Well the lineup is set. Since last I wrote a column both nominees have named their respective running mates.

Most of us had to wait until one of the national news organizations decided to tell us who those individuals would be. Although I've learned there is one lucky (?) fellow who probably had some of the information before the rest of us.

Hours before the first public appearance of the presidential nominee Barak Obama and his vice presidential running mate this local guy got an email from the candidate himself. Obama told our local connection Joe Biden was the veep choice. Adding that the pair would be making their appearance in Springfield, Ill., later that day.

The local email recipient didn't say so, but I think this was really an invitation to join them in Springfield. Our local guy almost had enough advance notice to make it, too, if he had tried really hard.

There was even a link at the bottom of the email to "Welcome Joe" to the ticket. I couldn't find my copy of the forwarded email, but I seem to recall that Joe sent our local guy an email as well over the weekend.

By Monday our local guy had become a fan favorite of the campaign.

Late that afternoon our guy got an email from Michelle Obama, the presidential candidate's wife. She shared a little bit of what was going on with the familiy's hectic schedule after the veep announcement and as they all prepared for the celebration in Denver. She also told him a little about what to expect at the convention, specifically what would be happening leading up to her speech.

She even included a sneak preview at a "behind the scenes" video for him to take a look at and critique. I will confess to not having seen the video so I don't know what, if any suggestions he might have and if he did if the video was changed as a result.

I sorta suspect his recommendations were at least listened to, because the following day, that's Tuesday if you're following along on the scorecard, he got another email from Buffy Wicks, Missouri State Director of Obama for America. Clearly, this guy is on the inside track. He's becoming a mover and shaker in the campaign.

Buffy told him a little more about convention plans and updated him on something called "WOA." I don't think the acronym means what is sounds like phonetically as in "Whoa." It actually stands for Weekend of Action and urged our local guy to click on yet another link to find out all about statewide events the campaign has planned.

The convention wound down after Obama's acceptance speech and judging by the timing of the email, I think the very first thing vice presidential nominee Biden did was send our local guy an email.

"After we walked off the field at Mile High, Barak and I had some official business to attend to - signing the papers to add our names to the ballots.

"Since you've been at the core of this campaign every step of the way, we thought you should be there too."

"Joe," as the email was signed further indicating the growing close relationship with our local guy, included a link to yet another video.

And there was another link. This link was a tad bit more forthcoming than some of the previous links. I've included it here - donate.barakobama.com/general - for those of you so inclined. Shucks, that's so fair and balanced I'm putting Fox News to shame. Just a note, the "general" indicates any donations now will go toward the general election as opposed to the primary.

Our local guy forwarded me his latest email with a note he was doing so, "Just to keep you fully informed." I appreciate his efforts.

He added: "I am so pleased that 2 Mizzou products (Senator Claire McCaskill and Sheryl [Crow]) had important roles in the Convention. (I expected to see [Mizzou Tiger All American quarterback] Chase Daniel throw out the first pitch."

Privately this fellow and I talked about how technology is/has changed campaigning and the speed with which the campaigns react to issues. Attack ads seem to appear almost before a speech is completed and equally fast are the response ads countering the attack ad.

What did not escape our local Obama insider's attention was the lack of discussion of real issues by either party, at least to this point in the campaign. Perhaps we can now move forward and the candidates will begin telling us how they will address issues to all of us.

Well, we can hope. Maybe our local insider will make use of his newly-discovered connections to start such a discussion. However, I suspect that if he starts making too much sense they might just unsubscribe him from the email list.

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Rewriting history

Jim Colhoeur's was one of several who picked up on what looked like a big error in the Sunday, Aug. 17 edition of the newspaper. Jim called and left me a voice mail pointing out that the folks with Newspaper Enterprise Association either got it wrong or are trying to re-write history.

The article read, "TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, Union forces began shelling Sort Sumter in South Carolina."

Jim pointed out that the shelling of Fort Sumter was actually begun by Confederate forces. Jim and the others are correct in their thinking, but what NEA was calling attention to was Aug. 17, 1863 when Union forces began their efforts to re-take the fort.