Early next week, according to circumstantial evidence, as well as some information imparted on the condition of anonymity.
Unless Obama intends to wait until the convnetion begins to -- as George H.W. Bush did in 1988 with Dan Quayle -- choosing the week before the convention is logical.Campaign advisers have said that they expect Obama and the nominee to tour the country before the convention, but others have suggested a trip after the convention -- during the Republican convention -- that would provide a nice visual and message counterweight to the wall-to-wall coverage of Republicans. In 1992, then Gov. Bill Clinton and Sen. Al Gore bonded over a successful post-convention bus tour with the theme of "on the road to change America."
In an e-mail to supporters last night, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said that Obama "is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign -- choosing a running mate" and promised that supporters who typed in their cell phone numbers would recieve a text message alerting them to the pick as soon as it was made.
A small circle of Obama advisers including Plouffe, senior strategist David Axelrod and adviser Valerie Jarrett, are privy to Obama's thinking, and they're not talking. Other senior advisers have asked not to know so they don't have to worry about keeping the secret.
For John McCain, Republicans close to his campaign have penciled in Friday, August 29, the day after Obama accepts the nomination.
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