Joe Biden to Become No Biden?
* Rumors Persist
* A Visit to Barack Obama Campaign Offices
* A Visit to the Campaign's Website
[Click images to enlarge.]
Will Joe Biden become No Biden?
As reported earlier [No Biden: Rumors Swirl Over Obama Dumping Biden for Hillary Clinton], rumors have been circulating about that the Obama-Biden ticket is about to become the Obama-Clinton ticket.
The scenario: Sometime between October 2 and 5, Joe Biden will plead poor health and drop off the ticket. Hillary Clinton will then ride to the rescue of the Obama campaign that earlier spurned her. The Democrat ticket will then sweep to victory in an unprecedented, albeit Machiavellian move.
We received this email a few days after our last story:
I got this email over the weekend from retired USAF friend, have no idea as to its authenticity. Been told it's from excellent sources within the DNC:
"On or about October 5,2008, Sen Joe Biden will excuse himself from the ticket, citing health problems, and he will be replaced by Hillary R Clinton." This is timed to occur after the VP debate on 10/2.
Thinking, "this is how rumors get started," a little road trip seemed to be in order.
If Joe Biden were not the solid VP pick--and due to be replaced in the rumored "October Surprise"--it would seem that there wouldn't be much of an investment made by the Obama campaign in Obama-Biden campaign materials and merchandise.
We visited three Obama campaign offices in three different states, called several others in a few states picked at random and checked out Barackobama.com's online store to see what the situation was.
There seemed to be plenty of campaign material for Barack Obama, sans Biden. In fact, "Obama-Biden" didn't seem to be much on display at all in any of the offices.
It's been nearly a month since Barack Obama named Joe Biden as his vice-presidential pick: what's the hold-up with the Obama-Biden campaign materials? Why is there almost no Obama-Biden merchandise available?
This is a candidate who's campaign has planned for this race for months--some would say years.
As was stated, there is no end to the "Only Obama" campaign materials.
Joyce, in the Portland OR Obama office told us that, "No one has any (Obama-Biden campaign merchandise)".
"We don't have any Obama-Biden stuff. The national campaign says it's sold out and back-ordered. It'll be about two weeks until we get any."
Two weeks?
That would place the date around the 4th or 5th of October, incidentally.
Joyce did note that she herself was wearing an Obama-Biden T-shirt.
We talked to Paul in the Washington PA Obama office--which was busy at the time--and he told us that there wasn't any Obama-Biden signs, t-shirts or stickers in that office, at least right now.
We were told that there were "some Obama-Biden buttons. We're asking a $50 donation for them."
Paul noted that there were "street signs coming in on Monday" (September 22). He was pretty sure they were Obama-Biden.
We'll check back then.
Dan, at the Belmont office in Bellaire OH, said, "No, we don't have any Obama-Biden signs or T-shirts. They're supposed to be coming in the next couple weeks."
We talked to Al and Ramona in the Wheeling WV Obama office. They informed us that they were told "Obama-Biden merchandise would be available the first week of October".
Again, that "first week of October" date is cited.
Maybe the campaign offices are caught in a supply problem. Maybe not.
But, we're not conspiracy theorists, so we decided to check out Barackobama.com's store at the website.
On the right sidebar is a list of merchandise categories. The fifth one down is for "Obama-Biden". We skipped that category--for now--to check out the "New Arrivals" in Obama campaign merchandise. The merchandise is a major source of funds for the campaign.
Not only are all of the hats and t-shirts for sale, but also the signs, stickers and buttons. All of the Obama offices we visited were separate from the local Democrat Party campaign offices.
What's the 'New Arrivals' at BarackObama.com?
All of the "new arrivals", with the lone exception of a Obama-Biden yard sign, feature Barack Obama--by himself.
So, the Obama campaign's not exactly going overboard to promote the Obama-Biden ticket.
At least, that's our observation.
Then, the Obama-Biden section of barackobama.com was visited.
There are eight items in the section: a few buttons, a few stickers, the yard sign mentioned above and a thin paperboard rally sign.
There are over 100 t-shirts for sale on the site--only one of them mentions "Obama-Biden".
Since we last visited the site and took the above screenshots, more new merchandise is posted as available. What was it?
Three more shirts plugging the Obama ticket.
On September 11, Bill Clinton met with Obama in NYC. What did they talk about? The Times of London gets no linkage here, but did have the story.
THE former president Bill Clinton is to ride to Barack Obama’s rescue in the coming weeks by holding joint events with the Democratic presidential candidate.
The Obama team hopes the “Bubba factor” - Clinton’s appeal to white, working-class voters - will revitalise its campaign and staunch defections to Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
A source close to the Obama campaign said: “Bill Clinton is on board. He’s making all the right moves and he and Barack Obama are going to campaign together.”
Is Bill the only Clinton who will "Barack Obama’s rescue in the coming weeks"?
It's been 30 days since Obama picked Joe Biden for the ticket--there are 44 days left until the election--almost the halfway point.
That Obama-Biden campaign materials will be available in the "next couple weeks" or "by the first week of October" is way past the halfway mark between the election and when Joe Biden was picked.
McCain-Palin signs were evident the first weekend that John McCain announced his pick for vice-president.
Despite Obama-Biden having almost a week's headstart on McCain-Palin, a visit to johnmccain.com shows the site has been transformed into "McCain-Palin". There nearly 30 McCain-Palin items for sale at the McCain website store. "McCain-Palin" is the first category of merchandise listed at the site.
A look at the websites themselves might be instructive.
McCain, who the Obama campaign paints as "Internet-challenged" has transformed the site into "McCain-Palin", with the ticket at the top of every page we visited.
Obama-Biden was featured at the top of every page but one at barackobama.com
That page was the online store: a campaign cash cow.
So, maybe the Obama campaign is simply going with what sells best.
"Obama" is a winner.
"Obama-Biden", not so much so.
Which is either grist for the rumor mill--or a sign of "CHANGE".
The readers can decide for themselves.
by Mondo
images: dbkp
