Not too avoidant

First-Read:

For the first time in recent memory, McCain avoided all talk of Obama during his remarks today, instead focusing on the need for more green technology like the hybrid train engines being developed in Erie by General Electric, the parent company of NBC. Yet he did allude to his opponent's months-old "bitter" comment about small-town Pennsylvanian voters.

Note for MSNBC: It's not avoiding "all talk of Obama" when you allude to things he said.

This is going to look sad

I think that John McCain is going to look ridiculous accepting the nomination.

Sen. Byrd is a good Democrat

I love Sen. Robert Byrd:

Be humble, honest and contemplative, Sen. Robert C. Byrd writes in his latest book, "Letter to a New President: Commonsense Lessons for Our Next Leader." [...]

But with Bush's departure comes opportunity, says the senator who has served under 11 presidents, including his favorite, Harry Truman. The book, released June 28 with little fanfare, is intended to be read by Bush's successor on inauguration day, Jan. 20.

Byrd hopes to hand-deliver a copy to Obama, the Democratic candidate, spokesman Jesse Jacobs says.

"Sen. Byrd doesn't believe Sen. McCain is going to be the next president," Jacobs adds. "But if Sen. McCain is interested in receiving a copy of the book, we'd be happy to get him a copy."

That's funny.

Btw: I know that he has an extremely racist past, but he did endorse Sen. Obama in the primary.

McCain plagiarizes

I'm sure that it will be just as big of a problem for John McCain as it was for Joe Biden.

What a huge problem!

Glenn Thrush identifies several problems for Sen. Obama:

Obama also hasn’t pulled away in other Democrat-friendly neighboring states, watching leads in Wisconsin and Minnesota erode over the last month.

Note: The last Rasmussen poll had Obama +13 in Minnesota (John Kerry won it by 3) and +7 in Wisconsin (Kerry by <1). This is very troubling.

A growing number of Democratic strategists worry that some swing state voters may opt for McCain if the economy veers from merely awful to downright terrifying.

In other words, the "swing voter" must have a thought process like this: The last Republican President was so terrifyingly bad, we can only trust another Republican President to right it!

Perfect

David Plouffe sums up the McCain campaign as "the theater of the absurd." Perfect

Deadenders

The Hill reports that:

Heidi Li Feldman, co-founder of the Denver Group, said, “There is going to be a steady stream of activities for the first three days of the convention” and predicted thousands of Clinton backers will appear at the events.

Just like the thousands tens of tens of supporters who showed up to the Rules & Bylaws meeting. At this point, I'm more embarrassed/sad for them than I am worried that thousands will actually show up.

Ridiculous

The latest from CNN:

New Jersey is one of several battleground states that McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are both pushing hard to win. A recent CNN analysis finds Obama has the edge in the state.

I wonder if by battleground they are referring to Sen. Obama's 10 point poll lead and by "pushing hard to win" they mean the one office Sen. McCain has open.

Also, that snippet was taken from an article about Linden, New Jersey's Independent mayor endorsing John McCain. Note to CNN: Linden's population is less than 40,000.

Benefits of vacation

With Sen. Obama on vacation (to a state home to his ill grandmother), it's impossible for Sen. McCain's campaign to turn anything he says into outrage. This has the great benefit of focusing everything directly on the worst campaign in modern history. This was probably discussed as one of the many benefits of a vacation.

Relevant? No

David Corn comments about Bush's attendance at the Olympics:

But as he sat there, that debate no longer seemed so relevant, for he looked irrelevant. There was no one next to him but his wife. And the question was, didn't he have anything better to do with his time? The apparent answer: no.

This was/is my exact thought every time I see President Bush in the stands. What a national disgrace.

Obama's VP?

I am so excited that Sen. Obama is announcing his Vice President choice over a text message/email. What a smart way to A) get people to sign up for your email address and B) keep the whole thing an absolute secret until the very last second. This way you announce it and people run lots of stock footage of the Vice Presidential candidate and then you have a "first Event" together and get roadblocked cable news coverage.

My prediction: Bill Richardson

Let me get this straight

John at AmericaBlog highlights this section of an ABC article:

Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

"I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee," former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABC News.com.

His response "Woulda, coulda, shoulda."

My response: Weren't Edwards and Sen. Obama splitting the anti-Clinton vote? If I recall correctly, Sen. Clinton had a ceiling of support that she never moved passed. If anything, Sen. Obama would have destroyed her even more in Iowa and then would have beaten her even more in New Hampshire.