From Democrats for America's Future:

The Bush White House isn't satisfied with blurring the line between church and state when it comes to policy matters. Now, the Bush re-election team wants to set up its local campaign offices in your church ....First reported in The Washington Post and The New York Times, the Bush campaign is shifting into the "hail Mary" mode with an unprecedented effort to co-opt local churches as de facto arms of its campaign.

As The New York Times reported: "The Bush-Cheney campaign has laid out a brisk schedule for legions of Christian supporters to help enlist "conservative churches" and their members, including sending church directories to the campaign, according to a Bush campaign document. The document underscores how heavily Mr. Bush is relying on conservative Christians. The campaign is asking conservative churches and churchgoers to do everything they can to turn their churches into bases of support without violating campaign finance laws or jeopardizing their tax-exempt status."

It likely was this aviation forum, which at 9:00 last night posted:

John Kerry"s 757 was in hgr 4 pit tonight John Edwards vp decals were being put on engine cowlings and upper fuselage.

[link via TalkingPointsMemo]

Update: The Associated Press reports that Kerry's first phone call after the call to Edwards at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday was to an employee of the company charged with adding the name to Kerry's campaign plane.

Eric Alterman at Altercation today.

John Kerry's official statement.

The Republican smears have begun.

Via Atrios and Kos, reporting Senator John McCain's comments:

He's got the ambition, the talent and the brains to go very far, to be president of the United States. -Charlotte Observer, 2/26/01

Update: Media Matters debunks Republican and conservative attempts to smear Edwards.

Update: Joe Trippi weighs in.

It's official. John Kerry has chosen John Edwards as his running mate. We're ecstatic. Bush is Toast. Here's an open thread to discuss it.

Update: John Edwards' Statement on the nomination:

“I was honored this morning to receive a call from Senator Kerry asking me to join his ticket. I was humbled by his offer – and thrilled to accept it. “I’ve served with John Kerry. He is a man of strength, character and courage. He has a vision for our country that will make life better for all Americans - those in the middle class who struggle every day to make ends meet, and the millions of Americans fighting to enter the middle class. “I look forward to seeing all of you in the days ahead and talking to the American people about the next president of the United States.”

Bump and Update: If you're at work and away from radio and tv this morning, make sure you stay on line. The LA Times reports it is likely that Kerry will announce his VP pick Tuesday morning in Pittsburgh.

Added New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, an adviser to the campaign: "All indications are that it's going to happen tomorrow. But most of the people in the campaign, with the possible exception of three, are all playing the guessing game."

The latest the announcement will come is Thursday:

Thursday night is a gala fund-raising event at New York City's Radio City Music Hall -- a concert featuring the Dave Matthews Band, Jon Bon Jovi and others. One Democratic Party official who did not want to be identified by name said that Kerry and his running mate were expected to appear there together.

We're going with John Edwards:

Last Thursday, according to a party official who asked not to be named, Edwards interrupted a family vacation in Walt Disney World to meet with Kerry at the Georgetown home of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (emphasis supplied, see below)

And today, Edwards went to Boston to fundraise for Kerry.

Update: We'll go on record with predicting it's John Edwards. Left Coaster reports:

And both ABC News and the Boston Globe reported today that Kerry had a meeting last Thursday night at Madeline Albright’s Washington home and his favored choice was in attendance.

The Note pretty much clinches it, saying this link gives away the answer.

An hour ago, we were convinced by Kos's logic that Kerry would pick Gephardt. Now we think it's Edwards.

Sen. John Edwards visited Boston Monday to raise money for presumed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry amid intensifying speculation about Kerry's choice of running mate. Edwards, seen by many as one of Kerry's top choices, headlined a late-afternoon fund-raiser at the Four Seasons Hotel for Kerry Victory 2004, a joint venture between Kerry's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Update: The LA Times says Kerry may announce as early as Tuesday morning.

Kos answers the question, "What if Kerry picks Gephardt?" He gives the pros and cons. Mostly he's on the "pro" side. As an interesting sidenote, Kos says:

This election will be won and lost in Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Kerry is still keeping mum....CNN reported he had made his choice, while the Kerry campaign says it's not cast in stone yet. We bet it is cast in stone, and after reading Kos, we think it's going to Gephardt. Exciting, no. Better than another four years of Bush, no question about it. A ticket worth supporting? You bet.

Here's CNN's analysis of the veepstakes.

Labor unions are not uniformly behind Dick Gephardt as John Kerry's choice for a running mate. Some prefer John Edwards.

Despite labor's strong ties to Rep. Gephardt, unions aren't solidly behind him as John Kerry's pick for vice president. Some prefer Sen. John Edwards as the fresh face they think can bring energy and charisma to the ticket.

We're behind Edwards too.

On a related note, Americans in Germany assembled for the 4th of July to back John Kerry.

John Kerry is on the campaign trail. You can follow the progress here. Don't forget to "put your money where your mouse is" and contribute today.

by TChris

The Bush campaign's effort to use churches as field offices (TalkLeft discussion here) is offending members of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Bush campaign defended a memo in which it sought to mobilize church members by providing church directories to the campaign, arranging for pastors to hold voter-registration drives, and talking to various religious groups about the campaign.

"The bottom line is, when a church does it, it's nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it's partisan and inappropriate," [said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission]. "I suspect that this will rub a lot of pastors' fur the wrong way."

Others are concerned that the tax exempt status of a church might be jeopardized if it became entangled in partisan political activities. Probably not much chance of that happening if they're able to help Bush get reelected.

People for the American Way has posted the list of Floridians alleged to be felons and ineligible to vote. It also has instructions for how you can correct an erroneous listing:

On July 1, People For the American Way Foundation received from the Florida Division of Elections an electronic copy of a list of more than 47,000 registered Florida voters who the Division thinks may be ineligible to vote because of felony convictions. This list is now a public record available for inspection and copying by anyone as a result of the decision on July 1 by the Leon County Circuit Court in CNN v. Florida Department of State. The Supervisor of Elections in each Florida county has the list, and may use it as part of the basis to purge voters from the registration rolls. The state has admitted, however, that there may very well be errors on the list.

Background on media's successful lawsuit to obtain the list is here.

New Mexico's Governor, Bill Richardson, has withdrawn his name from consideration as a vice-presidential candidate to John Kerry.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, one of the country's top Hispanic Democrats, on Thursday told John Kerry he no longer wants to be considered as a possible running mate. Richardson said he wants to keep a promise to the people of New Mexico to serve a full, four-year term and noted that Kerry has "numerous experienced and talented leaders" from which to choose a vice presidential candidate.

"It is with that knowledge and comfort that I must tell you that I respectfully remove myself from the selection process and withdraw my name from consideration for the vice presidential nomination," Richardson said.

Good. Less competition for John Edwards.