Below The Beltway

It became official only a short while ago:
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) — Democrats Wednesday officially nominated Barack Obama to be their candidate for president.
Sen. Hillary Clinton asked to cut the roll call short saying, “With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with the goal of victory, with faith in our [...]

This amusing story comes from Ballot Access News:
Section 192.031 of the Texas election code says that political parties must certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the November ballot no later than 70 days before the general election. It says, “A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and [...]

Apparently, those Warner voters for McCain that I wrote about yesterday aren’t alone:
Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign today announced the Virginia Citizens for McCain, a coalition of Democrats and independents who support the Arizona senator for president.
Christy Swanson, the group’s vice chairwoman and a small business owner in Richmond, has been asked to speak at [...]

First there’s this from Townhall.com:
Overheard:  Pawlenty, Romney or Lieberman.  Noon on Friday.
Then, there’s this from Stephen Bainbridge:
There’s a rumor floating around my little corner of the vast right-wing conspiracy that John McCain has cut his VP candidates down to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and FedEx CEO Fred Smith. Boy would the latter be an out [...]

With the Democratic convention half over, and little more than twenty-four hours before Barack Obama accepts the nomination of his party behind a faux Greek temple backdrop, there’s scant evidence that the race has changed all that much from where it was before the Democratic National Convention started.
First, Rasmussen’s Daily Tracking Poll shows McCain gaining [...]

When Barack Obama speaks at Invesco Field on Thursday night, the backdrop will be more reminiscient of ancient Athens than the Mountain West:
DENVER (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple.
The stage, similar to structures used for rock [...]

Bob Barr appeared on Stephen Colbert’s show last night, here’s the video:

And, this morning, he appeared on CNN’s American Morning:

I’ll say this much for Barr. He is running a smart, much more media savvy campaign than any Libertarian Party Presidential candidate before him. For that reason alone, I think that the odds are fairly good [...]

The McCain Campaign is out with a new ad that continues with the message regarding Barack Obama’s lack of experience:

Quite obviously, they think this message is working. And, they appear to be right.

Less than a month after being indicted in a corruption probe, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens won the Republican primary and will head to the General Election:
Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska won the Republican primary in his home state on Tuesday, soundly defeating six Republican challengers less than a month after he was indicted by a [...]

From my buddy Raymond:

I would have preferred to see Hillary in an orange jumpsuit.

Heh