Wife influenced Obama to deny Hillary as running mate?

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NEW YORK, Aug 24: The euphoria Obama created has now evaporated. He now leads John McCain by a mere two percentage point. South Asian Americans feel Obama has allowed the US presidency to slip out his clutch by not naming Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Obama is said to have been influenced by his wife not to take Hillary as his running mate.

Mrs. Obama has carved out certain policies which she would implement if she were to be the first lady. Hillary as vice-president would have been a domineering figure. South Asian Americans agree the Obama-Hillary partnership would have been a dream ticket.

Joseph Biden is the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and moves confidently among foreign leaders and diplomats. Biden who dropped out of the race once described Obama ' not yet ready' for the presidency. Joseph Biden is a catholic that would give added strength to the ticket.

The Democratic Party National Convention begins in Denver on Monday and will run until Thursday. Obama will make his acceptance speech on Thursday. Obama and McCain have both strongly criticised the influence of money in politics. Millions of dollars will be spent by the two contestants to wine and dine party lawmakers and big donors. Corporations, trade unions, and lobbying firms have donated $112 million to Democratic and Republican parties to hold their national conventions.

The Republican Party convention will be held in Minneapolics on September 1. Vintage seats for the Democratic Party convention is on sale for $1000 that will go to campaign fund. John McCain has taken tough stand on donation. He attacked the lobbyists and called them ' birds of prey' who seek their share of the spoils. He will enforce a ban on lobbying for the members of his administration. But major McCain donors, lobbyists, corporations and other donors are being pampered to buy sponsorship packages for the Democratic Party convention. The sponsorship packages are prized at $25,000 to $ 50,000.

So tight is race for the White House it would be very difficult to make a prediction. Presidential elections is held every four year. It is held on the first Tuesday of November. It will be held on November 4 this year.

The inauguration of the new president will take place on January 20, 2009. The incumbent administration will have to seek the views of the president-elect from November 4 onward.

But the road to the White House is still a hard one. Even though the Republican brand is contaminated ----- Obama is barely ahead of his Republican rival. People prefer Democrats to Republicans by 12 percentage point. Obama's lead is only two percent, commented the Economist.