OBAMA MAY HAVE ALREADY CHOSEN KAINE AS RUNNING MATE
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.
Due to the confidential nature of the meeting, details are scarce but the source said that either Obama will choose Kaine, or Kaine was given the impression that he would be chosen.
Kaine however told reporters Monday, “It has been really nice to be mentioned, my mom loves it. I never thought it was very likely, for a variety of reasons”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am and is filed under Democrats, National news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This would be an amazing scoop if it turned out to be true. Good work.
By the way, the capital of Virginia is Richmond, not Richland. I guess you’re thinking of Richland County?
Good catch. Had to crank it out on the fly.
Not convincing. Kaine would not have to resign if selected, and I can’t see him doing so. Only if he were elected. So, there’s no time pressure for such a meeting.
paleo,
With a Democratic Governor and a GOP majority in the General Assembly, I can imagine he’ll face intense political pressure (i.e. a censure) within Virginia if he’s chosen and doesn’t step down.
And it’s one thing to be part of a legislative body and run around campaigning for president, it’s entirely different to do it while running a state.
- A.F.
Remember four years ago when Joyce Aboussie, Gephardt’s right aide, was being “prepared” for new assignments?
http://www.mydd.com/story/2004/7/5/5557/36979
Just because anxious staff members are having “discussions” doesn’t mean squat.
They can scream all they want. By resigning, Democrats would lose control over the state election machinery. As we saw with Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, in a close vote, that can make all the difference.
Tim Kaine is a moron.
But what is there to meet about? If Gov. Kaine resigns, Lt. Gov. Bolling becomes Governor.
Are they trying to figure out who then becomes Lt.Governor, and therefore President of the Senate of Virginia?
There actually doesn’t seem to be any provision for someone succeeding to the office of Lt. Governor in the Constitution of Virginia:
http://legis.state.va.us/Laws/search/Constitution.htm
Ah ha, here we go–in the Virginia Code:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+coh+24.2-212+406953
§ 24.2-212. Discharge of duties when office of Lieutenant Governor vacant.
When a vacancy occurs in the office of Lieutenant Governor, the duties of that office shall be discharged by the President pro tempore of the Senate, but he shall not by reason thereof be deprived of his right to act and vote as a member of the Senate.
(Code 1950, § 24-152; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-84; 1973, c. 30; 1993, c. 641.)
I could have saved them a lot of time and worry. Democratic Senator Chuck Colgan will succeed Lt. Governor Bolling, should Governor Kaine resign.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Colgan
smoke screen
<strong>Will It Be “Obama-Kaine”?…</strong>
…
Sounds a lot like that “Lakers win the NBA finals” post you wrote.
Yeah, well I’m happy with the current outcome.