DENVER--It's not often that the fourth longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate gets to be a rookie again. But that's exactly what happened to Joe Biden today at the Colfax Event Center here in Denver.

After a somewhat shaky debut alongside Barack Obama last Saturday in Springfield, Ill.--during which his fluent assaults on John McCain were followed by marble-mouthed paeans to 'Barack America"--the senior senator from Delaware made his first solo appearance as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee at this morning's roundtable on Economic Security for American Families. The name of the event was telling. Flanked by a quartet of struggling women preselected by the campaign and who's who of leading Obama surrogates--Michelle, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and others--Biden offered an early taste of what's sure to be his central role on the campaign trail from now until November: using his own trials and tribulations to reach out to working-class voters who are still wary of Obama. "My mom says, you have to walk a mile in someone's shoes to understand them," Biden said. "Now, I haven't walked a mile in the shoes of these incredible women, but I think I understand them."

Today's empathy strategy--which owed more than a little to the example of Bill "I Feel Your Pain" Clinton--represented a sharp break with Biden's previous political persona. Campaigning last fall as a consummate foreign-policy pro, Biden told me that "this election is about 'Who's going to make us the safest?'--and "not about health care." But it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Biden's past--or his record, which includes authoring the Violence Against Women Act--that the senator acquitted himself rather well at this morning's event. And the obsessive Obama campaign did more than its part to help. In his introductory remarks--which seemed, in true Biden style, to be entirely improvised--Biden addressed each of the working women individually, linking their stories to his own. Ashley Dart of Michigan is a single mother raising five children after her husband passed away; Biden told her of losing his own wife in a car crash in 1972, and how hard it was to raise his two sons alone. Shandra Jackson of Texas was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst in her brain, followed by an aneurysm; Biden told her of his own near-fatal aneurysms, and lamented that while "doctors think it's bad publicity if a senator dies on the table," ordinary Americans have to fend for themselves. And Leisha Karl of Colorado recently returned to community college after leaving 15 years ago to raise her son; Biden told her of his wife Jill, who "for 27 years has taught community college, and calls people like you her heroes." To a cynical hack like, well, me, the campaign's aggressive choreography--something tells me that these tidy biographical symmetries weren't coincidental--seemed a little overwrought. But the pain in the room was real, and no one else seemed to mind. "Listen to these women, not me," Biden said at the end of his statement--as if the event hadn't been designed around him. The crowd roared its approval.

Expect Team Obama to keep maximizing Biden's biography and emphasizing his empathy. I've seen Obama participate in several of these stagey roundtables over the past 12 months, and he's nowhere near as convincing as his new partner was today. Restrained by his cooler, academic temperament, Obama tends to nod approvingly while his guests relate their stories, then pose a probing follow-up or pivot to a relevant policy point; he rarely feels the urge to establish an emotional connection by sharing a similar experience of his own. Given that Biden was wrong about this election--it IS about health care, and taxes, and gas prices--his new role as Obama's economic empathizer may turn out to be more important than his attack dogging or his foreign-policy expertise. Of course, it remains to be seen how convincingly Biden can feel voters' pain in a less choreographed setting; empathizing always borders on pandering, especially in the hands of a politician as bombastic and mercurial as Biden. But today, in his first at-bat, the new No. 2 did Bubba proud--even if he was swinging at softballs.
 

DENVER--How does it feel to be a near-veep?

"Surreal."

That's Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine speaking the afternoon to a private panel of NEWSWEEK reporters and editors here at the Warwick Hotel in downtown Denver. Although Kaine refused to get into the details of his discussions with the Obama campaign—it's rumored that he was Obama's top pick until the conflict between Russia and Georgia threatened to highlight Obama's foreign-policy inexperience—he did spend plenty of time talking about how he would've approached the VP gig, had it been offered.

Kaine's first rule of veepdom: don't get personal. "It's easy because the difference in policy are so stark that you don't have to get into personal stuff," he said. "I've been in politics for 15 years now. I'm not naive, and I do think you need to show the sharp disagreements and sharp contrasts in the direction you want to take the nation. But how are you going to go personal against a John McCain? He's a person with faults just like the rest of us..." At this, one editor interrupted to voice the understandable objection: But shouldn't Obama fight fire with fire? He can't let the Paris Hilton stuff go unanswered. Kaine nodded. "I can only speak from my experience in Virginia, but what I would always try to do is respond with force, and to let people know there's a cost to being negative," he said. "But then the last 30 seconds of my ad would always be about a positive." So do you think the "seven houses" onslaught against McCain—a burst of unprompted negative messaging, after all—is an uncalled for personal attack? "Not at all," Kaine said, somewhat contradictorily. "It's very relevant, especially when McCain is trying to paint Obama as an elitist. I mean, Senator Obama was on food stamps while he was growing up. McCain not being able to remember how many houses he has is a great reminder to Americans that if we're trying to find out who understand people trying to make tough decisions every day, that Obama has lived it. He understands it." Still, it seems unlikely Kaine would've burst out of the gate with the same ferocity as Joe Biden--who, according to Kaine, "combines head and heart in ways that will be very useful to Senator Obama." Like Obama, Kaine is a somewhat reluctant attack dog. He may have been too much of the same--too much head.

Kaine's second lesson for the VP: come to Virginia. "It's not a blue state, but it's no longer a red state," Kaine said. "Today, it's pretty much an evenly-matched state." When Kaine's father-in-law was elected Virginia governor in 1969, the commonwealth, according to Kaine, was "40 percent rural, 25 percent urban and 35 percent suburban." Today it's 20 percent rural, 15 percent urban and 65 percent suburban. Kaine won in 2005 by capturing fast-growing, formerly Republican counties like Louden and Prince William—places where his predecessor, Mark Warner, lost in 2000. The reason for the reversal? "The demographics just changed so much," Kaine says. As a result, Kaine realized that "we've got to make our case to these suburban voters"--and, according to him, if Obama and Biden can "hold the margins down or even win" in "most of these eight or nine counties," then they can swing the Old Dominion. What's more, there may even be some votes to be had in the rural southwestern part of the state, according to Kaine--especially with a plainspoken Joe like Biden on the ticket.  "These rural voters are cynical," says Kaine. "They think that politicians just come around at election time but don't know much about them, and they won't come back. But a little effort can go long way. Reach out and these people open up to you. Biden can help Obama puncture that cynicism."

Here's NEWSWEEK's Richard Wolffe reporting from Springfield, Ill. on the new Obama-Biden ticket: 

When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign in Springfield, Ill., on a frigid winter's day 19 months ago, he admitted that he was short on Washington experience. "I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington," he said. "But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."

On Saturday he returned to the same spot in front of the old statehouse—this time in a cauldron of a summer afternoon—to announce a vice-presidential pick who has spent half a life immersed in the ways of Washington.

To Obama's aides, Joe Biden's selection as the veep candidate represents less of a turnaround than a complement to the candidate—both in the presidential election and beyond. "One of things we know is that you've got to have people who can bring about change," said one senior Obama aide. "Unfortunately change is going to have to go through Capitol Hill, and you've got to have somebody who is knowledgeable about Capitol Hill. The difference between John McCain and Joe Biden is that one is on the side of change, and one isn't."

Obama's inner circle started the VP process convinced that they would be looking for someone who would reinforce the candidate's brand, underscoring the theme of change and post-partisan politics. Instead, they ended up with someone who seemingly fills the gaps in the candidate's skill set.

The shortlist, according to senior aides, narrowed down rapidly, several weeks ago to a half-dozen names. Contrary to several reports, Obama did not make his final decision while on vacation in Hawaii, but was still considering his options earlier this week. And contrary to much of the post-game analysis, the conflict between Russia and Georgia played no role in Obama's decision, his staff said.

It wasn't until Thursday, as he traveled through Virginia on a bus tour, that Obama called Evan Bayh, the Indiana senator, and Tim Kaine, the Virginia governor, to tell them he had gone in another direction. Several other unnamed candidates learned the news at the same time, when Biden too learned of his new role. When Obama called Biden, his veep pick was at the dentist with his wife who was having root canal work. Obama's aides say they were impressed that loquacious Biden kept the news secret for more than 24 hours.

In public, Obama's aides argue there are two main factors that make Biden attractive: his foreign policy experience, and his image as a humble family man from Wilmington, Del. While Biden has decades of experience on Capitol Hill, he commutes to Wilmington each day, and has maintained what sounds like an unscripted voice.

But in private, they point to a much more immediate and strategic reason for his elevation to veep nominee: his killer instincts as a campaigner and his cultural reach.

Obama's aides admire Biden's skills as a debater and chief surrogate who can fillet the Republican ticket in speeches and media interviews. For all his problems as a verbose questioner in the Senate, he proved he could turn a one-liner and land a zinger better than almost anyone campaigning for president this year. Biden's abilities to play the role of attack dog was a winning argument for his selection, allowing Obama himself to remain above the fray.

"He'll have a fist in the face of John McCain every day and I think he has this level of gravitas as well," said one senior adviser to Obama. "We're lucky to have both. It showcases Obama's judgment that he chose somebody like this—a good pick not just for August or October, but a good pick in the event that something happens when he's president of the United States."

Team Obama also points to Biden's demographic and geographic reach. As a Roman Catholic who was born in Scranton, Pa., Biden can campaign effectively in the Rust Belt states that proved so immune to Obama's charms during the primary contests against Hillary Clinton. "He's ready to get out," said another senior aide, who added that Biden will travel extensively across the country. "He really wants to do this."

The Obama campaign believes the recent tightening of the polls is the result of one main factor: Republicans coming back into the fold for McCain. Their goal with Biden is to bring home the Democratic holdouts—especially the ones who voted for Clinton in the primaries. Those voters want more than reassurance about Obama's foreign policy credentials, in the campaign's assessment. They want someone who looks and sounds more like them and can connect with them on their own terms about the economy. On that basis, the campaign points to Biden's record of working to put 100,000 new cops on the streets, to his ability to talk freely and easily in union halls, and to his limitless supply of stories about his humble Irish-American roots...

Locked in a tight election, Obama needs a fighter who can campaign in the bars and VFW halls that still seem foreign to him. Someone who can end his speech saying this: "I'm here for the cops and the firefighters, the teachers and the line workers, the folks who live—the folks whose lives are the measure of whether the American dream endures." In that sense, Biden is the change the Obama campaign has been searching for.

READ THE REST HERE. 
 

Want to know how the Obama campaign is countering Biden's 'Creature of Washington' image? One word (or, you know, talking point): Amtrak.

Linda Douglass, Obama campaign traveling spokesperson, to MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, on a "Morning Joe" special edition: “He has decades of experience in Washington and, yet, uniquely, he is not of Washington -- he goes home to his family in Delaware every single night."
 
Robert Gibbs, Obama campaign Senior Strategist for Communications and Message, to ABC’s Kate Snow, on "Good Morning America Weekend": “We have somebody who hasn't forgotten where he comes from and goes home to Delaware every night on the train."

Barack Obama, Democratic presidential nominee, in Springfield, Ill.: "For decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn’t changed him... He never moved to Washington. Instead, night after night, week after week, year after year, he returned home to Wilmington on a lonely Amtrak train when his Senate business was done."

No word yet on whether Chicago plans to outfit Biden in one of these:

UPDATE, 3:59 p.m.: Also worth noting, in terms of messaging, is the number of times Obama mentioned Biden's hometown of Scranton (which is located in must-win Pennsylvania): three. The number of times he mentioned the safer state of Delaware? Once. "Pennsylvania's Third Senator"--Team Obama's words, not mine--indeed.

And as for Biden calling Obama "Barack America"?  As Bidenisms go, it was surprisingly on message.
 

Here's Biden making the case for himself--in response to a reader's question--during a lunch with NEWSWEEK editors (Stumper included) on Nov. 7: 

I am a pretty good street politician. You know what I mean? I'm a fingertip politician. And I'm telling you, I guarantee you, that the public out there--to use an expression one of you probably came up with--is looking out the window instead of looking in the mirror. They know that what's going on "out there" has significant impact on them. They don't know what it means, but they're looking for somebody who they think has, for lack of a better phrase, the breadth and depth of experience, someone who they can trust to lead them through what they know is going to be a pretty confusing decade. I'm drawing now--as even the Times acknowledged--I'm drawing big crowds now, the last three, four weeks. And they're all about Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, terror, the world, immigration. This idea that health care is the top thing? Come with me to any of these events. It's the fourth or fifth question asked.

Folks, they get it. They want to figure out how we're going to get this thing back in the box. How we're going to tie up all these loose ends.  The way out is me.

It's not that I am this tough guy. It gets down to voters determining your substance and your resolve. Are you going to protect us? This election is about "Who's going to make us the safest?" It's not about global warming, it's not about health care. You can't cross that threshold, you're not going to make it as a Democrat.

I imagine Biden will be singing a slightly different tune this afternoon in Springfield--no more "It's not about global warming, it's not about health care." But the importance of the question "Who's going to make us the safest?" is the underlying reason why Obama--a candidate who still needs to "cross that threshold...to make it as a Democrat"--chose Biden as his running mate. As someone who has crossed that threshold, Biden now has to convince voters that Obama, not McCain, is going to "make us the safest."

Like the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, I disagree with Ron Fournier that Obama's pick "shows a lack of confidence."  As Ambinder notes, "maybe the pick demonstrates Obama's confidence and a tempering of his overconfidence. Confidence, because Biden could upstage him, will be independent, and will be better at certain things than Obama... If Obama were overconfident, if he believed that his personality and story alone were enough, then he'd have chosen someone less threatening." 

Listen for the new script in Springfield. It'll be interesting to watch Biden--not the most egoless of pols--transition from "the way out is me" to "the way out is Obama."
 

For those of you who can't get enough Biden today, here's my dispatch from New Year's Eve 2007 in Newton, Iowa, where the Delaware senator was holding one of his final campaign events before finishing a distant fifth in the state's Jan. 3 caucuses and ending his presidential bid. Some things will change now that Biden  has joined Team Obama--and some things won't.

NEWTON, Iowa (Dec. 31, 2007)--Today I drove from a Barack Obama event in Jefferson to a Joe Biden event in Newton. The distance, in geographical terms, was about 100 miles. It felt like light years. As always, the Obama event was clockwork--a hulking black press bus; a filing room with plentiful powerstrips and wireless internet; volunteers asking for contact info at every corner; massive, well-designed banners; a stage filled with seated supporters.

The Biden event seemed "smaller"--even though it drew roughly the same number of people. The posters were droopy. The room--Newton's Community Center--wasn't particularly pimped out. But Biden's family--a son, a daughter, a brother and others--stood, arms crossed, on the periphery, whispering and smiling, and the candidate paced up and down the rows. No stage. No podium. No TV crews. When I entered a few minutes late (as usual), a staffer approached, asked my name, shook my hand and helped me locate an outlet for my laptop. He was surprised--pleasantly--to hear the name Newsweek. "We're not the Obama campaign," he said, unprompted. "No bus. No wireless. Sorry." He flashed a sheepish smile. "No problem," I said. I actually meant it.

People opposed to Obama often say that he's short on substance. That's probably a little unfair--like all the other Democrats, his policy proposals are pretty specific. But his public persona is premised on stuff that's "above" substance--hope, audacity, change, et cetera. Biden is the exact opposite. Sure, he can get airy, especially when quoting his "favorite contemporary poet," Seamus Heany, on making "hope and history rhyme." But he comes alive, shifting from solemnity to bombast, when answering a question on, say, Pakistan. "I'm the only person running in either party, Democrat or Republican, who three months ago put out a plan for Pakistan," he begins, and twelve minutes later--after discussing the country's religious demographics and reminiscing about that time Benazir Bhutto worked out of his Washington office, among (many) other things--he still hasn't stopped. Biden can be boring, immodest (today he seemed to take credit for convincing Bill Clinton to intervene in Kosovo) and condescending. Watch out when he starts a sentence with "Ladies and gentlemen," which he does about once a minute; he'll follow it up with something like "By the way, we're talking about the Sudan. That’s where Darfur is. [Bashir] is in the capital of the Sudan, which is a distance from Darfur. Darfur is an area about the size of France. And there is carnage going on."

Obama doesn't bore, condescend or brag. Neither do Clinton or Edwards. They're well-oiled machines at this point--delivery mechanisms for the "winning" messages their handlers have devised. And that's okay. It's the way you win. But because Biden has no shot--he currently polls at five percent, trails everyone in fundraising and has said he'll drop out if he finishes fourth or worse in Iowa--he doesn't have to deliver a winning message. He isn't handled. He can't afford handlers. Seeing him in person, the overwhelming impression you get is of a guy talking about what matters to him, for better or worse.

READ THE REST HERE.
 

By Holly Bailey 

Not surprisingly, the McCain campaign was quick to respond when word broke that Barack Obama had picked Joe Biden to be his No. 2 on the Democratic ticket. First, the campaign emailed reporters with a statement around 2 a.m. ET early Saturday morning: “There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,” McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said. Then, shortly before 6 a.m., the campaign announced it would air a new ad called “Biden” featuring video of the Delaware senator questioning Obama’s experience and talking nice about McCain. “I would be honored to run with or against John McCain because I think the country would be better off,” Biden says in the McCain video. The campaign didn’t exactly burn the midnight oil. An aide says they had various ads ready to go should Obama have picked Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine or any of the other rumored prospects.

But the Biden ad hints at something that will be worth watching: McCain and Biden, despite their harsh disagreement over the strategy in Iraq, are actually friends and have known each other for decades, long before McCain was in elected office. The two met while McCain was serving as the Navy’s Senate liaison in the mid-1970s. Indeed, one of the funnier anecdotes about McCain involves Biden and his wife, who often traveled with McCain on congressional fact-finding trips abroad. “McCain was much in demand for overseas escort duty,” wrote McCain biographer Robert Timberg in “A Nightingale’s Song.” “He was fun to be around, his wit appealing, his natural exuberance infectious. In an Athens taverna, he danced on a table with Senator Joseph Biden’s wife, Jill, a red bandanna clenched in his teeth.” Wow. Now that's footage I'd like to see in a campaign ad. This morning, McCain, who is spending the weekend at his cabin near Sedona, Ariz., called his old friend to congratulate him on being named to the ticket. McCain has gotten tougher and tougher in recent weeks when talking about Obama. Will he be as willing to attack Biden?

Here's my NEWSWEEK colleague Howard Fineman on the politics of Obama's veep pick.

The minute-by-minute story of how Obama handled the selection is interesting, and revealing of the way the Democratic nominee works. He insisted on the utmost secrecy; he paid the losers the courtesy of essentially telling them "no" to their faces--not an easy thing to do. And he swallowed his considerable pride and all but confessed his lack of knowledge of foreign affairs by selecting as his running mate the Senate's senior Democratic leader on that topic.

In short, Obama behaved like a grownup. Even his much-criticized failure to "vet" Sen. Hillary Clinton means less than meets the eye. I talked two months ago to one of her closest legal advisors, who told me that she didn't really WANT to be considered for the number two job--in no small measure because the process would have required Obama's lawyers to comb through her husband's foundation and its murky sources of income.

In that sense, Obama did her a favor by not really demanding to consider her. She would have had to say "no."

What does Biden bring to the ticket? A lot. First of all, he has a love of politics and public service. He never tried to get rich from his role, even though he has been in the Senate for decades. He is a fancy dresser--given to stick pin collars and French cuffs--and yet he is an unassuming son of a car salesman who takes the train home to Wilmington almost every night. His personal story is compelling: a riches-to-rags family background; a first wife killed in a car crash; a devoted life with his second wife; a passel of grandchildren whom he adores as much as they adore him. And he's never had a hint of financial or sexual scandal. Biden is a Catholic--a demographic must for a Democratic ticket eager to get swing voters in heavily Catholic states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. He knows foreign policy and defense issues of course, but in a textbook way. He is a street politician who has walked the streets of the planet. He genuinely wants to serve. He kept telling President Bush in the aftermath of 9/11 that he wanted to help him, privately, anytime. Bush, ill-advisedly, never availed himself of the priceless chance. Certainly among Democrats, Biden has few enemies. Even most Republicans like him. He is an irrepressible character, full of energy, smiles and, at times, baloney.

The risks? He can't keep his mouth shut. Sometimes he talks before thinking. He is not always a systematic thinker. He loves to hear himself talk. He can get carried away with his enthusiasms.  He is a lawyer, but some of his colleagues think, frankly, that he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, at least in the academic sense. There have been some matters of academic ethics and plagiarism. In 1987, his first presidential campaign exploded overnight after he was found to have lifted portions of a speech from a British politician. He loves the spotlight. Whether he can operate in the shadows is an open question. He is going to be on a very short rhetorical leash in the campaign. But will an Obama White House be able to keep Biden in check?

For now, here in Denver, most Democrats seemed pleased as the early word leaked out. Biden in some ways is the anti-Dick Cheney. And that's change the party can believe in.

READ THE REST HERE.
 

Coming soon to a swing state near you: Obama-Biden '08.

In an email and text message sent to supporters around 3:00 a.m., the Democratic presidential nominee announced that he has selected the senator from Delaware as his running mate. They'll appear together today in Springfield, Ill. at 2:00 p.m. local time.

Watch this space for more.

The message:

Friend --

I have some important news that I want to make official.

I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate.

Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois -- the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago.

I'm excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can't do this alone.  We need your help to keep building this movement for change.

Please let Joe know that you're glad he's part of our team.  Share your personal welcome note and we'll make sure he gets it:

http://my.barackobama.com/welcomejoe

Thanks for your support,

Barack

P.S. -- Make sure to turn on your TV at 2:00 p.m. Central Time to join us or watch online at http://www.BarackObama.com.
 

At 4:39 p.m. this afternoon, Politico's Avi Zenilman posted a cryptic item on one of the site's well-trafficked, influential blogs. It read, in its entirety, "The Emporia (KS) Gazette reports: Obama visits Emporia. Obama Campaign gives Emporia Gazette staff 20 minutes notice of visit." Talk about a headturner. With the entire political world obsessing over Barack Obama's impending veepstakes announcement--and with Emporia only an hour from Topeka, where a certain Kansas governor/VP finalist is working out of her office today--I'm sure dozens of other reporters came to the same conclusion I did: IT'S SEBELIUS!

Sadly, it's not--at least not yet. At 4:41, I frantically called the Gazette's Managing Editor Gwendolynne Larson to find out why the Obama campaign was visiting Emporia today. Turns out that I'd gotten both the "where" and the "when" of the story wrong. According to Larson, the Obama campaign called "yesterday out of the blue," informing the paper that Obama was coming through town. "All of it happened yesterday afternoon," she said, "and the upshot of it is that Obama's campaign didn't realize we were Emporia, Kansas--he was near Emporia, Virginia." Here's the inside story:

"We were prepared to scramble if they had given us the call back. 'Cause it kind of made sense. He has family here, and if he's on his way up to Topeka to see Sebelius, it's on his way. But we started doing our own looking and somebody figured out, you know, he's in Virginia this morning. And we said, 'But he could still fly here!' And then somebody said, 'There is an Emporia, VIRGINIA.' Right about that time, Obama's campaign called back and said, 'We're sorry, we thought you...' And I said, '... were in Virgina, right?' And they said, 'Yeah.'"

Larson laughed, but I have to say: I was disappointed. If this all went down yesterday, I asked, why post an item in the present tense? "Obama visits Emporia. Obama Campaign gives Emporia Gazette staff 20 minutes notice of visit." It sounds like he's coming there, to Kansas, in 20 minutes. "We are an afternoon paper," Larson told me, "so we posted it as the afternoon edition was coming out letting people know they should pick up a newspaper and read this cute little story. Our publisher is complaining about our website taking subscribers away from the print edition."

That's very savvy strategy, I said--if you're trying to drive every veepstakes-crazed reporter in the country completely nuts.

"Thank you!" said Larsen. "But I think I'm going to post the whole thing online now. I'm not going to be here all afternoon to answer your calls."

The waiting continues.
 

When it comes to the veepstakes, the waiting, apparently, is the hardest part.

At least it is for the political press corps, which seems to have gone completely nutso in the last 48 hours. I'm not talking about the constant speculation they--we--have indulged in regarding the unknown (and unknowable) identify of Barack Obama's running mate. That's par for the course. I'm referring instead to the pleading phone calls to an unresponsive Chicago; the unctuous emails to inside "sources" who themselves don't know anything; and, most of all, the absurd reportorial throngs surrounding the houses of the favored few still thought to be in the running--all in the hopes that somehow, someway something will happen that will award one particular reporter (as opposed to all the other guys and girls loitering in Joe Biden's driveway or telling Bill Burton "you don’t understand the kind of pressure I am under") the big scoop.

Seriously. If the MSM took all the time, money and talent it's currently spending on spilling beans scheduled to spill within a matter of hours anyway--all for inside-the-Beltway bragging rights, no less--and devoted them instead to breaking stories on, say, stuff that mattered, the public's hatred for the press might burn with the fire of only 999,999 suns. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for obsessing over the veepstakes. But what have we really learned from all the calls, messages and stakeouts?

On Wednesday, for example, the good folks at ABC News's Political Radar blog reported that Biden reached out the window of his pickup at precisely 9:15 a.m. to hand a box of coffee and a dozen bagels from the local Brew Ha Ha Espresso Cafe to the gaggle of reporters waiting outside his Wilmington, Del. home. "All the reporters and camera people had their video cameras trained on him, so there was a moment where no one understood he was giving the bagels to us," wrote Z. Byron Wolf. "One reporter was so flustered that he asked if