QandO

July 06, 2004

Thoughts on the Edwards pick
Posted by McQ

First thought?

Smart move.

Edwards brings youth and vigor to a rather mundane and stodgy campaign. That's not his only strength, but it is important. Edwards campaigns well, is well received by the party faithful and will be positively seen by many undecided voters ... voters who might have not given the Kerry campaign a second look had Gephardt or Graham been the pick. It also keeps the negatives to a minimum, something a Clarke nomination would have brought to his campaign.

Edwards was one of the few people out there who was running with a generally positive message. I think that's important. Recall Reagan's run for the presidency. He gave the voters a positive vision and it was something to which they responded. If given the chance I think Edwards might bring some of that to the Kerry campaign. Whether it will offset the gloom and doom Kerry seems to prefer remains to be seen.

Edwards is a party animal (and I mean that in the political sense). He'll adapt to the second position and give it his all. There's a bit of rational selfishness involved in him doing so. If he and Kerry can pull off a win, he's set up for a run for the roses in '12, whether Kerry would win a second term or not.

All in all, politically speaking, this was the best move Kerry could have made (as well as being a great thing for the political career of John Edwards).

While its true that no one votes for the VP, a good VP candidate can, as mentioned above, at least get voters to look at the party more than once. And that may be important in November among undecided voters.

Only one seemingly insignificant question of Kerry ... if this is the guy you're going to have as your running mate, why in the world wasn't he present when you announced it?

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