Barack Obama's
newly minted running mate will join the Democratic hopeful
onstage Saturday at a rally in this capital city where Obama
launched his White House bid, a campaign official
said.
A senior Obama
adviser told The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity Tuesday that Obama and his vice presidential
choice will appear in front of the former state
Capitol where Abraham Lincoln once served. The last
time Obama appeared there, he announced he was running for
president.
The disclosure
narrowed the window Obama has to reveal his running mate.
The list of possibilities is widely believed to be down to
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Kansas Gov. Kathleen
Sebelius, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim
Kaine, who planned to campaign with Obama Thursday in
his home state.
Obama's major
rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of
New York, was seen by some Democrats as a long-shot.
As he drew closer
to naming a running mate in the final days before the
Democratic convention, Obama issued a blunt counterattack
against what he contends is Republican John McCain's
habit of questioning his ''character and patriotism.''
Vice presidential
picks have seldom been as important as this year. Obama
was thought to be looking for a running mate who adds heft
to the Democratic ticket, given the Illinois senator's
brief tenure on the national political scene.
The choice is
equally vital for McCain, who turns 72 on Aug. 29 and would
be the oldest first-term American president.
The Arizona
senator was considering a vice presidential announcement
right after next week's Democratic convention ends on Aug.
28, gunning to diminish Obama's post-convention glow
as party delegates leave Denver, Colorado. McCain has
a three-day window before his Republicans assemble
Sept. 1 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
With Obama
expected to name his No. 2 as early as Wednesday, he and his
campaign were refusing any clues. In a speech to the
Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, however, Obama
praised Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
chairman for proposing an additional $1 billion of
reconstruction projects in the Republic of Georgia after the
Russian invasion.
At the VFW
meeting, an unsmiling, steely eyed Obama struck back at
McCain, who told the same audience a day earlier that his
Democratic opponent had ''tried to legislate failure''
in the Iraq war and was putting his presidential
ambitions above American interests.
''One of the
things that we have to change in this country is the idea
that people can't disagree without challenging each other's
character and patriotism,'' Obama told the assembled
veterans. ''I have never suggested that Sen. McCain
picks his positions on national security based on
politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it
because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve
America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to
acknowledge that I want to do the same.
''Let me be
clear: I will let no one question my love of this country. I
love America, so do you, and so does John McCain.''
McCain's revival
of the candidates' conflict over the Iraq war appeared
designed to shift the debate away from the struggling
American economy, which polls show is the top concern
of voters. McCain is viewed as less likely to shepherd
the country out of its financial crisis.
The Vietnam
veteran's top contenders for the vice presidency are said to
include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices include
former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights
supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the
Democratic vice presidential pick in 2000 who now is an
independent.
Underscoring how
seriously McCain may be considering Ridge or Lieberman,
Republican officials say top McCain advisers have been
reaching out to big donors and high-profile delegates
in key states to gauge the impact of putting an
abortion-rights supporter on the Republican ticket.
Conservative
radio host Rush Limbaugh warned Tuesday that the Republican
base ''will totally turn on McCain'' if he picks a
pro-choice running mate and predicted such a move
''will ensure his defeat.''
McCain spokesman
Brian Rogers responded to Limbaugh's latest volley by
saying, ''John McCain is pro-life, always has been, and his
administration will be pro-life. Anyone picked as his vice
president will respect those views.''
Lieberman has
been traveling with McCain recently. Pawlenty was gearing
up for a weekend campaign swing in Ohio and Pennsylvania on
McCain's behalf, and said he might travel to Denver
next week as a McCain surrogate during the Democratic
National Convention.
McCain,
meanwhile, visited an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico and
called for increased offshore drilling that he claims would
lower the cost of food and heating homes. He
criticized Obama for not supporting such a plan.
The Obama
campaign has said it will announce the choice in a cell
phone text message to supporters.
''We could pick
up the V.P. any time,'' Obama strategist Anita Dunn said
in an interview.
The campaign's
announcement said only that the Illinois senator would
begin his trip to the party's national convention at
Saturday's event. The Democratic National Convention
begins Monday in Denver.
At a town-hall
meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina., Obama repeatedly said
''he'' when discussing the qualities he sought in a
potential running mate, even as campaign officials
cautioned not to read much into his choice of
pronouns.
''Let me tell you
first what I won't do: I won't hand over my energy
policy to my vice president and not know necessarily what
he's doing,'' Obama told the audience. ''My vice
president ... will be a member of the executive
branch. He won't be one of these fourth branches of
government where he thinks he's above the law,'' an
apparent reference to Vice President Dick Cheney's
handling of his office.
A combative Obama
said that McCain ''doesn't know what he's up against''
in this election.
Those believed to
be on Obama's short list for vice president stayed mum.
Biden coyly told
reporters staking out his home in Delaware, ''I'm not
the guy,'' as he drove by. Sebelius, in an interview with
the AP before she stumped for Obama in Michigan,
professed no inside knowledge of when word would come.
Only Obama, his
wife, Michelle, a handful of his most senior advisers and
his two-member search committee know for certain who has
been vetted and discussed. Staffers were already in
place to support Obama's pick, including more than a
dozen seasoned operatives who have set up shop in the
campaign's Chicago headquarters. (AP)
