Last 2 Veep Nominees Are Party Pariahs

Proving herself hampered her ability to attack Obama

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin acquitted herself at last night's debate with her charm and a show of basic coherency, writes Adam Nagourney in the New York Times. Her face-off with Joe Biden didn't prove to be a point of no return for the faltering McCain campaign, but neither was it the decisive blow against Barack Obama that McCain needed. More»

(NEWSER) - Joe Biden accepted his party's nomination to be vice president tonight, then took to the podium to pound the theme that John McCain will offer nothing more than a third Bush term, CNN reports. "John McCain doesn't seem to get it," said Biden, stressing his own humble roots and decrying the dire financial straits of blue-collar families. "Americans need more than a good soldier," he said, referring to McCain's war record. "They require a wise leader." More»

Dem's strengths expose key gaps in armor of Republican's rumored short-listers

(NEWSER) - Joe Biden presents a problem for John McCain, Jeanne Cummings notes on Politico. “McCain knows Biden well," says one Republican insider. "He knows how good he is as a knife fighter." Stacked up against Biden, all of the rumored GOP short-listers reveal potentially fatal flaws:

• Mitt Romney: Considering Biden's middle-class roots, the multimillionaire former governor could undermine McCain's claims of Obama elitism.

US still leans center-right

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has taken a big risk by choosing a VP almost as liberal as he is, writes Fred Barnes in the Wall Street Journal. In the past, Democrats have found success in politically balanced tickets: centrist Jimmy Carter and lefty Walter Mondale, moderate Bill Clinton and more liberal Al Gore. Despite a slight move leftward since ’04, America remains a center-right nation, Barnes claims. More»

VP will bring Dems together and garner Independent votes

(NEWSER) - Some argued Hillary Clinton was Barack Obama’s best VP choice because she could unite the Dems. But in crunching Rasmussen's favorable-unfavorable numbers, the New Republic finds Joe Biden can do that almost as well, while pulling in more independent voters and keeping Obama backers in the fold. Biden scores the fewest “unfavorable” ratings among Democrats, and the highest net score among Independents. More»