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Joe Biden's Senate seat will be filled by Edward "Ted" Kaufman, a longtime aide to the Vice President-elect.

Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced the appointment this afternoon.

Biden, who just won his seventh term in the Senate, must vacate his seat before being sworn in as Vice President on January 20th. Minner said Kaufman will be sworn in sometime in early or mid January.

Biden's son, Attorney General Beau Biden, had been seen as a possible replacement for his father. He announced last week that he wouldn't accept the appointment if offered, saying he planned to continue serving in the National Guard.

The [Wilmington] News Journal's Jeff Montgomery writes that "[t]he selection of the former Biden chief of staff was widely seen as a move by Vice president-elect Biden to protect his seat for" his son Beau, who is presently deploying to Iraq.

There will be an election in 2010 for Delaware voters to decide who will fill the final four years of Biden's term. Montgomery writes that the choice reflects a snubbing of Lt. Gov. John Carney; one Delaware professor suggests in the News Journal story that it will be viewed by some as "a backroom deal."

Former presidential candidate John Edwards made his first public appearance since his admission of an extra-marital affair last summer with a speech at Indiana University last night. Talking about the election, Edwards said that outcome “symbolizes what’s possible in America,” according to the AP and added that he thinks President-elect Obama benefited from focusing on voter concerns like the war, the economy and health care.

Edwards reiterated his desire to continue to work on poverty issues. And while he took questions from the audience, they were submitted in advance and the subject of his affair did not come up.

What’s a game of vice presidential guessing without a big twist at the end? What everyone knows (or is at least very sure of) is that Barack Obama will unveil his running mate by tomorrow when he’s scheduled a large rally at the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois. What we don’t know is exactly when – or more importantly, who – the selection is to be.

The primary focus remains on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, Delaware Senator Joe Biden and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. But a new name has suddenly been thrust into the mix. CBS News has confirmed that Texas Representative Chet Edwards was among those vetted by the Obama campaign and is “a finalist” for the running mate slot.

A rising star for the party in an extremely Republican state, Edwards has long been talked about as running mate material. But he is relatively unknown outside of Texas and political circles and may not mesh in the minds of many voters with the qualifications Obama told Harry Smith this morning he is most looking for. Obama said he’s looking for a potential president, saying, “the most important question is is this person prepared to be president?” It would take a massive effort to introduce Edwards as that to the voters.

On the Republican side, the tea leaves also continue to pile up. CBSNews.com chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reports there is “apparently going to be a major political event in Grand Rapids, Michigan on or about 8/31” – that’s Saturday, the day after McCain is expected to unveil his running mate. Of course Michigan is the former home of Mitt Romney, whose presence on the ticket could put the state in play this fall. But, as Ambinder points out, as a potential swing state, Michigan would be part of a VP tour with just about any potential candidate. There are hints that McCain will make his first appearance with his running mate in Ohio next Friday.

Meanwhile, Romney has moved back into the top slot on our GOP Vice Presidential Hot Sheet, with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty back in the number two position. Others moving are former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

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What’s a game of vice presidential guessing without a big twist at the end? What everyone knows (or is at least very sure of) is that Barack Obama will unveil his running mate by tomorrow when he’s scheduled a large rally at the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois. What we don’t know is exactly when – or more importantly, who – the selection is to be.

The primary focus remains on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, Delaware Senator Joe Biden and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. But a new name has suddenly been thrust into the mix. CBS News has confirmed that Texas Representative Chet Edwards was among those vetted by the Obama campaign and is “a finalist” for the running mate slot.

A rising star for the party in an extremely Republican state, Edwards has long been talked about as running mate material. But he is relatively unknown outside of Texas and political circles and may not mesh in the minds of many voters with the qualifications Obama told Harry Smith this morning he is most looking for. Obama said he’s looking for a potential president, saying, “the most important question is is this person prepared to be president?” It would take a massive effort to introduce Edwards as that to the voters.

On the Republican side, the tea leaves also continue to pile up. CBSNews.com chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reports there is “apparently going to be a major political event in Grand Rapids, Michigan on or about 8/31” – that’s Saturday, the day after McCain is expected to unveil his running mate. Of course Michigan is the former home of Mitt Romney, whose presence on the ticket could put the state in play this fall. But, as Ambinder points out, as a potential swing state, Michigan would be part of a VP tour with just about any potential candidate. There are hints that McCain will make his first appearance with his running mate in Ohio next Friday.

Meanwhile, Romney has moved back into the top slot on our GOP Vice Presidential Hot Sheet, with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty back in the number two position. Others moving are former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

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Sen. Edward Kennedy, who recently underwent surgery and chemotherapy to combat a malignant brain tumor, taped a five-minute video this weekend at his home on Cape Cod. The video, the Associated Press reports, is meant to be shown at the Democratic National Convention. Kennedy has been little seen since his May 17th seizure, though he did cast a vote on Medicare in July on the Senate floor.

In other convention-related news, Democrats this weekend completed a 44-page draft of the Democratic platform. The Denver Post reports that the proposed statement of party principles "reinforces Obama's theme of change but acknowledges Clinton's differing view on health-care reform and her supporters' desire to blast sexism in the media."

The document, which was drafted in Cleveland, now goes to the 186-member platform committee, who are meeting this weekend; it must be approved by the time the convention begins later this month.

The Post reports that Democrats stressed party unity this weekend while working on the platform and played down any rifts between Obama and Clinton supporters. On health care, where Clinton and Obama's plans differed, the language added to the platform was this: "While there are differing approaches within the party about how best to achieve the commitment of universal coverage, we stand united to achieve this fundamental objective through the legislative process."

The Obama campaign released a statement saying "Sen. Clinton has been working with us on drafting the platform, and the Democratic Party is unified to bring about the real change we need" on the economy, education, energy, and health care.

The draft platform has much harsher language on the Iraq war than the 2004 version, dubbing it an "ill-considered" "strategic blunder." The sexism-related section reads in part: "...standing up for our country means standing up against sexism, whether voiced by the media, our opponents or our friends."

The word from campaign insiders is that neither candidate is likely to select his running mate for at least another month. But remember, at this point in 2004 John Edwards was already stumping with John Kerry, having been added to the Democratic ticket on July 6 of that year.

The conventions are later than usual this cycle, so the presumptive nominees have some extra time to mull over their options. But that doesn't mean Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain won't pull a fast one on us all by announcing the VP choice earlier than expected. At the very least, we know that the vetting process has already begun on the Democratic side, after CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reported that the Obama campaign asked Virginia Senator Jim Webb to hand over personal information. Webb refused to do so and subsequently removed himself from consideration.

Webb drops all the way out of the Democratic side of the latest CBSNews.com VP Hot Sheet as Delaware Senator Joe Biden rockets to the top half of the pack. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and Indiana's Evan Bayh also move up on the list. And Obama's "other" former rival John Edwards cracks the top ten after changing his tune on whether he'd accept an offer to join the ticket.

A day after getting the endorsement of John Edwards, Barack Obama received the backing of an Edwards ally – the United Steelworkers union. It’s the second union that previously endorsed Edwards to throw their support behind Obama, following the Transport Workers Union.

"We find ourselves once again in agreement with Senator Edwards, this time with his decision last evening to endorse Senator Barack Obama," the union said in a statement, according to the AP. “And thus today, the United Steelworkers enthusiastically endorses Senator Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States."

"All of us,” the statement said, “including we hope Senator Clinton for whom we have the utmost respect, must now do everything we can to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States. Now is the time for contention and division to cease, and for us to unite behind the changes for which Senator Obama and our members are calling."

The dramatic rollout of the endorsement of John Edwards by Barack Obama’s campaign should help put to rest one lingering question about his campaign (no, not his ability to win over those white, blue-collar voters – that one’s still lingering). For weeks, even Obama supporters have mumbled and grumbled about his inability to “finish” Hillary Clinton off, to strike a fatal blow in this seemingly endless primary season.

The manner in which the campaign rolled out Edwards yesterday showed not only that the candidate is willing to strike such a blow but revealed a calculating, killer instinct more associated with Clinton herself.

There was Clinton, basking in her 41-point thrashing of Obama in West Virginia, conducting rounds of television interviews making her case for sticking in the race and insisting that party leaders might still rally her to victory. Reduced to making an argument directly to those superdelegates who are, under Democratic Party rules, the ultimate, final deciders, Clinton’s media blitz was being prepared for the network evening newscasts, 24-hour cable channels and the endless online news cycle.

That’s when Obama’s camp made its move – rearranging their schedule to unveil the tightly-kept secret of Edwards’ endorsement right in time for the evening news. It ensured not only that Obama would stomp all over Clinton’s message but erased the lingering hangover brought on by his debacle in West Virginia.

It was a maneuver Karl Rove and James Carville must surely admire and it demonstrated that perhaps Obama may be getting a little tired of waiting for Clinton to get out of this race on her own terms. Both candidates have gone to great lengths in the past weeks to avoid the kind of direct fisticuffs which earlier defined the race. And Obama, with an eye on the legion of Clinton supporters (especially women), has been careful to avoid the appearance that he’s bullying her out of the race.

In fact, Clinton herself hinted that even the suggestion of her being somehow forced out of the campaign could harm the party’s chances to unify. “I believe it would hurt our eventual nominee if it is not me, if I were to get out of this race before everyone's had a chance to vote because it would appear as though I had been somehow pushed out,” Clinton told CBS News’ Katie Couric.

Yesterday’s theatrics might not rise to the level of “pushing” her out, but it’s a sign that Obama’s not going to sit around and watch her try to claw her way back into the race somehow. And it shows he does have the kind of raw political killer instinct that he has not displayed previously.

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Trailing significantly in most recent North Carolina polls, Hillary Clinton would like nothing more than to somehow wrestle an endorsement from John Edwards before his home state votes on May 6th. So far, the former senator and presidential candidate has not given any signals as to whether he even will make an endorsement, let alone toward which candidate he may be leaning towards. But his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, did give the nod to Clinton’s health care plan over Barack Obama’s in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” today.

“I do think that in order to ensure that we have universal coverage we need to say that everybody has to join, so for that reason the mandates that Senator Clinton is talking about I think will actually be more successful in achieving the goal," Edwards said. "I think they both have the same goals, I just have more confidence in Senator Clinton's policy than Senator Obama's on this particular issue."

What constitutes “universal coverage” and how to best get there has been one of the major flashpoints during the campaign, with Clinton insisting the lack of mandates in the Obama plan would inevitably leave many adults uninsured. As for an endorsement, Elizabeth Edwards said her husband continues to talk with both candidates but cautioned, “we think that what we have to offer them is not so much an endorsement as a perspective on what we found as we crossed the country on what people think are important issues and the solutions that seemed most realistic.”

CBS News political consultant Joe Trippi weighs in on the future of the Democratic race following Hillary Clinton's wins in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island:

The night of Super Tuesday it became clear that if you looked over the horizon Obama was going to be in the driver's seat for 10 or 11 contests, and that the first night Clinton would have a clear shot at victory would be March 4th in Ohio and Texas. It also became apparent that if Obama could target Texas and win it he might be able to break Clinton's back and stop any real chance at a Clinton nomination.

Now that the Clinton campaign has done what it needed to stop Obama's momentum and light up Clinton's, here is a look at what's next over the horizon.

Wyoming: Obama may have a leg up in the Wyoming Caucuses -- but the Clinton Campaign looks like it has learned its lesson in the Texas caucuses. In the end the state is too small to matter much but every delegate does count.

Mississippi: Obama's. Period.

Pennsylvania: Hillary Clinton should win this state by as big a margin as she won Ohio. Gov. Ed Rendell is much more political and has more power over the Democratic party infrastructure than Gov. Strickland of Ohio.

Watch North Carolina

Just as I pointed to Texas as the place that I thought Obama would try to break Clinton's back, North Carolina now becomes the pivotal contest. It's the place where I expect the Clinton Campaign will try to break Obama's back.

Barack Obama has performed terribly among white southern Baptists and the state with the second highest percentage of white southern Baptists is North Carolina. Clinton won Tennessee by 13 points 54 percent to 41 percent and North Carolina is much more like Tennessee demographically than states Obama has done well in like Virginia or South Carolina.

I know it breaks with conventional wisdom that Pennsylvania is the most important state. But realistically if Clinton can't win Pennsylvania she won't be the nominee. The way Clinton puts Obama away is to win Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania and then roll into North Carolina and break his back there.

If she does it -- and it is possible she will have a strong case to the Super Delegates.

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