Lately I've been wondering, if not a Clinton/Obama ticket than who?
There are so many potentials for Vice president, both on the Democratic ticket and the Republican.

Come National Convention time, a presidential nominee will be chosen, a vice presidential candidate will be decided on soon after. A running mate is usually chosen in such a way that the ticket will have a good balance and will grab more of the national vote. This could mean that the VP candidate has a different ideological framework than the potential president (example, if Mike Huckabee was chosen to run with McCain, his high conservative/religious base would help balance McCain's slightly centered foundation ). This could also mean that the VP candidate is from a region of the country, or has support of a region of the country that the presidential nominee does not have strong showings with. The ticket is used as a strategy to appeal to the widest range of voters possible.

The actual nomination occurs at the Party's National Convention. The presidential nominee selects a preferred running mate and the convention delegates almost always select that person.

Here is a few of the possible combinations that have been surfacing, these are the picks that most sites overlapped on:

Democratic-

Hillary Clinton
• Evan Bayh-Senator from Indiana has also served two terms as governor and proved he could win a red state.
• Tom Vilsack-Governor of Iowa. Was in running for 2008 presidency.
• Ted Strickland-Governor of Ohio. Moderate voting record in Congress.
• John Edwards-Former senator from North Carolina. Was in 2008 presidential running. 2004 Vice presidential candidate.

Barack Obama
• Tim Kaine-Governor of Virginia. Democrat who ran as a moderate, won in state that traditionally votes more Republican.
• Kathleen Sebelius-Two-term Kansas governor. Won in a red state. Would help balance the ticket, as a woman and grab white-women voters.
• John Edwards- Former senator from North Carolina. Was a 2008 presidential running. 2004 Vice presidential candidate.

Republican-

John McCain
• Mike Huckabee-Was in 2008 presidential running until a week ago. Strong among conservatives.
• Mark Sanford-Governor of South Carolina. Appeals to fiscal and social conservatives.
Tim Pawlenty-Governor of Minnesota. Would get support from voters in the mid-west

I spoke with a UW republican today and asked her about her plans for tomorrow's primary. She, as many other Republicans I've talked with have said that they know John McCain will be the Republican nominee, but that they will still support their number ones. Many also reveal that they feel McCain has moved too far to the center and is not as conservative as they'd like.

They know that McCain will likely pull in more independents, but to them, voting for Mitt Romney, even though he's out of the running, or Mike Huckabee is a better idea. Some feel it will help make a point, maybe show McCain he should try to move his position back toward the right and show his conservative side more.

"I will still be casting my vote for Mitt Romney," college Republican Stephanie Fleisher said. "John McCain is obviously going to be the one to get the Republican nomination. I don't 100 percent agree with him because he's more liberal in his views, but I'll support him when the time comes. I really like Mitt Romney for his values and ideals, but he's too conservative for most people, a lot want someone who is more in the middle and that would appeal to both sides."

Another local voter expressed a similar opinion, but in reference to Mike Huckabee.

"I would like to see delegates sent out for Huckabee. He is much more conservative, and though McCain will be the one left standing, I believe we're deciding on the various shades," the voter said.

Some believe that delegates should still be sent for who they really believe in, even though the choice will not lead to a nomination. Others realize and take into account that we send our delegates to vote at the state platform.

"I think we want to decide whether we want to push the state to be more socially conservative, more fiscally conservative or more moderate. You want to decide where you want to go or where you want whoever you're going to vote for to push for, for the state platform," another Republican voter said.

Whether you vote for McCain or go for Ron Paul just because you really believe in him, it's good that we have that choice. At this point it's no longer strategy or reaching out for the Republicans, it's more, vote for whoever you feel truly supportive of even though in the back of your mind you know that McCain will be the contender left.

All of the Republicans I have spoken with are at peace with the fact McCain will be the nominee, even if he's not their first choice. It's a completely different story for the Democrats. The Democrats pretty much have to choose Clinton or Obama, more people are strongly for one or the other. Even if you still wanted to support John Edwards you would feel the need to pick either Clinton or Obama to support, as your second choice could make the difference in the neck and neck race.

If someone had told me even a week ago I'd be shaking Hillary Clinton's hand one day and standing two feet from Barack Obama at a press conference the next, I would have thought 'yeah right!' This weekend has been one of the most amazing, exciting and intense few days of my life. Though the rallies were thrilling to take part in and cover, everything we did was to lead up to covering the caucuses on Feb. 9th.

When I started David Domke's Politics and Blogging class, I had no idea it would be, in his words, a practicum where the students help create the curriculum and have a ton of hands on work in the field. I thought we'd talk about politics, read the news and write blog entries. What we have done is so much more than I imagined.

Our class has spent time interviewing students, parents, democrats, republicans, caucus leaders, party leaders, the attorney general, the governor, city council members, just about anyone we could get our hands on in Seattle and even places such as Mercer Island where I covered a republican caucus. I have learned so much about the entire process and about myself as a journalist.

I have never really identified myself as a journalist. I have known since my freshman year that I want to attend law school and so when I chose the major it was because of my love of writing and idea that the area of study would help prepare me for the rigors of the next three years. I wrote my articles and struggled with the structured mechanics, thinking at one point I wanted to try to switch to creative writing. The interviewing and coming up with stories I felt was too stressful and difficult for me. Last quarter in one of my journalism classes I was asked to maintain a blog. Blogging, I found to be much more in my comfort zone, writing freely with my own voice. I loved it.

That is part of the reason I joined Com 460, that and the fact that I was interested in politics, but just felt I never really knew much about what was going on. Through the pre-caucus and caucus coverage I have learned why people choose journalism as a career. It is thought-provoking, thrilling, you learn information before the public does and get to reveal it in your own words. I got a rush running from place to place, pushing my way through crowds to get closer to the action, asking questions, compiling articles and videos. All of the stress was well worth it.

I swear I pulled out at least five grey hairs this weekend, but you know, that's okay. You can buy hair dye, but you can't buy experiences like the ones from this weekend, the weekend of a journalism student in the midst of rallies and caucuses during one of the most exciting presidential elections in history!

As for the caucuses, they were interesting, but not as exciting. I did get to learn what they were all about and how they were structured. I listened to some interesting debates, though not heated as the groups were of no more than seven people and all were very polite and friendly. As one man said:

"It was nice to be able to come out and talk to my neighbors about this."

I heard the Obama and Clinton caucuses were insane and there were lines to get in at some of the buildings. Some of the precincts were over 100 people. I was glad though, that I got to experience something completely different than the rallies and the campus events. Going to a Republican caucus gave me a very different perspective and a look into an area that hasn't gotten as much attention.

I arrived early and prepared to talk to people as they found their precinct tables. Slowly the cafeteria of Islander Middle School began to fill up. A little after 1PM, after everyone was settled Lorie Sotelo, the caucus leader announced the caucus' start.
People first introduced themselves and then began discussing topics listed on sheets given to them. The subjects discussed ranged from global warming, to abortion to healthcare.
Debates started about John McCain and Mike Huckabee about who would be the better candidate to support.

A Huckabee supporter raised an interesting point to his precinct: McCain will get the nomination, he said, and he will support him when he does, but they should send their delegates for Huckabee in order to show that McCain should go back to the right side instead of hovering near the middle. His conservative side needed to be awakened.

To this the precinct captain said that, for that very reason (McCain being more moderate than Huckabee) they should send their delegates for McCain.

"I think that if we push our candidate back to the right we're cutting out his hope to reach the center," he said. He said that McCain had the best chance of pulling in the independent voters.

A lot of good discussions were held, in the end the majority of the delegates went to McCain. Huckabee came in second. A few went to Ron Paul and some even went to Mitt Romney.

I made this video to summarize the day: Video

As I mentioned before I was able to attend an intimate press conference before the rally at the Key Arena. It was amazing I was up in the front with my video camera the whole time. I got to be front and center when he first came out of the doors to enter the room.

My colleagues sat in the press seats in front of Obama's podium, hoping to get in a couple questions. He didn't end up calling on either one of them, though they were the youngest there and it would have been good to get some questions coming from college students. They told me afterwards that he had looked at them and seemed as if he was going to call on one of them before a man yelled out 'last question.'

He spoke mainly about the environment, for his topic choosing the location to be Mckinstry was good since it's a company that helps curb global warming by encouraging people to go green and helping build structures that are more environmentally friendly.

Obama spoke of his plans to reduce carbon emissions and said he would focus more on the environment, stating at one point that it hadn't been a major focus in many years.

Here is some of the footage I was able to capture: video

The last couple days have been a blur. I have literally been on the run for two days following the Hillary and Obama campaign trails. Thursday night I attended the Hillary rally at Pier 30, shook her hand and took a ton of video footage and today I attended a press conference for Obama in South Seattle and then ran right over to the Key Arena to watch his rally where I did the same, well except for the hand shaking part, though at the press conference I did stand less than 3ft from him and I swear he waved at me.

Because my colleagues and I were at the conference at the McKinstry company building we didn't get to the Key Arena until around 11 30. We already had our press badges, so we thought it would be easy to get in. Boy were we wrong.

By the time we got there, running at full speed from ten blocks away, where we had been dropped off we were confronted with several police officers. They were directing away a crowd of 3,000 people overflowing from the Key doors. The Arena was full. We walked up to the doors anyway, holding our press badges in front of us.

Everyone at the doors and inside shook their heads and told us there was no way, nobody else was getting in. We got on the phone and called a connection we had with the campaign, after several tries he answered. He told us to hang tight, and showed up outside ten minutes later with a secret service agent. The agent took us, as we pinched ourselves to make sure this was really happening and led us to the press box in the middle of the arena floor.

The music was loud and up-beat the crowd danced around and waved signs. Tons of youth were there, many had skipped school in order to attend. Everyone was energized and many waved signs and wore Obama gear. Some kids from Redmond High School talked about how their entire school, but mostly their senior class were supporters of Obama. Another group of high school kids from Puyallup had gotten up at 5AM in order to make it to the event.

After an official endorsement from Governor Gregoire and Mayor Nickels Obama emerged to a roar from the crowd so loud my ears rang minutes into his speech. His speech was exactly what the crowd at the Key wanted to hear. It was full of motivational lines and encouragement. Here is a video I made of the event: video

Both Hillary and Obama stressed the importance of caucusing tomorrow. Another day to add to my political blur, I will be out on Mercer Island tomorrow covering the caucuses! To keep updated on what's going on in WA check out seattlepoliticore.org.

I went to the Hillary Clinton Rally Thursday and actually had a lot of fun. The atmosphere was hectic, yet light hearted, everyone there was very happy and excited to be there. I went in as a volunteer so I could get closer and talk to people as they came in the doors. I have never really been to political events such as this and it was very intense. People were excited and seethed with anticipation. The people that show up to these types of things are the passionate ones, when you have 5,000 or so in a room it can feel strong.

A co-worker of mine was able to get my name on the list of people to sit behind Hillary while she gave her speech, so around 8PM I headed over to the bleacher section. There I found enthusiastic people, the most diverse crowd of the night, a few younger people, some ethnically diverse groups and some men. I wondered if this was campaign strategy in action.

She arrived around 9 30PM and took her place on stage after a quick pre-show by Ron Sims and Gary Locke.

Hillary's attitude and look was very different than what I had expected. She seemed warm and caring, and looked a lot younger. Her speech was good, she touched on some of the sensitive issues and also gave a reason she was better than her opponent, the reason being her superior healthcare plan. She joked about the Bush administration which garnered applause.

After her speech she made the rounds about the stage area and I was lucky enough to shake her hand get her autograph. A friend asked me after if her hands were clammy. To this I responded, no they were surprisingly soft and warm.

Here's a video I made of the night: Video

First let me just say that I was sad to hear that Edwards is no longer in the running for president. I would have liked to see him go at least until the Washington caucus on February 9th. I feel that because of his white male status, though it has always worked in favor of elect ability in the past was a big reason he was not getting as many votes this time around. He wasn't as controversial; he was old news and was put on the backburner especially in the media. He wouldn't have represented that idea of major change that everyone is feeding off of right now.

It's crazy how far our country has come. Today I was at work and heard a question being discussed: What do you think would be a bigger achievement for our country, electing a woman for president or a black man? My co-workers agreed that it would be more radical to elect a female. They, as well as one of my roommates said that the role of president is thought of as a more masculine, strong job and would be more likely to be given to a male, no matter his race than a female. My roommate said that if you look at the heads of major companies, they are mostly men and it has been much harder for women to achieve the same amount of respect, even in these times.

My other roommate had a very different opinion. She said that more racism than sexism exists in this country and that if you look at past achievements, such as the right to vote, they were given to women before they were given to black men. Well, technically the right to vote was given to black males first, but not truly enforced and encourage/allowed until after it was given to women. She also brought up the civil rights movement and expressed her opinion about how black men have been oppressed much longer than women.

It's an interesting question. Now, no matter what the democratic nomination will go to a candidate unlike any other in history. And they will be put up against a white male in the presidential election. Edwards' defeat may be an allusion for what's to come. Then again, he could have been the democrat's best bet at winning the 2008 election for president.

This election season many of the candidates have been preaching the same things, which I guess is how it usually goes. The way they talk about it and how convincing they actually are is what makes the difference. One of the major themes I've noticed has been the idea of change.

All of the candidates, Obama and Clinton especially have been saying that if they are elected we can expect change. It's funny because the other day one of my friends told me that nobody likes change, that change makes people uncomfortable. I've heard this before, but when it comes to politics is this not true?

Or is it sometimes true? We elected Bill Clinton twice because things were comfortable and George Bush twice, also because most people at the time didn't mind how things were going and did not want to change.

Why now is the theme change? Is it the sensitivity of the Iraq war or the dragging economy?

No matter what candidate is elected we must be prepared for change as the current president can not be re-elected. People are trying now to decide who has the potential to make the most change in the most areas. I just feel sometimes that in an effort to talk about how they're so different and why they are better the candidates end up sounding pretty alike.

A friend showed me this youtube video; it's a funny way of showing this idea of the candidates all vying for votes on the platform of major change.

At the democratic debate on today a 38 year old woman from South Carolina wrote in with a question for Hillary. It was: I have never voted in a presidential election where a Bush or a Clinton was not on the ticket. How, if you were elected would you bring change?

After explaining Hillary ended with "Well, it took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush and it will take a Clinton to clean up after the second," to this the room exploded into applause. Clever Hillary.

My roommate exclaimed to this, "Or it may take an Obama to clean up after everyone!"