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The Veep Timetable

Mulling it over, First Read writes:

Turning back home, all indications are pointing to Obama's veep pick getting announced in the 10-day window after he gets back from Europe and before the Olympics. (Maybe, given the calendar, we're stating the obvious at this point, but everything is about timetables in the Obama campaign, right?)

These guys are better-sourced than I am, and generally more familiar with how campaigns think this stuff through, so I suspect they're right. But I guess I don't see the unassailable logic of announcing the pick before the Olympics. Any PR bump will get stepped on by the games (unless they announce very soon after Obama gets back). Worse, the Olympic dark period will give enterprising reporters 2-3 uninterrupted weeks to look for skeletons in the veep nominee's closet, with which they'll pummel him/her at the convention.

Why not just save the announcement for, say, the first night in Denver? (The Olympics end the day before.) It'll get everyone to tune in, provide a big momentum boost at the outset, and maybe drown out the lurid interest in the Obama-Clinton soap opera.

Then again, maybe the Clintons would interpret that as a huge diss, which you'd prefer to avoid.

--Noam Scheiber