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The late summer and back-to-back conventions are having various ramifications, from football conflicts to a quick media turnaround. But the biggest impact may be on the timing of the Vice Presidential announcements.
Each candidate would like to announce last, but McCain can wait out Obama, since the GOP convention is second, so the Obama folks have to decide what to do first. The main decision for them is: Do we announce before, during, or after the Olympics, which run from Aug 8 to Aug 24, the day before the convention starts. After the Olympics doesn't work - that means announcing during the convention itself, which limits any bounce he might get from the announcement. So they have to decide to go before the Olympics (after he comes back from his trip), or during the Olympics - which may make the most sense. The Olympics aren't the "event" they used to be, and Obama might have the political news space all to himself.
McCain has a different choice. Before the Democratic Convention, or right afterwards. The Friday after the convention seems to be the obvious choice - what better way to step on any Democratic bounce, and create some momentum going into your own convention.
Only one problem. McCain turns 72 on that Friday. Think that might get a little press also?
The NY Times has more on the VP timing choices.
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Ivanv · 873 weeks ago
Remember how Obama used the Superbowl to capture an audience. He'll probably do something similar to that here. Perhaps choose a buildup to a popular sport to be sure of a large audience. McCain is limited because that's too far from his convention.
He might announce on a historically significant day, to tie in his choice to world and US events. There are many ways to do this. Because he'll announce his pick before the Republican, he could use it as another way to keep the media's attention.
McCain is limited. Consider that when he tried to usurp Obama's 'nomination' in June, he was ridiculed, seemed ill-prepared and drew attention to his inabilities. Mention 'green screen' and it implies a bad political moment. He'll try to avoid his birthday, and if Obama can schedule something after his convention he will box McCain in more.
If McCain tries to steal Obama's thunder again, the result will be announced VPs and a Democratic convention to bolster that pick. The Rep. convention will be more irrelevant than it already is. A McCain 'bump'? He's a boring figure, it won't happen.
Ed · 873 weeks ago
Positioning a Democratic Nominee for VP well in advance of the convention is particularly important for us this year. It extends the news coverage of the VP nominee, and potentially gives Democrats a chance to build a lead in the polls over the course of a couple of weeks.
McCain needn't worry about stopping the Democratic news cycle after the DNC convention. Something important to keep in mind about the Friday after convention: it's the lead-in to Labor Day weekend, which on its own will stop the news cycle dead in its tracks.
So it will be good for Dems to front-load as much news into the pre-Labor window as possible. Because most people won't be tuning into news and we'll be lucky to get a lot of Obama coverage that Friday (this is one of the reasons the Obama campaign toyed with ending the convention on Wednesday - in order to make the Thursday papers). And the following week is the RNC convention.
With regards to the GOP - they pretty much have two options: announce their VP pick during the kick-off of the DNC convention to try and distract from the Democratic coverage that week (and to give people something to talk about when hanging out with their friends at Labor Day BBQ's - Republicans are good at this nuanced type of micro targeting). Or, they could lay low and hold off on an announcement until the RNC convention begins (ala George Bush in 1988). This would create buzz and news value in their convention that week and it could tame any Democratic convention bounce from the week before.
along · 873 weeks ago
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/24/flashback-as-...
Leah 85p · 873 weeks ago
John F. Kennedy was became president when he was 43. Robert F. Kennedy was running for president when he was 43. When Senator Obama becomes president it will be the first time in my lifetime that the president is younger than I am - golly I am getting OLD!!!