Dayton International Airport:

On the day when Barack Obama is to make his historic speech accepting the democratic nomination for president, the media descended on the small Dayton International Airport to wait the arrival of John McCain.  The speculation was running fast and furious on who the pick might be after Carl broke the news that Rick Davis, McCain campaign manager, confirmed that John McCain had made his decision….

No leaking of who…just that the decision was made……The Vice Presidential pick will join John McCain at a rally at noon Friday at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Oh.

He’s railing against “elites”… accusing the moderator of a conspiracy to keep him silent… and pitching his website from the podium

As Campaign Carl predicted, Alan Keyes was in fine form at this afternoon’s debate. The energy! The eloquence! The anti-establishment rants!

You don’t always know what he’s talking about, but he says it with such vigor and absolute conviction that he at least gets credit for keeping the discussion lively, and the other candidates on their toes.

Ten minutes into a Republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa, and John McCain has come out with one of the boldest statements of his campaign so far. He promised to make the U.S. oil independent within five years.

The Senator says he’ll make it happen quickly, with a program like the Manhattan Project. That was the big push the U.S. made to build an atomic bomb before Germany could get one.

For the first time in more than a month, John McCain is campaigning in Iowa… but if you blink you’ll miss him.

McCain is here for Wednesday’s Republican debate sponsored by the Des Moines Register. Though he’s added a couple town hall meetings to his schedule, he’ll spend less than 48 hours in the Hawkeye state.

Three week before the caucuses, McCain has all but given up in Iowa. He has just 12 full time staffers here, and no TV ads or direct mail. His cash-strapped campaign is focusing its limited resources on New Hampshire and South Carolina.

McCain is running fourth or fifth in Iowa with poll numbers in the single digits. He has failed to catch fire among social conservatives, and says he’s been hurt by his opposition to ethanol subsidies.

When we tune in Wednesday for the latest in the series of GOP presidential debates–this time in St. Petersburg, FL–yet another presidential candidate might be participating. Well, sort of.

Democratic Presidential contender Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), has submitted a YouTube video question asking the Republican contenders whether they agree with what he calls the Bush administration’s “false choice” between giving up rights in order to attain increased security. “If you believe we aught not to give up our rights, what would you do in order to protect our Constitution?” he asks.

Colleen Flanagan, a Dodd spokesperson said the long-time Connecticut Senator has been “very vocal and outspoken on civil liberties,” having supported bills that he feels restore rights taken away during the Bush administration. (More here)

“He simply wants to know where the Republicans stand on the issue of civil liberties,” Flanagan said, adding that the campaign has yet to hear whether his question will be used during the debate.

Transcript after jump

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The Bob Novak piece printed in the New York Post Saturday that claimed Hillary Clinton agents have some “scandalous information” about Senator Obama generated a flurry of written statements from both campaigns Saturday.

At a press availability in Marion, Iowa, Sunday, Senator Obama was asked about the piece by reporters.

It’s “slime politics” that needs to be nipped in the bud or else it could end up getting out of control and destroy a candidate as it did to John McCain in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, Obama said.

While Senator Clinton’s campaign insisted Obama fell for a Republican trap to pit Democrats against one another by responding to the conservative commentator’s piece, Obama dismissed the charge as “silly.”

Watch his response: