Kiwiblog

The Dom Post reports:

Prime Minister John Key will make a surprise visit to the White House on his first official visit to Washington.

Mr Key has been unexpectedly shoe-horned in for a meeting with American Vice-President Joe Biden at the White House tonight New Zealand time.

We must have offended someone.

Around half an hour ago, Barack Obama was officially declared President-Elect, with the completion of the final stage of the election. They were:

1. November – general election to elect state delegates to Electoral College
2. December – Electoral College delegates meet in every state capital and cast votes
3. January – House and Senate meet in joint session to certify and count the votes, presided over by the Vice-President

No electoral college members changed their vote from the ticket they were elected on (it is not uncommon for one or two to do this) so the final count was as expected 365 for Obama and Biden and 173 for McCain and Palin.

Danyl writes:

I can unhestitatingly guarantee that Four Weeks, Three Months and Two days is the best film about getting an abortion in Ceausescu’s Romania you’ll see all year.

Possibly not such a great first date movie.

Heh indeed. That reminds me of a story from a friend. A guy took her to a film festival film on a date. The film basically was about how both the female and male leads were raped, and how it affected their relationship. Eventually the male lead blew his brains out. I think it may have been the worst possible date movie ever!

Aaron B blogs:

Americans have taken to emailing Nigerians warning them that if they get offers to put money into an American bank – don’t do it, because it’s a scam.

Heh.

Homepaddock praises Wotif for finding places to stay. I agree – it is a great site and I use it all the time.

No Minister has a list of false statements made by Joe Biden in the Vice-Presidential debate. I’m waiting to see what Fact Check makes of the claims from both sides.

42% more people watched the Vice-Presidental debate than the Presidential debate. How weird is that?

Consensus seems to be Biden did best, but Palin exceeded expectations and held up okay.

However Obama now has a commanding leads in the polls – almost 6% nationally and almost 2:1 in the electoral college.

A short video showing what Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden said earlier this year about Barack Obama and about John McCain. Nothing better than quoting someone back at themselves.

Hat Tip: New Zeal

Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential candidate.

Biden is 65 years old and one of the more experiences Senators – especially in foreign policy. He sought the Democratic nomination 20 years ago in 1988 and was briefly a candidate this time also.

He entered the Senate when I was five years old – in 1973, so has served 36 years there. His age when elected, 30, is the constitutional minimum to be a Senator.

Unlike Obama (who was not in the Senate then), Biden voted in favour of the resolution authorising war in Iraq in 2002.

His 1988 presidental campaign was derailed by plagiarism scandals.

Often VP choices are made to balance the ticket – make it more electable. The Biden choice is of course also about electability, but more about negating fears of Obama’s inexperience that appealing to a specific demographic. It seems a pretty solid choice. The only downside is he undermines Obama’s brand as being about change, but I doubt it will seriously impact that.