Polinaut: July 26, 2008 Archive

Bloomberg doesn't pick sides

Posted at 6:33 AM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Despite earlier reports, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't pick sides in the presidential race. Bloomberg, an independent, was reportedly going to talk up John McCain during his time in Minnesota but ABC is now reporting that Bloomberg was told to cool the pro-McCain rhetoric. He praised both candidates but urged independent minded voters to demand answers to the tough issues facing the country.

Bachmann headed to the Gulf

Posted at 6:42 AM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck

No, not the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Mexico. GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann's office says she'll visit an offshore oil rig:

Monday, July 28th, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is continuing her tour of American energy sources that if tapped could bring down the price of gas. Travelling by helicopter from New Orleans, Bachmann will tour a deep sea oil rig to learn firsthand how quickly and safely additional energy could be tapped if Congress lifted the ban on American offshore exploration. Most of America's offshore reserves - 88 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - are currently off-limits, and Bachmann has backed legislation to lift that ban. The tour will be guided by U.S. Mineral and Management Services.

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Bachmann, who is calling for increased drilling, is making the trip just a week after she visited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. She has been advocate for drilling in that area as well.

The Fix has Pawlenty at #2

Posted at 6:52 AM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

The Fix's Veepstakes line still has Gov. Pawlenty at #2 on the Veepstakes line. Here's what Chris Cillizza wrote about Pawlenty:

2. Tim Pawlenty: Tpaw is the hot candidate this week with reports coming out of both Minnesota and Washington that things are looking good for the governor. And yet, when The Fix probed a bit deeper to find out what was behind the optimism, the best we came up with is that Pawlenty's body language has been very positive over the past few days. That's pretty thin gruel. Pawlenty, more so than any other politician on the Line, keeps his own political counsel so be wary of reports of what he knows or thinks he knows about his standing in the veepstakes. (Previous ranking: 2)

Cillizza has former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney rated as #1 on the GOP side.

On the Democrat side, Cillizza ranks Indiana Senator Evan Bayh at #1 and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as #2 for Barack Obama.

Meanwhile...

Jay Leno cracks some jokes at Pawlenty's expense.

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6500 tickets sold for Paul event

Posted at 7:09 AM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Ron Paul started selling tickets for his Rally for the Republic event on September 2nd. As of Saturday morning, the website says 6548 tickets have been sold.

Ambinder: McCain rumored to announce VP on Monday

Posted at 7:29 AM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

Marc Ambinder is reporting this:

I don't usually use the blog to pass along rumors, but this one is relatively harmless and it is making the rounds of the highest levels of both presidential campaigns.

On Sunday, McCain hosts a group of political allies and major fundraisers at his ranch in Sedona, AZ. That's a fact. The rumor is that he's going to use the event to introduce his vice presidential choice to his inner circle, and then, on Monday, introduce the choice to the world.

If this rumor were on the market, I wouldn't buy too many shares.

For one thing, the McCain donor maintenance event has been scheduled for weeks. For another, VP choices aren't usually announced to donors before they're announced generally. Announcing his choice on Monday would seem very reactive, and if McCain wants to wait for a lull in the news cycle, he ought to hold out for just another week or so; Obama plans to take a short vacation abutting the Olympics.

Meanwhile, CNN quotes a McCain source as saying the VP pick is not settled.

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3rd District candidates on WCCO

Posted at 10:14 PM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck

WCCO will host DFLer Ashwin Madia and Republican Erik Paulsen on Sunday morning. The two are vying to replace GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad, who is retiring. (h/t MN Campaign Report).