Update: The McCain camp noted the mistake as well

Article 1: Don’t Ask Joe

Article 1 of the Constitution does not, in fact, define the role of the Vice President of the United States. It defines the role of the legislative branch, otherwise known as the branch in which Joe Biden has served for the last 36 years.

Some other bloggers noted it as well: Science blogs | Malkin

My original post

One thing stood out to me when Joe Biden was discussing the Vice Presidency and the powers it contains in relation to Vice President Dick Cheney’s position on the office. He said:

BIDEN: Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

He added:

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

For those not following, the basic notion attributed to Cheney here is that the Vice President occupies a role as president of the Senate and has a vote when there is a tie. Therefore Cheney argues, the VP is not a part of the Executive Branch.

While I am not going to argue in favor or against Cheney’s interpretation, I found Biden’s argument against this interpretation interesting in that he said “he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch.” The problem is, Article 1 doesn’t define the Executive Branch, Article 2 does that.

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The best thing about following politics is that you never know just what will come up. With all eyes focused on tomorrows VP debate, moderator Gwen Ifell may have already tipped the scales giving the political right ample fire an allowing the coverage of the event to focus on her instead of the candidates performance. A bad move for a moderator.

The Internet and talk radio are buzzing this morning with the revelation that PBS host Ifill has a book to be published subtitled “The age of Obama” which she says will “shed light on the impact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential campaign.’ The revelation has those on the right charging bias and will no doubt change the news story today from a heavy focus on the expectations game surrounding Gov. Sarah Palin to the objectivity of the moderator.

Ifill’s book profiles up and coming black politicians including Democrat Artur Davis, Democrat and longtime Obama friend Deval Patrick and Democrat Cory Booker. In the publishers write-up it is said Ifill draws upon interviews with Obama, Colin Powell who is a Republican but has given hints he is open to supporting Obama, Jesse Jackson and Clinton administration advisor Vernon Jordan. The publishers write-up gives the impression of a pro-Obama, pro-Democrat book giving those on the right plenty of room to launch attacks about Ifill’s interests in the election.

A new section has been put together on the site devoted to the 2008 presidential debates. There you can find the latest news, debate dates and format information, moderator information and more. After the debates video highlights, transcripts, reviews and other information will be available.

Yesterday Senator Obama toured the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters yesterday. The tour included information on how “command has assisted with floods, California wildfires, hurricanes as well as their role abroad.” Read the pool report below:

July 2, 2008

Senator Barack Obama arrived at Peterson Air Force Base outside of Colorado Springs, where he spent nearly two hours on a private afternoon tour of the facility and briefings from military leaders.

Your pool was escorted to a separate building at Air Force Space Command and did not see him for the entirety of his visit. It was billed as an official Senate visit, with one member of his Senate staff on hand to participate in the briefings.

General Victor E. Renuart, the commander of NORAD and the United States Northern Command, greeted Mr. Obama and led him on the tour and briefing, which included how the command has assisted with floods, California wildfires, hurricanes as well as their role abroad.

Your pool was given no additional information.

Then, Mr. Obama headed to the Air Force Academy for more private meetings. He is scheduled to speak at a campaign fundraiser at 7:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. A pool report with his remarks will be expedited after that event.

Few people are willing to say Senator Clinton had a great night last night and few probably could argue she did, but many seem to agree, Obama flopped.

From Obama evangelist Andrew Sullivan:

“It was a lifeless, exhausted, drained and dreary Obama we saw tonight. I’ve seen it before when he is tired, but this was his worst performance yet on national television. He seemed crushed and unable to react. This is big-time politics and he’s up against the Clinton wood-chipper. But there is no disguising the fact that he wilted, painfully.”

Chuck Todd:

“Overall, with the spotlight on him very bright, Obama didn’t step up. He got rattled early on and never picked his game back up. Clinton wasn’t very warm (outside of he first few minutes), but she didn’t have the spotlight on her very bright. And as we’ve noted here quite a few times, whenever the spotlight is on one candidate, the other seems to benefit. Last night, the spotlight was on Obama, and for a short period of time, expect Clinton to benefit. But the question is whether she can sustain any benefit since as the negativity goes on, she pays a bigger price than Obama. Let’s see what Pennsylvania decides in five days. A big Clinton victory and this debate will be seen as an important turning point. But a narrow victory (less than five points) and she could find herself facing more calls to get out.”

Walter Shapiro:

This was not an evening that will shimmer in Obama’s memory book. Facing a new-guy-on-the-block hazing from moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, Obama at times displayed a whiff of petulance at the steady assault of questions about the controversial sermons of his former minister Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his Chicago social connection to Bill Ayers, a semi-unrepentant alumni of the Weather Underground. Clinton, who faced her own credibility challenges over her hyperbolic description of her wartime visit to Bosnia, seemed content to take refuge in her mantra about her “16 years of being on the receiving end of what the Republican Party dishes out.” Her unsubtle message: I am the only one on this stage who can take it.

Ben Smith notes it took 63 Minutes for the first issues question.

ABC News post debate wrap-up.

CNN’s recap.

Associated Press headline: Clinton emphatically says Obama can win White House

Reaction from the Obama Campaign

“Tonight we saw a real choice between the old politics of point-scoring and distraction and a politics that focuses on bringing us together to actually solve the challenges we talk about every single election. Continuing the theme of her campaign, Senator Clinton used every single opportunity she had to launch misleading attack after misleading attack against Barack Obama, which is why polls show that most Americans think she’s running the most negative campaign and don’t believe she’s trustworthy. Barack Obama spoke about the issues that actually matter in people’s lives, like how he plans to end the war in Iraq, cut middle-class taxes, help people stay in their homes, and provide a secure retirement for our seniors. That’s why more Americans are putting their trust in Barack Obama to bring about the change we need in Washington,” said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Just a reminder that tonight Clinton & Obama will be squaring off in Philadelphia. You can watch the debate at 8:00pm. ABC’s Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos will be moderating.

Just when you thought you were safe from Democratic debates, both candidates have signed on for another one, this time in Philadelphia on April 16th hosted by ABC. However

Obama is insisting on an additional debate to be held April 19th in North Carolina. It would be hosted by Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer.

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Good morning fellow Geeks, grab some coffee and check out what is happening in election land.

Last night’s democratic debate was tense, had a few fireworks and for the first time brought up some tuff personal issues for Senator Obama. It was debate #20, the final scheduled debate and possibly the last Democratic debate of Election 2008. The candidates discussed Health Care, NAFTA, Iraq and more.

I personally thought Obama scored well on Iraq, though it was funny I cringed for Clinton who brought up an SNL skit to say Obama was being treated better, I cringed for Obama when Russert tossed out a question on Iraq leaving it to the candidates to decide who would answer and the Illinois Senator deferred to Clinton (it could have been a moment for him to show some foreign policy chops), I thought the opening to the debate showing Clinton saying Obama was right and Obama saying Hillary was right for declaring this a “change election” was a little over the top against the NY Senator.

Here is some of the wrap-up:

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