We just might have a poor man and a black man in the White House.  Go back a couple of years - who would have thought?

The fact that Biden is $300k in the hole last time he reported his wealth indicates that he is perhaps the only Senator not in the millionaires club.  http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/...

I have some important news that I want to make official.

I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate.

Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois -- the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago.

I'm excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can't do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.

Please let Joe know that you're glad he's part of our team. Share your personal welcome note and we'll make sure he gets it:

http://my.barackobama.com/welc...

Thanks for your support,

Barack

P.S. -- Make sure to turn on your TV at 2:00 p.m. Central Time to join us or watch online at http://www.BarackObama.com

Barack Obama Chooses VAWA Champion as Running Mate; Hillary Clinton to be Nominated at Convention

Statement of NOW PAC Chair Kim Gandy

Senator Hillary Clinton was our first choice, and that of 18 million primary voters, but presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama's pick, Joe Biden, is a friend of women and a strong selection for Vice President. Biden authored and championed the landmark 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), winning bipartisan support and unprecedented funding for prevention, shelter and safety. VAWA has twice been reauthorized, each time with increased protections for survivors of violence.

NOW welcomes this important opportunity for one of our champions to participate in a national dialogue around issues that are facing our country and our world. We know that Sen. Biden will bring the crucial issue of violence prevention to the forefront as he travels the country discussing issues of concern to voters, especially women voters.

We will be at the Democratic Convention and look forward to Hillary Clinton's name being placed in nomination -- the first woman to compete in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories -- and to a roll call where her extraordinary accomplishments and deep support will be recognized by the delegates.

At the convention we will also celebrate the life of our sister and friend, Hon. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, at an event honoring Women's Equality Day , the 88th anniversary of U.S. women winning the right to vote.

We know that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is a longstanding opponent of women's rights, and NOW PAC will actively work to prevent him from succeeding George W. Bush in the White House. At the same time, we will mobilize to support and elect women's rights supporters at every level of government in November.

Kaine - inexperienced, no accomplishments, gives the governor's mansion to the Republicans.

Bayh - hated by the left; probably the most divisive choice whose name doesn't start with "H" and end with "illary".

Sebelius - good governor but having both a minority and a woman on the ticket is probably too much for middle America to take in right now.

Edwards - a collective "who?"; would be confused with John Edwards, which is not a good thing right now.

I was pretty much hoping it would be Biden all yesterday.

Of course, it ultimately won't matter much. In 48 hours we'll be on to the conventions and then we won't hear anything from Biden until the VP debate (where he will undoubtedly excoriate whoever McCain picks).

"Senator Obama has made an outstanding selection in Joe Biden.  Joe Biden is a strong leader, fierce advocate, and devoted family man with values rooted in the best of what America stands for.   He will be a strong partner with Barack Obama in bringing the change America wants and needs.

"Delegates here in Denver are already buzzing with strong enthusiasm for the Obama- Biden ticket.

"Senator Obama's selection shows that unlike the Bush-McCain way of doing politics, Obama is not afraid to have strong people around him helping to lead our great country.

"Together they will serve America well over the next eight years, and our Party is ready to rally behind them and put them on the path to the White House starting right here in Denver."

I also think this continues to prove how talented a field the Democratic race for the Presidential nomination was this year. Barack and Hillary, Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, John Edwards (sigh) -- a truly impressive collection of public servants.  

Besides foreign policy, Biden has been a champion on public safety, women's rights and infrastructure. Any pro-Hillary Dems who still aren't impressed need to look at Biden's record on abortion and domestic violence; one of his proudest achievements is the Violence Against Women Act.

And I'm not supporting him just because he's a fellow former Blue Hen, honest  ;)

   Remarks of Senator Barack Obama-as prepared for delivery

   Vice President Announcement
   Springfield, Illinois
   August 23, 2008

   Nineteen months ago, on a cold February day right here on the steps of the Old State Capitol, I stood before you to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America.

   We started this journey with a simple belief: that the American people were better than their government in Washington - a government that has fallen prey to special interests and policies that have left working people behind. As I've travelled to towns and cities, farms and factories, front porches and fairgrounds in almost all fifty states - that belief has been strengthened.  Because at this defining moment in our history - with our nation at war, and our economy in recession - we know that the American people cannot afford four more years of the same failed policies and the same old politics in Washington. We know that the time for change has come.

   For months, I've searched for a leader to finish this journey alongside me, and to join in me in making Washington work for the American people. I searched for a leader who understands the rising costs confronting working people, and who will always put their dreams first. A leader who sees clearly the challenges facing America in a changing world, with our security and standing set back by eight years of a failed foreign policy. A leader who shares my vision of an open government that calls all citizens - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - to a common purpose. Above all, I searched for a leader who is ready to step in and be President.

   Today, I have come back to Springfield to tell you that I've found that leader - a man with a distinguished record and a fundamental decency - Joe Biden.

   Joe Biden is that rare mix - for decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn't changed him. He's an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class. He has stared down dictators and spoken out for America's cops and firefighters. He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track.

   Now I could stand here and recite a list of Senator Biden's achievements, because he is one of the finest public servants of our time. But first I want to talk to you about the character of the man standing next to me.

   Joe Biden's many triumphs have only come after great trial.

   He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His family didn't have much money. Joe Sr. worked different jobs, from cleaning boilers to selling cars, sometimes moving in with the in-laws or working weekends to make ends meet. But he raised his family with a strong commitment to work and to family; to the Catholic faith and to the belief that in America, you can make it if you try. Those are the core values that Joe Biden has carried with him to this day. And even though Joe Sr. is not with us, I know that he is proud of Joe today.

   It might be hard to believe when you hear him talk now, but as a child he had a terrible stutter. They called him "Bu-bu-Biden." But he picked himself up, worked harder than the other guy, and got elected to the Senate - a young man with a family and a seemingly limitless future.

   Then tragedy struck. Joe's wife Neilia and their little girl Naomi were killed in a car accident, and their two boys were badly hurt. When Joe was sworn in as a Senator, there was no ceremony in the Capitol - instead, he was standing by his sons in the hospital room where they were recovering. He was 30 years old.

   Tragedy tests us - it tests our fortitude and it tests our faith. Here's how Joe Biden responded. He never moved to Washington. Instead, night after night, week after week, year after year, he returned home to Wilmington on a lonely Amtrak train when his Senate business was done. He raised his boys - first as a single dad, then alongside his wonderful wife Jill, who works as a teacher. He had a beautiful daughter. Now his children are grown and Joe is blessed with 5grandchildren. He instilled in them such a sense of public service that his son, Beau, who is now Delaware's Attorney General, is getting ready to deploy to Iraq. And he still takes that train back to Wilmington every night. Out of the heartbreak of that unspeakable accident, he did more than become a Senator - he raised a family. That is the measure of the man standing next to me. That is the character of Joe Biden.

   Years later, Senator Biden would face another brush with death when he had a brain aneurysm. On the way to the hospital, they didn't think he was going to make it. They gave him slim odds to recover. But he did. He beat it. And he came back stronger than before.

   Maybe it's this resilience - this insistence on overcoming adversity - that accounts for Joe Biden's work in the Senate. Time and again, he has made a difference for the people across this country who work long hours and face long odds. This working class kid from Scranton and Wilmington has always been a friend to the underdog, and all who seek a safer and more prosperous America to live their dreams and raise their families.

   Fifteen years ago, too many American communities were plagued by violence and insecurity. So Joe Biden brought Democrats and Republicans together to pass the 1994 Crime Bill, putting 100,000 cops on the streets, and starting an eight year drop in crime across the country.

   For far too long, millions of women suffered abuse in the shadows. So Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act, so every woman would have a place to turn for support. The rate of domestic violence went down dramatically, and countless women got a second chance at life.

   Year after year, he has been at the forefront of the fight for judges who respect the fundamental rights and liberties of the American people; college tuition that is affordable for all; equal pay for women and a rising minimum wage for all; and family leave policies that value work and family. Those are the priorities of a man whose work reflects his life and his values.

   That same strength of character is at the core of his rise to become one of America's leading voices on national security.

   He looked Slobodan Milosevic in the eye and called him a war criminal, and then helped shape policies that would end the killing in the Balkans and bring him to justice. He passed laws to lock down chemical weapons, and led the push to bring Europe's newest democracies into NATO. Over the last eight years, he has been a powerful critic of the catastrophic Bush-McCain foreign policy, and a voice for a new direction that takes the fight to the terrorists and ends the war in Iraq responsibly. He recently went to Georgia, where he met quietly with the President and came back with a call for aid and a tough message for Russia.

   Joe Biden is what so many others pretend to be - a statesman with sound judgment who doesn't have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong.

   Joe won't just make a good Vice President - he will make a great one. After decades of steady work across the aisle, I know he'll be able to help me turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington, so we can bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the American people. And instead of secret task energy task forces stacked with Big Oil and a Vice President that twists the facts and shuts the American people out, I know that Joe Biden will give us some real straight talk.  

   I have seen this man work. I have sat with him as he chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and been by his side on the campaign trail. And I can tell you that Joe Biden gets it. He's that unique public servant who is at home in a bar in Cedar Rapids and the corridors of the Capitol; in the VFW hall in Concord, and at the center of an international crisis.

   That's because he is still that scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds; the dedicated family man and committed Catholic who knows every conductor on that Amtrak train to Wilmington. That's the kind of fighter who I want by my side in the months and years to come.

   That's what it's going to take to win the fight for good jobs that let people live their dreams, a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth, and health care that is affordable and accessible for every American family. That's what it's going to take to forge a new energy policy that frees us from our dependence on foreign oil and $4 gasoline at the pump, while creating new jobs and new industry. That's what it's going to take to put an end to a failed foreign policy that's based on bluster and bad judgment, so that we renew America's security and standing in the world.

   We know what we're going to get from the other side. Four more years of the same out-of-touch policies that created an economic disaster at home, and a disastrous foreign policy abroad. Four more years of the same divisive politics that is all about tearing people down instead of lifting this country up.

   We can't afford more of the same. I am running for President because that's a future that I don't accept for my daughters and I don't accept it for your children. It's time for the change that the American people need.

   Now, with Joe Biden at my side, I am confident that we can take this country in a new direction; that we are ready to overcome the adversity of the last eight years; that we won't just win this election in November, we'll restore that fair shot at your dreams that is at the core of who Joe Biden and I are as people, and what America is as a nation.  So let me introduce you to the next Vice President of the United States of America...

UPDATE (Nicole) I've been given a new contact for AP:  Contact the Associated Press ... Kathleen Carroll (Fournier's boss) at kcarroll@ap.org or (212) 621-1500. Be POLITE, but be FIRM. Let them know that you don't want to see them serve as stenographers and amplifiers for pure spin by the McCain campaign.

Also, check out CBS News' take:

We learned not too long ago that Fournier exchanged emails with Karl Rove about Pat Tillman, in which Fournier wrote, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight." Fournier was also one of the journalists who, at a gathering of the nation's newspaper editors, extended McCain a box of his favorite donuts ("Oh, yes, with sprinkles!" McCain said).

It's led to a series of AP reports that can, at best, be described as "questionable."

Biden is an insider. The pick can be seen as highlighting Obama's weaknesses, not emphaisising his strengths. Isn't this the very argument Bowers and Kos had been making about picks designed to shore up Obama's perceived weaknesses.

Obama has been going negative. We all urged him to do so, and applauded him when he did.

That said, I think AP can do a better job of designating this sort of piece as opinion. It is not hard news.

Also, given Fournier's history, I think AP ought to replace him as DC bureau chief, as he is clearly biased toward McCain.

But this article makes some fair points.

Ron Fournier, the Washington AP bureau chief, wrote a hit piece against Obama's selection of Joe Biden as VP and tried to pass it off as objective reporting.

His clear bias makes him unfit for his role as bureau chief, and we can push for him to be removed from this role by writing to the editors of local and national newspapers.

Please take action and call for Fournier's removal as Washington AP Bureau Chief by calling his boss, Kathleen Carroll, at 212-621-1610, sending her an email at kcarroll@ap.org, and sending a letter to the editor of your local paper. To send a letter enter your zip code to the right.

Thanks.

Ron Fournier, the Washington AP bureau chief, wrote a hit piece against Obama's selection of Joe Biden as VP and tried to pass it off as objective reporting.

The article is clearly marked as "Analysis." Say what you will about Fournier or the AP, no one tried to pass this off as "objective reporting."

The Post handled it by labling Froomkin's work as opinion.

And, as I said, Froomkin was a reporter at the Post, while Fournier is a bureau chief, and is therefore directing coverage, so I think the AP ought to let him go.

I know a lot of people got really upset at Fournier today, and that I'm in a minority. I'm not defending Fournier, who is clearly partisan.

As I said, I think the answer is for the AP to properly label the article as opinion.  

DPVA Chair Cranwell on Obama-Biden: "The Right Ticket to Turn Virginia Blue"

RICHMOND - C. Richard Cranwell, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, released the following statement Saturday on Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate:

"Like Virginia Democrats, Joe Biden brings a record of working across party lines to get things done for middle-class families. From staring down dictators to standing up for America's police and firefighters, Joe Biden is a leader who has never lost touch with his strong middle-class values. He is well-suited to serve as Barack Obama's partner in bringing about the change we need to put America back on track.

"Together, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the right ticket to turn Virginia blue for the first time in 44 years. While Virginians face tough economic times, John McCain has offered us four more years of George Bush's economy. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will bring the change that Virginia's working families need.

"Virginia Democrats are excited to work on behalf of Obama, Biden and Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Throughout this campaign, the rest of America got the opportunity to see results-oriented Virginia Democrats like Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, and Jim Webb. We're proud of Virginia Democrats' record of getting things done - and we know they'll be out on the trail this fall to elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden."

LCV Hails Choice of Senator Joe Biden for Vice Presidential Nomination

WASHINGTON, DC - The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, applauds Barack Obama's choice of Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.  Biden will heighten the level of environmental discourse on the campaign trail and, as Vice President, will be a strong voice for a new, clean energy future for this country.

"With a lifetime LCV environmental score of 83%, Joe Biden recognizes that ending our addiction to oil is vital to our national security," LCV President Gene Karpinski said.  "Senator Biden is a long-time leader on key energy and environmental issues, and the members of LCV enthusiastically support Senator Obama's choice."

In 2007 alone, Biden voted to strengthen CAFÉ standards and to repeal unjust subsidies to oil companies.  In 1986, he introduced the first bill designed to limit global warming pollution.

Biden has been a leader on global warming issues, chairing Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on the national security implications of unchecked global warming. He teamed with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to co-author and pass a resolution calling on the Bush Administration to return to international negotiations to address climate change.   He has sponsored and supported numerous bills throughout his career that would decrease America's dependence on foreign oil and increase investment in new technologies and renewable fuels.  Biden has sponsored a bill to increase fuel economy standards for all automobiles, voted yes on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025, and rejected drilling in ANWR; measures that have strong environmental and economic benefits for America.

"Barack Obama's plan for global warming and energy independence is the most substantive, comprehensive plan ever put forward by a nominee for President," said Karpinski. "Biden's progressive energy stance will only serve to augment Obama's visionary plan.  They will usher in a new era of environmental leadership."