Decision Virginia

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight expects to be a big night for Barack Obama, but John McCain is not just surrendering the day’s media coverage to the Democratic Nominee. McCain is rumored to have picked his running mate and word is that it could leak at some point tonight. (No matter what we are expected to hear first thing tomorrow in advance of a major announcement on Friday.)

The potential for McCain’s pick to come down today, sent our newsroom into a bit of a frenzy, primarily because NBC put out a warning saying that the news could come at any moment and if it did they were going to just break in to report it. This was during our 6 p-m news so we were just going to report it ourselves if it did happen. Of course the news has not come and we are still waiting. There is still that very real possibility that local Congressman Eric Cantor could be the pick, but it seems that much of the bluster from yesterday has subsided a bit and it looks like it will come down to Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty.

In other McCain news, the nominee put out an ad tonight that will air in battleground states (Virginia included) during convention coverage. The ad is certainly something different. Take a look at it here, before you see it tonight.

I’ll check back in later after Gov. Kaine’s speech.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight is Barack Obama’s big moment as he delivers his acceptance speech to a crowd of over 70,000 people at Invesco field in Denver. You may recall that prior to the start of the Democratic National Convention, The McCain camp warned of a bump of as much as 15 points in the polls from the convention. So far the Gallup Daily Tracking poll has stayed about where it was before the DNC.

Here is a look at what we are working on for tonight on NBC 12 and DecisionVirginia.com.

Local Delegates Prepare for Obama- We have a number of people from Richmond and Central Virginia in attendance in Denver, getting ready for tonight’s history making speech. We will get their impressions of the big night and what it could mean for the very tight race back here. 

Local Republicans React- The spin machine back here in Richmond has been working overtime, to mute as much of the Obama message as possible. We have an interview scheduled with LG Bill Bolling to get his take on the DNC and a preview of the Republican event next week. 

Mayor Doug Wilder- You may recall our lively chat with the Mayor from Denver on Tuesday. We have another interview scheduled with him this afternoon (His entire comments on the Clinton family are available on our video player on the main page). We will see if he was happy with Sen. Clinton’s speech on Tuesday night and ask him what he anticipates from the Obama show tonight.  

Check back often today as we keep an eye on the McCain VP watch and some other Central Virginia political developments that are still emerging. And don’t forget to catch our coverage on TV beginning at 5:30.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight on 12 News at 11 we explored where Barack Obama stands on missile defense programs. There is a pretty heavily viewed YouTube clip that comes from a pre-produced video statement the senator delivered to a group called Caucus 4 Priorities, an activist group that aims to reduce the size of the U.S. defense budget.

In his statement, Obama talks about cutting spending to what he called “unproven” missile defense systems. This has been fodder for conservative bloggers and others who are attempting to show Obama as weak when it comes to national security. I got the chance to talk to Obama about this very topic last week and tonight on “Securing America’s Future” night at the DNC, we showed you what he had to say. I also was able to talk one on one with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a McCain supporter, about how he views Obama’s stance on missile defense. The video clip of the story is below. You can see the entire interview uncut in the video player on the main page.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

As we settle in to watch Bill Clinton’s speech in Denver, this is worth noting. The influential conservative blog RedState today named local Congressman Eric Cantor as their choice for John McCain’s running mate. Generally Conservative bloggers have had little sway with the McCain camp, but there has been as much talk about Cantor and McCain at this point as there was about Kaine and Obama.

Our newsroom hasn’t officially developed Cantorastaria yet, but if this continues who knows? According to Drudge Report, McCain has already picked his running mate, so things could only get worse.  After the jump, I’ve posted some of RedState’s case for Cantor. Read the rest of this entry »