VP TEASE/PUZZLE

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Such a tease, that Democratic National Convention Committee.

They just sent out an e-mail message to reporters about the program for the third night of the convention.

“The headline prime-time speaker on Wednesday will be Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential Nominee,” it says.

Then after mentioning former Bill Clinton’s slot, which had already been reported, the release goes on to say:

Governor Bill Richardson and Senators Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and Jay Rockefeller will echo Obama’s call for a new direction in national security and outline his policies and plans to secure America’s future.

Wait, what? Three of those people are often mentioned (and two very often mentioned) as possible running mates. So does that mean it’s one of them because they’re speaking sometime on Aug. 27? Does that mean they’re definitely not it because they’re speaking on Aug. 27, but not in the running mate’s slot? We asked Jenny Baukus, a spokeswoman for Senator Barack Obama, not really expecting any answers. And she didn’t really provide any.

“We reserve the right to change the schedule when we want and you shouldn’t make any assumptions,” she said. “Any person speaking on any given night could speak again as vice president.”

Anyway, other speakers for the evening include Senators Harry Reid, the majority leader, as well as Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, Representative Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, and Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois secretary of veterans affairs and Iraq veteran who ran a close but unsuccessful race for the United States House in Illinois in 2006.

While the party announced a lineup of acts trending toward hip-hop, folk, and rock earlier this week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s slate of performers at some of its convention parties, is a bit, well, loungey-er.

Tony Bennett, James Taylor and John Legend perform at a “Salute to Nancy Pelosi” on Aug. 25, and Idina Menzel, the Broadway star, will be at a reception honoring women members of Congress on Aug. 27.