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Group: Clinton out of running for VP post

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com

August 1, 2008

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will not be Barack Obama's running mate, but she will be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention - at least that is what some of her boosters are saying.

Though Democratic and Obama aides say no decision has been announced on either score, a group called Vote Both, created to lobby Obama to pick the New York senator as his second, yesterday said Clinton is out of the running.

"Because of your work, Senator Obama asked Hillary to be his keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention!" said Vote Both founders Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora on their Web site. "Regretfully, this means that Senator Hillary Clinton is no longer under consideration as Senator Obama's running mate."

Asked how he knows, Arora told The Associated Press, "All indications we have from people close to Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are that Hillary is not on the short list."

Clinton purportedly will make the coveted keynote address on Tuesday night, Aug. 26. The vice presidential nominee usually speaks on Monday and Wednesday.

Historically, keynote speakers have not been running mates but an up-and-coming leader, such as Obama in 2004.

Arora is a former spokesman for Clinton, and Parkhomenko once worked for HillPAC in 2006 and as executive assistant to former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle.

Spokespeople for Obama and the Democratic National Committee yesterday declined to comment on what Clinton's role will be. A Clinton spokesman yesterday referred questions to Obama's campaign.

Nassau County Democratic chairman and Clinton delegate Jay Jacobs said he had gotten an e-mail that echoed Vote Now's message, but he said he could not confirm it.

The search for a vice presidential candidate remains cloaked in secrecy and the Democratic convention's program remains under wraps.

Clinton backers say the keynote address is on a symbolic date, Aug. 26, the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

But the National Archives says the amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, and on Aug. 26, 1920, the secretary of State certified its ratification.