Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Obama aide: Clinton to speak on Tuesday. Will she be Keynote?

WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

As we noted yesterday, the tea leaves are pointing to Hillary Clinton speaking to the convention on Tuesday night. Now comes some unofficial confirmation:

Hillary Clinton has agreed to speak on Day 2 of the Democratic convention to commemorate the 88th anniversary of women's right to vote - a move seen by delegates as another sign she won't be on Barack Obama's ticket, the Daily News learned.

A top Obama aide told party leaders in a conference call last night that Clinton has accepted the offer to be the featured prime-time Tuesday night speaker, a high-profile slot that some of Clinton's own people have floated in recent days. Aug. 26 is the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920.

That historical tidbit was shared by Obama aide Jennifer Koch, one of Obama's deputy political directors for the Northeast, in a conference call last night night with a group of Massachusetts delegates, among them DNC Rules Committee co-chair James Roosevelt.

Koch added that Obama's vice presidential nominee - whomever that turns out to be - will likely speak Monday and Wednesday evening as part of the traditional build-up to Obama accepting the nomination on Thursday night.
...
Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, had no immediate comment on when or in what context Clinton might be addressing the convention, in keeping with a general policy on the planned Denver pow-wow. "We are not talking about any convention decisions," he told The News.
...
"For me, Barack Obama is the nominee and we all have to get together, because this is not going to be an easy election," said Bickford, a longtime Clinton supporter. "Having her be the keynote on one night is enough for me."
The article is headlined:"Hillary Clinton agrees to Denver keynote", but there's really no confirmation of that in the article.

And the VP speaking Monday and Wednesday? He or she had better be a great speaker...

Update: CNN has confirmed:
Sen. Hillary Clinton has agreed to speak on the second night of next month's Democratic convention, headlining on the 88th anniversary of the day women earned the right to vote, sources say.

Two sources close to Clinton said the former presidential candidate will speak August 26 with all female U.S. senators on stage with her.

"Tuesday night is Hillary night," said one supporter.