Obama VP Announcement

August 23, 2008: In the early morning, a Democratic official speaking on condition of anonymity pre-empted the Obama campaign's promised text message announcement: Joe Biden, said the source, would be the Democratic nominee for Vice President.Breitbart: Official: Obama picks Biden for veep (August 23, 2008) Although reporters had been on hair-trigger alert for the official text, the news was not entirely a surprise. The night before, just after word came that Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh were out of the running, it was reported that a Secret Service detail had arrived at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.MSNBC: Bayh, Kaine out of Obama VP race (August 22, 2008)

The message arrived at approximately 3:15 a.m. EST. It read as follows:

• "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3 p.m. ET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word!"

On August 11, the Obama campaign announced that the running mate would be reported via text message before the press is otherwise notified.The Trail (Washington Post): Obama Plans Novel VP Announcement TXT (August 12, 2008) Supporters were instructed to text "VP" to 62262, in order to be "the first to know."The Trail (Washington Post): Obama Plans Novel VP Announcement TXT (August 12, 2008)

On August 20, the Obama campaign baited the press with an email message whose subject line was, "Vice presidential...."CNN.com: Speculation, anticipation as Obama's VP announcement nears (August 20, 2008) When eager reporters opened the message, they found this: "Just kidding."CNN.com: Speculation, anticipation as Obama's VP announcement nears (August 20, 2008)