www.cnn.com

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama has selected Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, according to his official Web site and a text message the campaign sent to supporters on Saturday.

“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee,” the text message, sent at around 3 a.m. ET, said.

“Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago,” Obama said in an e-mail sent to supporters Saturday morning.

“I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone,” he wrote. “We need your help to keep building this movement for change.”

On Friday, CNN learned three Democrats who had been considered contenders for the No. 2 spot, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, had been ruled out.

Before the text messages were distributed, multiple Democratic sources confirmed to CNN early Saturday that Obama wanted the Delaware senator as his vice president.

Biden was long considered a possible choice for vice president, but the buzz surrounding him intensified after he returned earlier this week from a two-day trip to the Republic of Georgia after Russian troops invaded.

And change takes the form of a crusty, old white guy. So, this was what the build-up was all about? Really? Obama, you tease, I’m a little let down. Given all the buzz, I was expecting something different and exciting. For a campaign that is seeking to redefine the definition of “change”, I was really expecting it in the form of: Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel, or Charlie the Chimp.

Oh well, US politics: business as usual.  ::yawn::

Dear bile,

Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic nominee, and hundreds of thousands of new supporters have joined our movement for change in the past few weeks.

This is from an email I just received from Obama for America <info@barackobama.com>

The reason I’m receiving spam from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is that I sent them a message through DownsizeDC.org asking him to fight the FISA telecom immunity.

I wonder how many of those thousands were in fact auto signups from emails from DownsizeDC.org like I did. Sorry Barack but we aren’t supporters and we surely have not joined your movement for “change.”