“David Axelrod is here.  David and I have been together for a long time.  I can still remember…I tear up a little bit when I think back to the day I called Axe so many years ago and said, ‘we can do wonderful things together,’ and he said the same thing that partners all across America are saying to each other right now.  ‘Let’s go to Iowa and make it official.’”

I also love the dig at Michael Steele and the Clinton jokes.  Well played.

“I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?”

A great speech overall–effective and eloquent.

“If we supported her and she supports him — we support him,” said Kevin Hostetler, 23, of Arlington, Texas.

I may post my thoughts later (beyond that it was a great speech) since every journalist who spoke to me lost interest when they found out I wasn’t either a Clinton supporter or a female Obama supporter.

So the question of picking Hillary as a running mate is in many ways a wash. I’m not someone who believes that these democratic voters who supported Hillary are likely to run en masse, because I think they’ll see the reality of the stark differences in candidates–Iraq, health care, the economy, and abortion–and return to the party that represents their fundamental beliefs.

…unless McCain picks a female running mate. In this case I do see a lot of the most passionate Hillary supporters who are female torn–vote against a woman VP and for the man who beat their woman or finally help a woman break that glass ceiling that Clinton cracked. If McCain picks someone like Carly Fiorina (despite the terms she left HP on) who is strong economically (the former CEO title gives her that) or Sarah Palin, I think there will be a lot of women tempted to break from the Democratic party.

This is why there is something to Obama waiting. He can’t easily pick a different woman, as a lot of people would see her sliding in to take Hillary’s place and taking advantage of her groundbreaking work (we’ve all seen First Wives Club–no one likes the other woman who swoops in). If McCain picks a man, then the realm of possibilities for Obama opens up again. In this case, the best pick (for my money, and probably unlikely) would be Chuck Hagel. Pull in the independents, Republicans who are sick of Iraq, and I think more of the people who might relate more to McCain than Obama (read: an old white veteran versus younger black man who can’t bowl and pounds/gives knuckle to his wife before his victory speech). There is a culture gap that I think needs to be filled not because I think people are racist, but because people are most comfortable with people they have more in common with. I’ve been called cynical for this before, but I think that a ticket with HIllary and Obama is a bit too much change at once. From 43 white male led executives administrations to…well, not-is a lot to take in.

Effective courting of Clinton supporters who are threatening to vote McCain by playing the “media isn’t fair” and “party elders robbing her,” as well as invoking his daughters.

John McCain has always done a good job of being the politician with self-loathing issues to relate to voters. Constantly mocking himself and politics (SNL is one example) works as the lovable “maverick” Senator, but it’s starting to look un-Presidential. You don’t want a President who is winking (often literally) and nudging that he’s just playing the game.

McCain also keeps talking about change that both represent, but claims himself as moving forward, but several of his lines are right out of Reagan’s speech book.  Maybe more I’ll include quotes, but this is just a few initial thoughts…

“You know, I’ll tell you what. I’m not going to put my lot in with economists because I know if we did it right-if we actually did it right-if we had a president who used all the tools of the presidency then it would be implemented effectively.”

Again, I think it’s interesting that Clinton is being Bush-like in her willingness to insult experts on this issue to come across as a populist. The first question in the town hall came from a self-identified Obama supporter who outlines several of the arguments against the gas tax pretty effectively and says, “call me crazy, but I actually listen to economists because they know what they’ve studied.” Ouch.

UPDATE:  Looks like I’m not the only one who noticed some of these points.  This further outlines her hits on the “elite.”

“The presidency requires leadership… There are times when the president does something that the group of experts, quote unquote, does not agree with.”

This somehow reminds me of a President who went forward with a war in Iraq despite what many experts thought. Admittedly, this is a harsh and even unfair comparison, but bullheaded leadership that experts oppose isn’t always the solution–even if it will score you political points in an upcoming election.