Despite John McCain's confessed inability to use the electronic tools of the modern economic age (a computer chief among them), McCain managed to enlist former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina to convince voters (or at least corporate leaders) "that he's the right choice for the high-tech industry."

McCain knows the importance of technology to the economy and has an economic plan to encourage the type of innovation the industry thrives on, Fiorina said this morning in Washington, D.C.

Of course, when sucking up to corporate leaders it doesn't hurt to mention, as Fiorina does, that McCain is opposed to network neutrality, a position that would advantage some internet content providers at the expense of others. [more ...]

Sonja Henie's out. We'll take Danny Noonan.

-Ty Webb in Caddyshack

Jim Webb says no to VP:

"Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for vice president,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement released to reporters. “Last week I communicated to Senator Obama and his presidential campaign my firm intention to remain in the United States Senate, where I believe I am best equipped to serve the people of Virginia and this country,” Webb said.

Allrighty then. So who's Obama's Danny Noonan?

By Big Tent Democrat

Sure, the flip flop attack probably won't cost Obama the election. But why not ask yourself this, why feed the line of attack in the first place? Maybe Obama is not really hurt by the flip flopper line, but please tell me how exactly it helps?

To me, the "it probably won't hurt him" line of defense misses the point. Explain to me instead, how the flip flops HELP Obama? Because, wrap it up in pretty packaging all you want, but Obama DID flip flop on FISA capitulation. Obama did change his position on public financing (I see all the upside to this one BTW, I just think he should have done it earlier), Obama has given strange and contradictory statements on choice. Given these mistakes, it was inevitable it seems to me to see the Media take Obama's use of "refine" on Iraq and make up a story - that Obama changed his position on Iraq withdrawal too. That one was flat out false, but the others were not. Obama created the opening, for no good reason. That is the point. It may not be potent, but it should not even exist.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The DNCC sent out a press release this morning confirming that the final night of the Democratic Convention, including Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech, will take place as Invesco Field instead of the Pepsi Center.

When we said we wanted to 'bring down the walls,' open up this Convention like never before and truly speak to the American people, we meant it," said Leah D. Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC. "On August 28, we will offer grassroots Democrats, who have turned out in record numbers this year, the opportunity to witness history shoulder to shoulder with thousands of Americans standing up for the change our country desperately needs."

The stadium seats 76,000 people. With that size crowd, I think we can expect a pretty big-name rock band to open the event. I did some checking on who's available. Personally, I'd love to see Bon Jovi, but I think more likely possibilities include: Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Wonder. [More...]

Every election in November will be important.

[T]he political handicapper Charlie Cook envisions Democratic gains of up to 20 House seats and 7 Senate seats, close to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate needed to break filibusters by the minority.

Frankly, it doesn't matter which presidential candidate has the best plan for health care or social security reform. Sausage gets made in the legislature. As long as a Democrat holds the presidency, a strong Democratic majority in the House and Senate will have a chance to repair some of the damage the Bush government has inflicted upon the nation. Perhaps it will even advance some planks of a progressive agenda.

Up and down the ticket, 2008 is the year to vote for Democrats. What do you think of Cook's prediction?

When John Kerry decided to contend that John McCain lacks the judgment to be president, he had to expect this:

If that's the case, then it's probably a good thing McCain rejected overtures from Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to form a bipartisan ticket and run with Kerry as his candidate for vice president.

Putting aside the gratuitous smack, it's difficult to argue with Kerry's current assessment of McCain's judgment:

"John McCain ... has proven that he has been wrong about every judgment he's made about the war. Wrong about the Iraqis paying for the reconstruction, wrong about whether or not the oil would pay for it, wrong about Sunni and Shia violence through the years, wrong about the willingness of the Iraqis to stand up for themselves"

Kerry, who knows something about being accused of flip-flopping, argues that the new McCain isn't a recognizable version of the McCain he once knew: [more ...]

. . . in the dynamics of this election, Barack Obama will defeat John McCain for the Presidency in November. Obama leads by 6, roughly the margin for a month now. How can he lose it? By exposing a flank. The flip flopper flank, by listening to his inner Dick Morris. Speaking of Morris, he, not surprisingly, loves Obama's tack to the "middle":

For the past two weeks, Obama has moved quickly toward the center. He has reversed his previous positions for gun control, against using faith based institutions to deliver public services, against immunity for tele-communications companies that turn records over to the government in terror investigations, for raising Social Security taxes, for imposing the fairness doctrine on talk radio, and a host of other issues.

. . .[I]f McCain doesn't answer, or just replies with his own positive ad, he will let Obama move to the center, a key mistake from which he may never recover. If Obama can hold his 5-10 point lead until the conventions, he will have set in place a pattern that will be very hard to change. With his new ad, Obama could even elevate his lead to double digits.

More . . .

Former President Bill Clinton is in Aspen at the Ideas Festival. Today he's playing golf, but he spoke yesterday to a crowd of 700.

Via Troy Hooper, Editor of the Aspen Daily News, in the Denver Post:

It's well-documented that Clinton is no angel either but he remains a rock star of the Democratic Party and was the headliner at the festival, hosted by the Aspen Institute.

He filled the Greenwald Pavilion with more than 700 high-powered attendees who greeted him with an extended standing ovation. Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, was seated next to Gen. Colin Powell front and center.

Much of Clinton's remarks centered on the Africa election in Zimbabwe, calling for Robert Mugabe either to step down or "form a power-sharing arrangement with his chief opponent."

He didn't mention Hillary or the Democratic nomination for President, but he had this to say about John McCain and Barack Obama on environmental policy: [More...]

As Jeralyn noted, a few days ago, Barack Obama said:

I don't think that "mental distress" qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term...

Obama refined his remarks:

Barack Obama is puzzled:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might "refine" his timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops. . . . "I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off with what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement," he said on a flight from Montana to St. Louis. "I am absolutely committed to ending the war. I will call my joint chiefs of staff in and give them a new assignment and that is to end the war." . . .Obama said he did not make a mistake Wednesday with his choice of words in describing his Iraq position -- even though he called a second news conference a few hours after his initial comments to clarify his stance. He laid the blame with reporters.

"I'm surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured. I wasn't saying anything I hadn't said before, that I didn't say a year ago or when I was a United States senator," said Obama, who is still a senator from Illinois.

Let me see if I can explain it to Senator Obama on the flip.

If Sen. Barack Obama moves his acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center to Invesco field, he'll need 76,000 people to fill the seats.

Only 50,000 are expected in town for the convention. Many in Denver will be doing their best to avoid downtown that week. I think they need a concert. Remember the 75,000 crowd in Portland, OR? They had Obama follow a free outdoor concert by the Decembrists which was planned in advance with his campaign.

Question: Who will it be? For reasons explained below, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Wonder come to mind. Will it be one huge band or a few smaller and diverse groups? [More...]

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have a closetful of flip flops on issues. What is interesting about the flip flops is McCain has flip flopped towards the right - on the Bush tax cuts, on torture, on immigration, on everything. There is no moving to the "middle" for McCain. There is only moving to the far right. He is really running for Bush's third term. Obama's flip flops have him moving to the right as well, aligning him closer to Bush's third term, instead of making clear he will be a break from the extremism of the Bush years.

It is as if Obama has an inner Dick Morris he is listening to. McCain playing to his base will not be covered as pandering. Obama should consider that for a moment. That perhaps honoring his own base will be seen as a moment of strength for him. In Nigel Hamilton's book on Bill Clinton, "Mastering the Presidency", Hamilton describes the inner cowardice of Morris, who advised Clinton to cave in to Newt Gingrich even though Morris' own polling told him that Clinton was winning that battle in political terms: