Nate Silver writes:

I tend to agree with the conventional wisdom that there was liable to be a bit of a near-term backlash whenever Obama announced his VP choice, provided that the VP was not Hillary Clinton . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) Funny, I never heard that anywhere before except, oh yes here, on June 8:

Eric Boehlert writes:

At the Democratic National Convention in 1992, Jerry Brown, who finished a very distant second to the party's nominee, had his name placed into nomination and addressed the assembled convention. . . .Brown "did not specifically endorse presidential nominee Bill Clinton."

[J]ust hours before the 1988 convention began, Jackson's supporters threatened to place the candidate's name into nomination for the vice presidency, which would have created a massive floor fight between Jackson and Dukakis' pick, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. . . . Jackson did not specifically endorse Dukakis.

Eric leaves out the deservedly lionized (pun intended) Ted Kennedy's actions at the 1980 Convention. Eric points to CNN's Keating Holland's piece, and writes:

Well, we have now seen 3 polls taken fully after Joe Biden was named as Barack Obama's VP choice and the news is not good. First we have the CNN poll which has a tie.

Today the Rasmussen and Gallup trackers are fully post -Biden as VP. Ras has a tie. Gallup has McCain up 2.

Perhaps the Convention will help. But it seems clear that Joe Biden did not. UPDATE - This is not a knock on Biden. He can not be Hillary Clinton. This is a knock on Obama for not maximizing his chances to win in November,

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

John Harris pens an article titled Can Clintons Get Over It? I think the question is can Obama Dems, the Media and the Left Blogs get over it? Harris writes:

For the next two days, a convention that belongs to Obama will be dominated by the same two people who dominated the Democratic Party for the last generation and who have come to Denver in much different roles than they wanted. She speaks Tuesday. It’s his turn Wednesday.

Look, if the Media and the blogs did not obsess on the Clintons, maybe they would not dominate it. For example, Joe Biden speaks on Wednesday night and Mark Warner delivers the keynote address tonight. Why does the Media think these folks will not dominate the nights? You know why, because as much as John Harris and the Media and the Left blogs wishes this were true:

Tonight is Hillary Night! Just kidding, although clearly Hillary Clinton will be the dominant protagonist.

It's a done deal, but Jay Cost explains why Obama should have picked Hillary Clinton:

The Democratic Party is powerful because it is broad. It can compete just about anywhere in the United States while the Republican Party cannot. However, its breadth carries with it an enhanced possibility of crippling division. Accordingly, every Democratic nominee should do everything within reason to achieve unity - which, I would note, has been a premise of Obama's campaign. Most nominees need not worry about unity because their act of securing the nomination did not rend the party. However, Obama's nomination has rent it. Selecting Hillary would have been a reasonable step in reuniting it. I think he should have taken it.

(Emphasis supplied.) Precisely.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only.

Eugene Robinson tells Dems not to worry:

People here complain that the polls are too close for comfort, forgetting that there is rarely anything comfortable about a presidential contest. When was the last time a non-incumbent Democrat cruised easily to the White House? Clinton, remember, won only a 43 percent plurality of the popular vote in 1992. You have to go all the way back to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. Why would anyone think for a moment that Obama could win this without a fight?

Actually, that is sort of the worry Gene. There have not been many Democrats period winning Presidential elections lately. As for the polls, Jimmy Carter led by 30 and won by 2. Dukakis led by 17 and lost. Oh by the way, Bill Clinton won easily. The contest was not really in doubt in 1992. Gore won narrowly in 2000, with tight polls all the way. There you have the 4 "Democratic non-incumbents" of the past 32 years. Let's not discuss the other ones - McGovern, Mondale, Humphrey, Stevenson - you get my drift.

You see Gene, following YOUR advice, the Democratic Party seemed to be following a policy of trying to distance itself from the ONE GUY who actually WON Presidential elections. That worries some of us. Indeed, given your bad advice on this, I am not real happy right now with the political situation. I am worried.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Chicago Sun Times reports:

The chief of Illinois’ National Organization for Women chapter today called on Barack Obama’s “political godfather” [Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones] to resign immediately from the Illinois state Senate for calling an African-American Hillary Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom.”

. . . The Senate president added today to his version of what happened, saying he called Cobb a “doubting Thomas,” not an “Uncle Tom” in a Saturday night exchange in the lobby of the Denver hotel where the Illinois delegation is staying. Jones did not offer up that explanation when confronted by the Sun-Times late Sunday.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Here's the video:

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I'm getting ready to head downtown, to the Big Tent, the Streets, the Pepsi Center and to check out CNN's The Grill Room.

I'm glad to see Big Tent Democrat's post that Hillary is asking her supporters to focus on electing the next Democratic President.

I'll be as clear as I can: TalkLeft and all three of its authors, and this week's guest contributor, support the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. I have since the day Hillary dropped out in June, asking readers to respect her and her decision.

Despite my aversion to Sen. Joe Biden on the ticket, keep in mind it's my individual reaction to his decades spent promoting ill-advised and draconian crime legislation. It in no way means that the Democratic ticket isn't the preferred one over the other options in November. [More...]

I do not know how it looks from the ground in Denver, but on cable TV the story is All About The Clintons. As predictable as it was, apparently the fact that the Convention Narrative today is Dem Divided/What About The Clintons? comes as a great shock to the Obama camp and his supporters, both in the Media and on the blogs.

Picking Joe Biden (who is only mentioned in passing on TV today), which was the best Obama could do once he ruled out picking Hillary, especially the way it was rolled out, pretty much guaranteed this result. Obama should have known this would happen, and assuming he did, he chose this path.

To change the subject, Ted Kennedy is being flown out from Boston tonight for the tribute to him. But let's face it, the Media can't resist the chance to attack the Clintons, so it won't work very well. The good news is old Republican habits die hard and, on MSNBC, GOP talking head Barbara Comstock just smeared the Clintons saying it was the same old Clintons, all about them. If I was on Obama's team, I would get that clip up on You Tube.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

NYTimes:

During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday. Campaign officials acknowledged that the connection between the Bidens and MBNA, the enormous financial services company then based in their home state of Delaware, was one of the most sensitive issues they examined while vetting the senator for a spot on the ticket.

Mr. Biden’s support for the bankruptcy changes, which were signed into law in 2005, puts him at odds with Mr. Obama of Illinois, who opposed the bill and has criticized the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, for supporting it. Consumer advocates and other Democratic allies remain sharply critical of Mr. Biden’s actions, saying in recent days that they could hamper the campaign’s efforts to attack the Republicans over their handling of the nation’s credit crisis.

Baggage. Every pol has some.

By Big Tent Democrat.

I am the type of Democrat that will vote straight party ticket, from top to bottom, in a general election. They have my vote and usually my support. But I am not all Democratic voters. No politician is entitled to anyone's support or vote.

But what you see projected from the Obama camp and Democrats of late is the notion that Barack Obama is entitled to the support of all Democratic voters. No matter what you, I, pundits and bloggers think, that is not how politics works. If Obama can learn just one thing from Bill and Hillary Clinton, it has to be the ability to fight for every vote. To NOT act like you are entitled to anybody's vote. To act like you believe you have to earn their votes. More . . .