Check out the new Obama volunteer tool we just put up on the sidebar of DoubleSpeak (veer eyes to the right). It’s very important that in these final days of the 2008 campaign, you get out - make some calls, knock some doors, call your friends and family and Get Out the Vote for the Obama/Biden ticket.

As I write this post, Matthew is in Winchester, VA, Josh is working hard in Pennsylvania, and I’m bringing up the rear in beautiful Tampa, FL.

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for - let’s finish the task of electing Sen. Barack Obama as our next President of the United States of America. Volunteer tomorrow, Monday and take the day off for Election Day on Tuesday.

Go to work! We’ll see you on the other side of victory.

Just in case you needed more inspiration to get to work:

Nothing new to watch on TV? Watch me on MSNBC from this morning out on the plaza in Denver. The host was Dan Abrams and the sun was hot!

As the rhetoric ramps up and the invective intensifies, a clearer picture of the overall attack strategies utilized by the two presidential campaigns emerges. In the case of the McCain campaign, a particularly ingenious (or insidious, depending on your perspective) tactic has become commonplace; the magic of turning strengths into weaknesses. DoubleSpeak co-host Peter “the one without a mole on his cheek” Slutsky brought up this topic in his appearance on MSNBC Sunday morning (see the video below). Today, we take a closer look.

Of all the attacks on Obama leveled by John McCain, the most widely known and commented upon is his assertion that Barack is a celebrity on the order of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. In equating Obama with Spears and Hilton, McCain implies that the junior Senator from Illinois is a product of media infatuation and a rampant culture of meaningless celebrity. This is an effort to turn Obama’s greatest strength against him; people actually seem to like the guy. Ridiculous, right! Who wants to vote for a president that’s likable? As an added bonus, the commercial juxtaposes pictures of the aforementioned Spears and Hilton with shots of Barack in front of the world’s two most-recognizable phalluses (the leaning tower of Pisa and the Washington monument). Get away from our white women, Barry!

Another of Obama’s supposed faults is his youth. In an article in the Chicago Tribune Steven G. Calabresi, who serves on John McCain’s justice advisory committee tackles the horror of kids head-on. He suggests that if the framers of the Constitution were still around today, they would change the presidential age qualification from 35 to… wait for it… 55 or 60! Re-read that line. 55 or 60. Calabresi goes on to point out that Obama, at 46 would be the fourth youngest President in American history, and the three younger than him were all crap. Yup, Bill Clinton, John F Kennedy and Theodore Roosevelt sure did suck it up. Young people are just too vital and healthy, with their awful clothes and their rock an’ roll! What we need is somebody really old.

Speaking of healthy, the McCain campaign has even taken to suggesting that Barack is too thin to be President. McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis issued a memo in which he attacked Obama for working out and eating healthy food. I mean, who does that? Protein bars? Organic tea? In John McCain’s America, a protein bar would be a deep-fried turducken wrapped in bacon. The rallying cry was picked up by Wall Street “journalist” Amy Chozick whose August 1st article entitled “Too Fit to be President?” plagiarizes Davis’s memo and backs it up with the type of hard data that can only be acquired by starting a Yahoo! Message Board and picking short phrases out of sarcastic responses. Clearly, Barack Obama is too fit.

The McCain campaign has gotten so good at turning virtue into vice, that they can do it almost instantaneously. Just hours after Obama announced that Joe Biden would be his running mate, McCain had Ron Fournier (his man inside the Associated Press) publish an article accusing Obama of making a nefarious strategic decision to choose somebody with a lot of experience. The temerity! The message here is clear. Barack Obama has too little experience. Joe Biden has too much experience. But John McCain is juuust right.

The picture of Obama painted by John McCain is a scary one. Here is a man that is too personable and well-liked. A man that is too young. A man that is too healthy. A man who surrounds himself with people that are too qualified. Who would vote for such a man? Choose John McCain, the candidate of old, detested, infirm dilettantes. You know, he makes a good point.

We come to you today with some very exciting news! Team DoubleSpeak is headed to Denver to witness the Democratic National Convention first hand, only this time, we’re bringing cameras!

DoubleSpeak, along with our talented partners at Pattern Films, will be going to Denver along with thousands of other participants in the democratic process, from Senators and Congressmen to activists and protesters. However, the most important participants are the subject of the documentary film we’re partnering to make — THE DELEGATES.

You can check out our new film site where we will be posting videos every day from inside and outside the convention. We will also be updating this site daily with photos and musings from inside the arena.

You all have been dedicated DoubleSpeakers and we greatly appreciate all of the support you have given us in the past. We have every confidence that this film will be a success and to make this project a reality, we need all the help we can get.

We would be eternally grateful if you would:

1) Donate to support the production. Tell your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors about the film too.

Click here to donate.

2) Tell us what you would like to learn about the delegates

Click here to participate.

3) Help find a delegate who might want to be involved– we’re still trying to find a few more

Click here to share your story.

4) Invite everyone else you know to join this group and donate to help support the production.

5) Follow us on Twitter.

Our friends and supporters have been the fuel for DoubleSpeak over the past two years and as we begin a new and very exciting venture we will be counting on you more than ever!

Here’s some more info on the film:

THE DELEGATES, a new documentary film from Pattern Films and DoubleSpeak Media, will give viewers a rare look at the people at the center of the 2008 Democratic National Convention: the delegates themselves.

Following four delegates from their arrival at the airport to the Convention floor, committee meetings, and Obama’s acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium, the film will give a delegate’s-eye view of how a party comes together to present itself to the American public.

The delegates’ presence at the Convention is the outcome of a hard-fought and bitter contest, but once they arrive, their role is mostly ceremonial, ratifying the choice that has already been made during the primaries. THE DELEGATES will offer a frank and intimate portrayal of the lives and personalities of some of these Democratic activists and party officials, as they stand up to speak for themselves and for all of us.

At the heart of the hype and hope of the Convention, as diverse and opinionated as the party they represent, THE DELEGATES will illustrate the personal side of the political process.

We will keep you posted via the website, email, fax, Facebook, Twitter, carrier pigeon, bike messenger and robo-call so please stay tuned!

What a day for DoubleSpeak! This morning we scored an interview with Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia and were able to be among the first people to ask him about the Washington Post’s reports that he sits atop Senator Barack Obama’s shortlist for Vice-President.

We’ve posted over at HuffingtonPost’s OffTheBus but wanted to give some love to all you DoubleSpeakers out there too. Here’s the recap as described on the HuffPo:

Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia woke up this morning to a new reality. He is, as reported by the Washington Post, on the short list to be Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate.

Kaine’s monthly radio appearance to discuss local issues pre-scheduled for today on WTOP radio in Washington, DC, was cast in different, higher intensity light. Kaine was joined by his colleagues DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

It was quite a scene with a catered buffet (which included an omelet station) and a throng of reporters waiting to get an answer to the question of the day: will Kaine be Obama’s Vice-Presidential pick?

Immediately following the radio broadcast, we were able to get a few minutes with the Governor and ask a number of questions about his personal reaction to the attention he’s receiving and to get his response to Sen. McCain’s recent attacks on Sen. Obama’s overseas trip.

Kaine on McCain’s campaign:

“It’s just desperation. They’re just looking for a handle to grab on and slow the momentum of this bus down. And, it’s a different strategy every couple of days. It really has the air of desperation about it.”

Kaine on Vice-Presidential Speculation:

“…I’m not going to make the case for myself because that’s not why I’ve endorsed Senator Obama…”

“And, it still seems unlikely to me, it’s nice being mentioned. My Mom likes it, you know, but look, I got on board in February of ‘07 because I knew the country needed a change in direction and from a good Democratic field– I thought the field was a good field– he just struck as the guy who could change the direction of the nation. I’m just so gratified by the way the campaign has been run and the chance we have nationally but also in Virginia.”

“It’s a little surreal. It’s surreal to be mentioned and again it’s nice to be considered but I know there’s a lot of folks they’re looking at– there’s a lot of different skills and attributes that they have to weigh– personal, geographic, political — a whole series of things. But, you know, I have grown to have tremendous confidence in Barack’s judgment, in the judgment of his team, in very hard moments along the campaign, you know, I’ve kind of been with him when things were going well and not so well but they’ve always, in a cool and deliberate way, made a good judgment, and I have no doubt that the pick they make is going to be a strong one.”

For more images click here.

A very special thank you to our talented photographer Kate Sokolov who negotiated her way through the gaggle of reporters to get some great pics. We also want to thank Governor Kaine’s staff for allowing us great access during the WTOP interview and for granting us one of the only one-on-one interviews of the morning.

I just took a screen shot of the Republican National Committee’s website. Notice the countdown clock still reads 925 days, 01 hours, 07 minutes, 00 seconds since Barack Obama has last visited Iraq.

Did the RNC miss something? Wasn’t Obama in Iraq this past week meeting with Iraqi leaders, soldiers and commanders on the ground?

Why hasn’t the RNC changed their countdown clock?