Obama turns up heat before crucial convention

Barack Obama cranked up his campaign in the final days before the Democratic convention, drawing closer to naming a running mate and attacking what he said was Republican rival John McCain’s habit of questioning his “character and patriotism”.

Vice-presidential picks have seldom been as important as this year. Mr Obama was thought to be looking for a running mate who adds weight to the Democratic ticket, given the Illinois senator’s brief tenure on the national political scene.

The choice is equally vital for Mr McCain, who is 72 on August 29, and would be the oldest first-term American president.

Arizona senator Mr McCain was considering a vice-presidential announcement right after next week’s Democratic convention, in a bid to diminish Mr Obama’s post-convention glow as party delegates left Denver, Colorado.

Mr McCain has a three-day window before his Republicans assemble on September 1 in St Paul, Minnesota.

With Mr Obama expected to name his number two as early as today, he and his campaign were refusing any clues. In a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, however, he praised Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman thought to be among the contenders, for proposing an additional billion dollars of reconstruction projects in Georgia after the Russian invasion.

Others believed to be on his shortlist were also keeping mum. Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, rumoured as a possible choice, professed no inside knowledge of when word would come. In addition to Mr Biden and Ms Sebelius, Virginia governor Tim Kaine and Indiana senator Evan Bayh were believed to be in the running.

Mr Obama’s major rival for the nomination, New York senator Hillary Clinton, was seen by some Democrats as a long-shot.

At the VFW meeting, an unsmiling, steely-eyed Mr Obama struck back at Mr McCain, who told the same audience a day earlier that his Democratic opponent had “tried to legislate failure” in the Iraq war and was putting his presidential ambitions above American interests.

“One of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism,” Mr Obama told assembled veterans.

“I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America’s national interest. Now, it’s time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

“Let me be clear: I will let no-one question my love of this country. I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain.”

Polls show the contest between the men has grown consistently closer in August, as Mr McCain appears to be finding success with attacks on Mr Obama that he is untested and not ready for the White House.

Mr McCain has served more than 20 years in the Senate, while Obama is in his first four-year term. The latest Gallup Poll tracking survey, released yesterday, shows Mr Obama with a slim one-percentage point margin, 45-44.

Vietnam veteran Mr McCain’s top contenders for the vice presidency are said to include Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices include former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice-presidential pick in 2000 who is now an independent.

Heightening expectations about the Obama decision, a senior adviser said anonymously that Mr Obama and his vice-presidential choice would appear with him at a speech on Saturday in Springfield, Illinois.