All Blog Posts from Horserace

Barack Obama may have had a much larger crowd watching his acceptance at Invesco Field in Denver than John McCain did inside the Republican Convention hall in St. Paul, but according to Neilsen ratings released today, more people watched McCain's speech on TV.

38.9 million people viewed McCain's address to his convention in St. Paul, while 38.4 million watched Obama's speech in Denver, according to the Neilsen ratings.

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By all accounts, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's address before the Republican Convention Wednesday night went over swimmingly with the Republicans' conservative base. But it appears to have had a similar effect on the Democratic side.

CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic reports that the Obama campaign confirms it has raised over $8 million since Palin's speech last night and is aiming to break $10 million by the end of the night.

Early on Thursday morning, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe sent an email to supporters urging donations of $250 or more to "clarify" to Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin that "community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies." Both Giuliani and Palin mocked Obama's post-collegiate stint as a community organizer in Chicago during their speeches to the RNC.

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A day after wowing Republican delegates in a convention address that was almost universally acclaimed, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin emerged from a meeting with Republican governors and went right back on the attack against Barack Obama.

Reviving a popular Republican line of attack—that Obama voted "present" dozens of times while in the Illinois senate—Palin said, "We don't have a 'present' button as governor. We are expected to lead, we are expected to take action and not just vote 'present.' So there's a big difference, of course, between the executive and legislative branches and our experience."

The Republican governors event in the Twin Cities marked the first time since John McCain made her his running mate—excluding her convention speech—that Palin appeared in public without the top of the ticket by her side.

Palin is slated to begin campaigning on her own Monday, and she told reporters she's eager to travel across the country.

"I intend to give this campaign all that I have to give," she said. "And I look forward to these 60-plus days on the trail. My family looks forward to this, we're up for it, we're excited about it."

Todd Palin, the husband of John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in 1986, CBS News confirms.

The Christian Broadcasting Network, which broke the story of Todd Palin's 1986 arrest, reports that Palin was behind the wheel of a truck in the small southwestern Alaska town of Dillingham when he was pulled over and arrested for the DUI.

Palin was 22 years old at the time of his arrest.

The news of Todd Palin's DUI arrest comes on the same day that Sarah Palin announced her 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant.

When The White House announced this morning that President Bush and Vice President Cheney will not be attending the Republican National Convention on Monday, as previously scheduled, the president and vice president joined a long list of Republican leaders who will be conspicuously absent in St. Paul.

Bush and Cheney are skipping the big event because of the serious threat to the Gulf Coast that Hurricane Gustav poses, but many other prominent GOPers never planned on making the trip to Minnesota, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Perhaps the biggest name of all other Republican non-attendees—California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger—had vowed that he wouldn't attend if a state budget dispute wasn't settled. The budget is still in limbo, and Schwarzenegger remains in California.

The Times reports that at least 10 incumbent senators won't attend the RNC, and only three incumbents in tight reelection races planned to be there.

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She may claim to be “just an average hockey mom,” but John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin is anything but average.

The reaction to McCain’s shocking selection of the Alaska governor has been all over the map, but one argument no one can make about Palin is that she is a bland choice.

It’s not just her credentials as the youngest and only female governor in Alaska’s history that make Palin so intriguing. How many vice-presidential candidates in American history have been avid moose hunters, sports reporters or beauty queens? Palin is all three.

When Vogue Magazine asked her what her favorite meal was, she didn’t settle on pizza or Mexican. "Moose stew after a day of snowmachining,” she said. Does it get any more Alaska than that?

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Tony Viessman drove to Denver all the way from Rolla, Missouri, to support his candidate: Barack Obama. The self-described redneck spoke to CBSNews.com about how he tries to convince his gun-toting friends to back the Illinois senator.

Watch the video below:


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Sen. John McCain has chosen his running mate, whom he will notify on Thursday, a senior McCain campaign official told The Politico’s Mike Allen.

McCain is planning to roll out his VP choice in a large rally in Dayton, Ohio, at noon on Friday, followed by join appearances in Pennsylvania and Missouri, sources said.

Over the past few days, the media’s focus has been narrowed to three potential options for McCain: former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

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(DENVER) In town for the Democratic convention to promote his “Pickens Plan” for alternative energy, billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens predicted $200 a barrel oil within three years.

“In two or three years, we’re going to be at $200 a barrel—could be $300 a barrel for oil,” Pickens said inside the “Big Tent,” a complex outside the Pepsi Center set up for bloggers. “And consequently, our economy is going to struggle and our security is just—it’s a disaster.”

Pickens was joined on stage by Sierra Club president Carl Pope and Center for American Progress president John Podesta, both of whom endorsed The Pickens Plan, although each called for additional proposals.

Pickens said the United States is blessed with “two corridors” that are conducive to alternative energy sources: the “wind corridor” from Texas to Canada and the “solar corridor” from Texas to California. Although Pickens said he agreed with Al Gore that global warming is a major problem, his first priority is to help reverse the tide of sending billions of dollars overseas for America’s energy needs.

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(DENVER) I caught up With CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield at the DNC site in Denver. Jeff shared his insights on how covering the conventions has changed over the years, whether there is discontentment among Hillary Clinton’s delegates and who he thinks John McCain will pick to be his running mate, among other topics.

Watch the full interview below: