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Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would help allay conservative fears about being Sen. John McCain's running mate if he pledged to vote with Senate Republicans for the rest of 2008, a pro-GOP group said Thursday.

Lieberman's decision to caucus with the Democrats gives them their 51-49 majority in the Senate. But since he lost a 2006 Democratic Senate primary and won the general election as an Independent, he has never ruled out caucusing with the GOP. If he switched sides for the rest of 2008, Democrats could lose control of the Senate and allow Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to set the agenda just weeks before the November elections. It would reflect the infamous 2001 move by Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.), who abruptly left the Republican Party to become an Independent and give Democrats control of the Senate.

Lieberman, who served as the Democrat's 2000 vice-presidential nominee, is reportedly on the short list to be the Arizona Republican's running mate. Even though he is a strong supporter of the Iraq war, picking Lieberman would rile the GOP base because the senator is a loyal Democratic vote on most domestic issues, including protecting abortion rights.

To ease concerns, the senator could make several pledges, including that he would have no role in a McCain administration, would not run for president himself and would caucus with the GOP for the rest of 2008, according to the Committee for Justice, a staunch advocate of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees.

The group says that if Lieberman switched sides, it would help the GOP add four more conservative judges to federal appeals courts before Bush leaves office in January.

"Senate Democrats would be unwilling to risk the fate of Tom Daschle by filibustering nominees so close to an election," the group said, referring the former Senate Democratic leader who lost his seat in 2004.

McCain is expected to make his first appearance with his running mate Friday morning in Ohio.

- Manu Raju

While commentators have noted that the Denver convention, and the announcement of Sen. Joseph Biden's (D-Del.) VP candidacy, have not yielded a bump in national polls for Barack Obama thus far, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean appears decidedly unconcerned over whether or not Obama sees a convention bounce at all.

"Do I think it will? Yes. But I don't care," Dean told The Hill today, when asked whether he thought the convention would yield a bounce, in the lobby of Denver's downtown Hyatt.

"National polls are meaningless," Dean said, going on to add that all polls--national or otherwise--"mean almost nothing until mid September."

The strength of the Democratic ticket, especially in light of President George Bush's unpopularity, Dean said, outweigh anything polls claim to indicate at this point.

"We've got a great ticket," Dean said. "We're in good shape."

Contrary to numerous reports that John McCain has picked his running mate, the Arizona senator said Thursday that he has not yet to choose his vice presidential pick.

Asked by KDKA radio in Pittsburgh about who on his short list would get the nod, McCain said, "I haven't decided yet, so I can't tell you."

It is anticipated that McCain will reveal the pick on Friday at 11 a.m., though some speculate the pick will be revealed tonight.

McCain though did have kind words for former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), calling him "a great American and a great leader."

"I rely on him and have for many years," McCain added.

After a week of media speculation about a rift between former president Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, fueled by some of Clinton's own comments, here's what the Obama campaign is saying about Clinton's speech at the convention last night, in which the former president stumped for Obama and drew energetic cheers from the Democratic crowd.

From a press release sent out this morning by Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro:

"Bill Clinton showed exactly why Barack Obama is ready to lead America as our Commander in Chief.

It's official--Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) is part of the campaign.

After circulating a web video to Barack Obama's backers over the weekend, hoping to garner online donations and support, early this morning Biden made his first formal, widespread pitch for campaign cash.

In an e-mail, Biden urged Obama's supporters to give $5, asking them to do anything they can and keeping with Obama's trend of collecting funds in small amounts from a large number of donors.

"The stakes couldn't be higher, and Barack and I need your help right now," Obama wrote.

In case you missed the big speeches from Wednesday night at the Democratic convention, the YouTube clips of the addresses are embedded below.

On Wednesday, Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) accepted his party's vice presidential nomination in a speech in which he criticized John McCain's foreign policy judgment. On the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, "John McCain was wrong, Barack Obama was right," Biden said.

Former President Bill Clinton declared Obama ready to serve as president. Just as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) did on Tuesday night, Bill Clinton urged the 18 million people who backed her presidential campaign to support Obama's bid without conditions.

And Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee, skewered McCain's policy shifts in a bare-knuckled address that's earning plaudits from liberal bloggers. Kerry said that the Sen. McCain from a few years ago is far different than the "Candidate McCain" of today.

Check in with the Briefing Room and TheHill.com for coverage of the final day of the Democratic convention.

Biden:


Clinton:


Kerry:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), whose speech was bumped from Wednesday's convention program, will speak Thursday at Invesco Field instead.

A convention spokeswoman announced the move after Wednesday night's convention session.

Richardson had been scheduled to speak between former President Bill Clinton's and Sen. Joseph Biden's (D-Del.) addresses, the Associated Press reports. He'll speak after 7 p.m. ET on Thursday. A Richardson spokesman said that the governor was willing to make the switch.

Bill Clinton asked Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) to give the introduction to his dramatic speech endorsing Barack Obama for president over lunch on Tuesday.

"I'll never forget it," Meek said of the experience. He said he knew the address was important to the former president, who has been criticized by some Democrats for not doing more to support Obama.

Meek said he and Clinton asked Obama and the campaign before agreeing to have Meek, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) during the primary, give the introduction.

Clinton took some lumps during the Democratic primary from African-Americans upset with statements he made comparing Obama's victory in the South Carolina primary to Jesse Jackson's victory in the same state in 1988. The criticism pained Clinton, who has been described as the nation

Jim Messina, Barack Obama's chief of staff, said Wednesday that if John McCain continues to be a "schmuck" the Obama campaign will be able to compete just about anywhere it wants.

"Let's do some math," Messina said during an Iowa delegate breakfast in which he spoke about Obama's prospects in traditionally red states.

"If Senator McCain continues to be the schmuck he's being, we're going to play there, you know, and go tell some truth," Messina said speaking of McCain's home state of Arizona.

"The national polls don't matter to us. We don't look at them in Chicago. We focus on the 18 states we have to have to win this election," Messina added. "We care more about the enthusiasm gap in the campaign in the daily polling than we do the head-to-head."

Messina also said the Obama camp currently has 2,504 people on staff.

An adviser to Barack Obama said that the Democratic candidate is not prepared to share his plans to regulate government agencies until after he's elected. Obama told his advisers that he is not doing that because he is superstitious. He just wants to wait to see the election results first. That does not mean however that his advisers are not preparing documents and steps for after November, should he win, the source said.

- Roxana Tiron