Stalkers

CNN has a shot of each potential Vice-Presidential candidate's home up, with another camera staked out at Midway Airport in Chicago. It's exceedingly weird, as if they're waiting for OJ or something. It's just killing the Village that they have to wait like the mere plebes for this decision. Georgia10 had a great take:

I flip to CNN, where a perky Kyra Phillps leads in to "political expert" Bill Schneider for an update. Schneider blurts out with frustration what has been echoed by pundits across the channels all morning: they keep saying "I don't know" and "it's anybody's guess" and "I wish there was some insider information I could give you, but...." Schneider and other are pressed for any hints, any indication of who He or She will be, and the pundits keep coming up dry.

It's beautiful.

In one fell swoop, by choosing to disclose his vice-presidential pick directly to voters through text messaging rather than revealing his pick through choice leaks to the press, the Obama camp has given us a momentary reprieve from having to watch smirk-faced pundits gloat about "inside scoops" and "my sources tell me." No "scoops" for the Villagers, followed by anti-climactic press conferences to the people as an afterthought. No "special access" to them, no matter how much they clamor. Technology has allowed the Obama camp to keep all, reporter and regular citizen alike, on the edge of their seats.

The text message thing was kind of brilliant, not only for the technological possibilities and the harvesting of contacts, but just to ramp up the suspense. And watching these media types flail about, reporting on absolutely nothing, spending hours dying for their insider access, is nothing short of priceless.