The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

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The pair have actively sought clients that might have business before committees that Biden serves on in the Senate, and have dabbled in hedge funds, which, say Democrats on K Street, did not go well. Biden's other son from his first marriage is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in early October, an event the Obama campaign has factored heavily into its early October campaign schedule.

"Biden is very well aware that his son's deployment is going to be a big part of what we do in October. It's part of our narrative and we're going to milk it for all it's worth," says one of the Obama advisers. "Republicans would do the same."

p> MESSAGE TO McCAIN br> Several prominent conservatives, one of whom serves on the board of the Arlington Group, a coalition of social-conservative organizations, and is a delegate to the Republican convention, say that should the Republican platform currently being shaped in Minneapolis and Sen. John McCain 's vice presidential selection not reflect the views of the conservative movement, they will attempt to mount a challenge to McCain's nomination on the floor of the Republican convention next week. /p>

"I'm talking about more than roll call vote," says the Arlington Group board member. "I'm talking about putting another name in nomination and sending Senator McCain and conservatives across the country a message: we're not going to sit back and surrender our party just for a political victory. Senator McCain says he'd rather lose an election than lose the war in Iraq. I feel the same way about my party, and I know other conservatives think that way too."

A floor challenge would require the majority of delegates from a total of six states, one to make a motion to open the floor to a new nomination, and five others to essentially second the motion. But it would also require good timing and some luck. The convention schedule -- even when not televised -- is tightly filled and heavily scripted, and it isn't clear that the secretary of the convention would make it easy for such a motion to be placed.

That, and the notion of getting the majorities of six states to agree on such a motion, which would shake the convention, makes such a challenge highly unlikely, perhaps even impossible.

"Right now there are only two ways to send McCain a message: the convention or the ballot box in November. I'd rather send the message sooner rather than later, because we can't afford to allow Obama and Biden to win," says the delegate, who adds that the decision to put a moderate to liberal on the bottom of the ticket -- "a Romney or a Giuliani or a Lieberman" -- would probably be enough for him to seek help in creating a parliamentary spectacle at the convention.

"Senator McCain is taking conservatives for granted," says another delegate, who is not looking to embarrass McCain, but who is unhappy with the way the campaign has dealt with conservatives. "He expects us to fall in line, but look at the keynote speaker: Giuliani. He's not only a liberal Republican, he ran an awful campaign. He's not a party standard-bearer. You have moderates controlling the convention and the podium and then conservatives get five minutes a night. You get the sense that McCain is embarrassed by the conservative values he claims to believe in."

topics:
Foreign Policy, John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Business, Iraq, NATO