Don't know if this has been diaried yet but Kos doesn't mention this news in his recent diary so I will.  Supposedly, succession talks are underway in Virgina for Kaine's replacement as governor.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is set to announce his running mate within the next few days and now The Palmetto Scoop has learned that he may have already settled on Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

A source inside the beltway informed me that high ranking officials throughout Virginia were recently summoned to the governor’s office for an emergency meeting which reportedly involved discussions on the line of succession if and when Kaine steps down to become Obama’s running mate.

The officials were mandated to leave an out-of-state conference and return to the state capitol in Richmond immediately.

http://www.palmettoscoop.com/...

As a North Carolinian, I like the pick (if this is the pick).  I like the pragmatic positions on certain hot-button issues that both Obama and Kaine share.

Via MyDD, Biden announces it himself:

Hey guys, I'm not the guy. See ya.

He and Richardson can now fight over secretary of state.

So who's left? Assuming slotted speakers at the DNC are not the Veep, then Kaine is out. He's speaking Thursday night before Gore and Obama. Kerry is speaking Wednesday.

Who's that leave? Daschle, Sebelius, and "dark horse".

Of course, slotted speakers can always be rescheduled...

(Cross-posted from "Bayh-Bayh-Bayhden.org")

    Some say Obama chose a VP already.
    Well, maybe it's time to un-choose.

    While this diary resembles my previous di on similar topics, there's a lot more to say:


JOE BIDEN

1. Biden is a plagiarist. Even if it was 2 decades ago.

    Actually, more than a plagiarist; just peep the Wik,

(look out below)

Many of us are in the late summer doldrums and getting a bit edgy about where the state of the race lays.  We've seen McCain attack and Barack act cool.  We've also pointlessly obssessed over national daily tracking polls and every state poll that comes out.

But whats probably infuriated us the most is the tenor of the campaign from McCain, the complicit media to ingore the clear hypocrisy of the McCain myth versus the McCain man and Obama's seemingly refusal to hit back hard.

We've come to realize the media, which we hate to admit is incredibly important in helping citizens reach their decisions about whom they vote for, will NOT go after McCain.  I mean 'He was a POW for 5 and a half years!!!!' after all.

So what do we do?

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sens. Evan Bayh (IN) and Jack Reed (RI) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Obama's VP selection is going to be crucial regardless of what anyone says. His lead in the polls has dwindled mainly because he's damaged his brand by taking positions on Fisa, oil  drilling, and public finance that contradicted what was promised prior to the general. Because of these shifty and opportunistic political moves (which have not paid off), he's no longer seen as a revolutionary agent of change by many, but just another jive talking politician trying to get ahead. Also, Obama's attempt to connect with regular folks along with his attempt to show a bit of feistiness on the campaign trail has been subpar at best. Put simply, we're on a sinking ship and the wrong VP selection will sink the ship even further. This why I think that Obama must choose Kathleen Sebelius as his VP running mate.  

At what point to political speculations go beyond mere amusement and bet-fodder to outright spooky? It’s one thing to have predicted Obama to take the nomination nearly a year before he throws his hat in the ring but that’s nothing next to predicting McCain in early December of ’07 (in the now epic The Republican Candidates are the Most Unelectable Gang of Freaks in American History). But then to go on and nail down Senator Joe Biden as Bama’s Veep in late May of this year? I know what you’re saying: who is this iSenseChange and how is he so dead-on-balls accurate for this election? How can we reward this latter-day NeoNostradamus for the sheer prescience involved in these utterly uncanny picks of his? What glorious accolades can we lay at his freshly oiled feet, what leafy laurels around his surely massive skull? Judging from the lackluster response to my admittedly weird entries thus far, I’m guessing a handful of reads and less than ten comments. Half of which are my own. Fuck it, says I. Ignore me at your peril. I am the Kossack Kreskin. And I have massive nuts.

We must use all power available to take out this terrible piece of propaganda from YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/...

Only fools will believe Barrack Obama has no respect for life. What about John McCain killing innocent women and children from 15,000 feet in Vietnam? How many innocent people is he responsible for killing? McCain is a murderer and war criminal.

Sorry if this is poorly writen, but I really wanted to be the first to get it out.

I can't believe Obama would just blurt this out. But evidently, Barack has indicated who is VP will be. Obviously it is a bit annoying because I cannot imagine Obama deserting the big names.

It seems like a looooong time since Obama's spectacular trip to Europe and the Mideast, and since then I've began to feel a palpable loss of energy. What gives?

I kept getting pestered by David Plouffe and Chris Hughes to join Obama's Grassroots Finance Committee. So I finally gave in, and put up a page.

But the crowd I run with doesn't cough up the dough for just anything.  So I had to put a spin on the fundraising appeal.

Don't know if it'll work, but I doubt it'll be repeated.

Text after the break.

As we all anticipate Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential pick and as we play the veep-sweaps and as some of us, state how certain choices will be great while others will be horrible.  Some have even said that some possibilities might even cause us to lessen our degrees of support for Obama; I want to make a point, using a thought exercise.  Let’s travel through an alternate history.  In this history we elected a person, who for most Kossacks, would be one of the worst possible Vice Presidents.  How would the world have changed?

The fictional Vice President I am referring to is, if you hadn’t guessed, Joe Lieberman.  In my alternate history, I am assuming that the SCOTUS allowed the Florida recount to proceed and as a result Al Gore and Joe Lieberman won the Electoral College and were sworn in January of 2001.  Okay, I think for most of us – Joe Lieberman is far worse than any of the names being mentioned this year as VP.  So if he and Al had been declared the winners in 2000, where would we be today?

Survey USA Indiana poll

Since I couldn't think of anything to write today, and there just so happens to be a town hall starting soon, AND I've always wanted to do a live blog, here ya go! You can view the town hall at www.cnn.com/live and on the Obama website.

[Update: 6:42 PM ET] It hasn't started yet, the CNN feed just has the crowd.

[Update: 6:47 PM ET] Obama just came out to a cheering crowd, the sound is doing something funny on my cnn feed, is it just me? Anyway, the crowd looks pumped :o)

[Update: 6:49 PM ET] Man, the sound is REALLY jacked up on cnn.com, or the crowd is REALLY loud. He's being introduced now by Gloria Craven, a regular citizen. She's going to tell us "how it is"

I have learned not to be disgusted by anything the Republican Party does nowadays because they explore new depths all the time. But an announcement today really takes the cake.

On the flip.

Most of us hated Bayh.

Some of us hated Kaine.

Still others disliked Biden as the choice for Vice President.

All three were the subject of significant trial balloons over the last three weeks, with the most significant being the possibility of Biden over the past 36 hours.

But with the developments today, I am now convinced Barack Obama has decided to pick....

The SMEAR artists are all over the latest career ending scandals soon to doom any chance of Obama winning this election

"THE SAVAGE WEENY WILL HAVE A CATACLYSM"

Michael Savage Warns of Cataclysmic Events That Will be Announced on His Website over the next six to fourteen days
AND there is more
← Is Barack Obama’s real name Barry Soetoro? No Quarter Blog says the Republican machine is about to unload on Obama nee Soetoro
But Bikinigate is now underway on the intertubes.
Huffington Post edits Barack Obama Hawaii vacation pic photo of Barry Checking out Bikini Clad Woman →

Yes Bikinigate definitely requires a cover-up
or a healthy dose of SPF 25 sunscreen.

Recently, a fair number of high-profile progressive bloggers have been, to put it mildly, flipping out about Barack Obama's campaign style and his chances in November.  Josh Marshall thinks there need to be consistent lines of attack against McCain.  John Aravosis thinks Team Obama is in a bubble and this is feeling like the Democratic campaigns of the past.  Matt Stoller thinks it's time for message testing to find the attack that'll work on McCain.

All of these are smart people who want Obama to win and see it slipping away.  But they are failing to totally account for the X factor of the election, which is going virtually unmentioned throughout the blogosphere - the historic ground effort that the Obama campaign is banking on to win.  It is not without peril, but it is a very new thing, and I think we have to understand it if we want to understand the twists and turns of this election.