Will someone start looking for an assisted living home for the Associated Press? It seems that the fact-checking faculties of the news wire are deteriorating.
In its article this morning about the announcement by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack that he will be running for President in 2008, the Associated Press wrote that “Vilsack is the first Democrat to make a formal declaration for the presidency”. Not so, not so.
Earlier this year, Democrat Mike Gravel, a former United States Senator from Alaska, made a formal announcement of his candidacy for President of the United States. Gravel filed with the FEC and everything, and is still running his campaign, taking in $21,452 in donations so far.
Michael Gravel is certainly not a top tier Democratic candidate for President, but he was there before Vilsack. The Associated Press even reported on it when Gravel announced.
Vilsack is clearly not the first Democrat to announce a run for the presidency.
Uh, isn’t Biden a Democrat?
http://uniteourstates.com/
Biden has still not made an official announcement that he is a candidate for President. He just went on a talk show and said that he’s pretty sure that he’ll do it. It is not the same thing, logistically and legally. The site you link to is not a presidential campaign site. It’s a site designed to get money with which to buy the loyalty of Democrats around the country in preparation for a presidential campaign.
Besides, Biden made his comment after Mike Gravel made his official announcement.