McCain announced her selection, with another 54 changes made in the five previous days previous. Tim Pawlenty, another leading contender for McCain's favor, had 54 edits on August 28th, with just 12 in the five previous days. By contrast, the other likely picks - Romney, Kay Bailey Hutchison - saw far fewer changes. The same burst of last-minute editing appeared on Joe Biden's Wikipedia page, Terry Gudaitis of Cyveillance, told the Washington Post.

None of Wikipedia entries for the current candidates being bandied about by Romney-watchers -- Rob Portman, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, Kelly Ayotte or Pawlenty -- are currently showing anything like the spike in edits that Cyveillance spotted on Palin and Biden's pages back in 2008. But most of those came in the 24 hours prior to the official announcement. That said, if Wikipedia changes offer any hint of what's coming, then today might be a good day to bet on Ryan.

My suggestion? Keep your eyes on Romney's campaign plane at night.

2. Two Front Row Seats for Obama's Convention Address, Going Cheap

Heh:

Top aides on President Obama's re-election team are terrified that there will be scores of empty seats when he makes his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, party insiders said.

Obama, once the biggest draw in politics, won't likely attract crowds as large as those at the 2008 convention because voters have gone sour on the poor economy, insiders said.

"It's always a concern about making sure there aren't empty seats, but this is different," said one Democratic official familiar with the convention plans.

"This is a different time than four years ago. It's a different convention. And the president is viewed differently."

The president will accept the party's nomination on Sept. 6 in a Charlotte, NC, football stadium. that holds 80,000.

"They're worried they can't fill the stadium," the official said.

Mary Katharine Ham -- who knows a thing or two about North Carolina -- wonders if the DNC might be actually hurting the party in the Tarheel State:

But polling shows people aren't as fired up this time around. High-profile Democrats and labor bosses are actively encouraging members of Congress and supporters to skip the three-day affair, which was a four-day affair until underwhelming fundraising and the fear of underwhelming crowds forced Dems to cancel a festival at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

And, as Democrats slink reluctantly into their convention, what was supposed to be a triumphant moment for the Tar Heel State may become an embarrassing misfire, no matter how much Democratic officials, including the mayor of Charlotte, try to play it cool. Charlotte is fast-growing but smaller and less well-known than many host cities, in a part of the country always anxious to prove that its cities are as ready for big events as any other (while usually being friendlier, safer, and more solvent, if you ask me, but I'm Southern). This is supposed to be the Queen City's moment in the sun- the first time people learn Charlotte is even called the Queen City. What they're shooting for is an Indianapolis-Super-Bowl scenario, where the event exceeds expectations and the entire country and snooty media are pleasantly surprised by Charlotte's lovely people and beautiful weather. Are dismissive treatment by the Democratic Party and subsequently smallish crowds going to help with that goal? Especially compared to the party's slobbering over Denver, this will not endear the state's already skeptical voters.

Eh, if you ask me, Charlotte already proved it could host a major convention with tens of thousands of attendees, major political stars, activists, fears of noisy protests, and so on . . . they did it in May 2010 when the city hosted the National Rifle Association Convention. (As much as I adored my friends, old and new, at BlogCon, it probably doesn't count as a political event on the scale of a major party's national convention. Although I hear the hosting a Kruiser Kabana represents a major event of raucous revelry for any city, on par with Mardi Gras in New Orleans or the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year's Eve.)

Doug Powers sees an out for the Democrats: "It wouldn't be too surprising if the Dems ended up moving Obama's speech to Time Warner Arena where the first three nights of the convention will be held. As an excuse all they'd have to do is pretend they just found out the larger stadium is named after the greedy Bank of America and was built with non-union labor. If that happens we'll know there aren't enough true believers anymore. Sigh."

3. Secretaries of State Usually Worry About Other Kinds of Bugs

Years ago, Hillary Clinton saw a fortune teller and after the old woman peered in her crystal ball, she said, "Beware of 'B's." By late 2008, Hillary thought she knew what it meant -- Bill, Barack, Bibi -- they all would end up being trouble for her.

Nope. The old woman was more literal:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tour of Malawi had an inauspicious finale on Monday as she and her detail were targeted by a swarm of bees at the airport.

Clinton and her detail were headed to board her plane at Kamuzu International Airport in the capital, Lilongwe, when a swarm of bees descended on the farewell gathering. According to press reports, Malawi and American officials scampered for cover while Clinton ran onto the jet for cover.

Tom Maguire credits her courage:

The past becomes the future -- in 2008 Hilary regaled a nation with tales of her heroism under fire at an airport in Bosnia.

Today, it sorta kinda happened! . . . So Hillary made a beeline for her plane as bees made a beeline for her. Courage!

4. Addendum

The great Brit Hume observes, "Harry Reid and his wild claim regarding Romney's taxes have been a test of the MSM's capacity for outrage when the target is a Republican. Most have flunked."