Kerry's Pick for No. 2 Remains Guarded (Wash. Post)

[stevedeshazer]

Candidate Is Expected to Select a Running Mate With Appeal to Centrist Voters

<snip>

James A. Johnson, a well-regarded figure in Democratic politics tasked by Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) to screen prospective running mates, has for weeks been quietly making the rounds on Capitol Hill, talking to dozens of House members and senators, and consulting party officials and stalwarts about the ticket. But after about 60 meetings and consultations in a profession not known for discretion, the wags have come up almost dry.

This much is known: The Kerry campaign is seriously vetting at least two candidates for vice president, but the process is still wide open, and the campaign has all but ruled out announcing the choice in May.

In interviews with more than 20 Democratic and campaign operatives with some direct or indirect knowledge of the process, it is clear that Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) are being officially investigated by Washington lawyers. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack apparently is also under consideration, as is Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.) -- each viewed as a moderate, midwestern balance for the Massachusetts senator.

<snip>

Virtually all sources with information about the process asked for anonymity, saying that they are conscious of Kerry's desire for confidentiality to protect the candidates as well as secure the element of political surprise. Kerry is particularly sensitive to secrecy because Al Gore left him publicly dangling for weeks in 2000 before choosing Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) as his running mate.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59829-2004May1.html

[bemildred]

1. Another WaPo smear. nt

[LynzM]

2. I got a weird random IM tonight

Telling me that Kerry would pick Gephardt as VP on Tuesday, from someone I don't know, and wouldn't tell me who they are. Bizarro.

[spotbird]

3. Now that would be a very boring ticket.

Gerhardt is a good man but he would be a poor choice for VP simply because he doesn't add anything and he carries with him a long voting record to be distorted. Kerry's campaign thus far has been ineffective at defending itself against misrepresentations and lies from the other side so a stealth candidate with a short record would be best.

I like Clarke or Edwards. Clark because of the military experience, and try as they might the attacks that the Democratic ticket is weak on defense will look a little lame against two men who have served with distinction. Edwards would bring a rush of enthusiasm to the ticket with his world class charisma, but he is so much better than Kerry on the stump that I doubt Kerry will go for him. Edwards does have the added advantage of being a self made man, to counter Kerry's more affluent start in life.

[JoFerret]

16. I can't imagine he will go for Gephardt

.

[Liberal Christian]

4. Why announce the Veep before the convention?

What's going to be the point of having the convention if the Veep is announced beforehand?

[LibDemAlways]

5. Evan Bayh is a DINO. He would bring nothing to the ticket.

Gephardt is a world-class bore. Edwards is personable, but I still think Clark is the one. People never really got a chance to know him during the primaries, mostly because the repuke-owned press marginalized him. They can't marginalize him as the VP candidate, and I'd love to see him go one on one with chickenhawk Cheney. That would be a debate worth watching.

[For PaisAn]

6. I agree

Clark is the one. I hope they are seriously considering him.
His supporters are totally dedicated to him. Kerry/Clark would be the most powerful ticket to oust Bush & Co.

[Liberal Christian]

8. What makes you think Clark will say yes?

He has categorically and emphatically denied repeatedly that he is interested in or willing to accept the VP spot.

I'd love it if he would, but I think his repeated denials will work against him.

[sendero]

20. If I could count on ...

.... my fingers and toes, and my wife's fingers and toes and my 3 kids' fingers and toes how many times politicians have made such claims and then backed off when circumstances changed - well, I'd be touching a lot of fingers and toes.

I think Clark would far and away be the best choice. But the pessimist in me says he won't get it. And not because he's said he doesn't want it

[skooooo]

15. "Edwards is personable."

This, I think, is VERY important. Edwards has a lot of the charisma that many think Kerry seem to lack. While that may not seem like any substantive contribution to a team, I think it really is. Edwards could really motivate people to get out and vote.

[girl]

37. You know, the personable one.

Charisma is important. But we, as a nation, need to stop being blinded by that. Electing GWB and a host of celebrities proves that we are a style over substance nation and it is getting us in trouble. Edwards, however, is the right balance. I would be pleased to see him on the ticket with Kerry.

[Sparkle]

50. I sure would like to know what style Bush* has...

In his case, the repukes didn't choose style of substance. Shit, I don't know what in the hell they saw in him.

[dolstein]

34. The one bright side to having DU'ers lie about Evan Bayh

is that fewer people are now lying about Joe Lieberman.

Evan Bayh isn't a DINO. He's a solid moderate Democrat. Some people at the far left fringe of the party seem to think that anyone to the right of Paul Wellstone isnt' a "real" Democrat. Well, according to that kind of reasoning, we haven't had a "real" Democrat in office since FDR. Oh wait, FDR was a war monger. Make that Woodrow Wilson. Oh wait, Wilson was also a war monger. Grover Cleveland, anyone?

[stevedeshazer]

38. You've got a good point

Evan Bayh is not chopped liver, and Dick Gephardt is a perfectly reasonable choice. Both are solid party stalwarts with election success in states that aren't exactly liberal outposts.

[skooooo]

39. ..as far as I've seen..

...Bayh doesn't seem like much of a democrat. He tows the Republican line everytime I see him on TV. In addition, he's a little twerp, imho.

[dolstein]

45. Excuse me, but what have YOU done?

Awfully uppity of you to call someone who was elected governor TWICE and elected to the U.S. senate all before the age of 45 a "little twerp." Did you know his mother died of breast cancer when she was 46? Did you know he has two sons? Must you seek to dehumanize people simply because you don't agree with some of the things they say on TV? Sure, Republicans do it all the time. But I thought we were better than that.

[skooooo]

49. I don't like his politics!!

Is that ok with you??

[lojasmo]

46. Jimmy Carter

N/T Lieberman and Bayh are, if nothing else, just as uninspiring as Dick Gephardt.

[dolstein]

48. Which Jimmy Carter would that be?

The Jimmy Carter who deregulated the airlines? The Jimmy Carter who railed against faceless government bureaucrats? The Jimmy Carter who proposed one of the largest peace time increase in the defense budget in history? The Jimmy Carter who Teddy Kennedy sought to deny the nomination in 1980?

I suspect a lot of DU'ers are to young to remember President Jimmy Carter. He was a lot more conservative that people around here realize.

[boobooday]

7. He should pick one of the dynamic women governors

What about Michigan's?

Any thoughts? I think this would be dynamite.

Edit: Addition -- I like Clark. I think he does well when he gets out there with people. He would kick Cheney's ass in debates, too.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[5thGenDemocrat]

10. Jennifer Granholm, alas, is ineligible

Born in Canada. Plus, we'd like to keep her here for awhile.
John
Resident of Saginaw, citizen of Michigan, subject of the United States.

[MisterP]

32. oh, she's not available: she's Canadian-born

[DS1]

9. Please be Edwards! Please be Edwards! Please be Edwards!

:bounce:

[Lex]

11. It'll be Edwards.

I just feel like it'll be Edwards.

Could Clark be Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense? I really like Clark. He'd be wasted as VP, imho.

[jsw_81]

12. Nope

There's some law that prevents former generals from being Sec. of State or Defense until ten (?) years after retirement.

[skooooo]

14. Edwards! Edwards! Edwards!

I really want to see him get it.

[Scooter24]

13. Surprise...

I wouldn't be surprised if Al Gore himself was picked. That would make for an interesting turn of events and really shock the other side.

[sundancekid]

18. what a refreshing idea

Scooter, you just made my morning! Way to think outside of the same ol' same ol' box ... kudos
:bounce:

[surfermaw]

36. Scooter. I am for Edwards but have had the same thoughts on a Kerry/Gore

The only thing, I am still angry with Gore for trying to be the nice guy too long.

[Terran]

44. uh, yeah

Gore will never be picked, not in a million years.

[Scooter24]

52. Here's how I see it..

The DNC needs a heavy-hitter VP that could swing those influential voters to our side. The other candidates have been under constant scrutiny that with a VP nomination, it could very well have negative side effects to the campaign. Kerry right now is the sole focus of all the negative ads. With Gore's experience, the fact that he won the 2000 popular vote, and his absence from the mainstream media attention and GOP attacks, this could breath fresh air into the party and lock in votes.

They need to pick someone that the GOP wouldn't expect. The "Shock and Awe" approach is proven to work, why not use it on the election...lol

Other than Hillary, I can't think of any other candidate that would have a tangible influence on this election.

[Zynx]

17. PLEASE don't pick Gephardt.

The Republicans want us to. Why do you think they keep saying "Oh, he'd be a good pick"? Edwards would be fine, but I would also hope he's considering guys like Mark Warner, John Breaux, and Mary Landrieu.

[lanlady]

19. I hope it's a mid-Westerner

instead of a Southerner. Sorry, but I'm tired of this whole North/South thing. Edwards is OK but just barely, he has yet to prove himself. If he weren't from NC he wouldn't be under consideration.

The South is and will remain in Bush's camp. The Mid-West, on the other hand, may be up for grabs.

[Lex]

21. Edwards seems well-liked in the Midwest

but conversely Gephardt doesn't have the same cross-over appeal in the South.

[DaveSZ]

22. Well Al Gore is also a veteran

:)

[Nashyra]

24. Not Edwards

There is too much fuel to use against him because of his past as a malpractice lawyer. They will clean his clock when it comes to the "reason healtlth care cost have risen" it is not true but when do the electorate care, they vote by soundbite and Edwards is devasating. It is hard enough for a Senator to win because they go through the voting record without the benefit of explanation let alone 2 Senators. Clark can be Sec of State just not Defense because of the 10 year rule.

[Lex]

25. Edwards effectively countered that in NC

when he won his Senate seat.

He turned the argument around on his Repuke opponent so thoroughly, that his opponent pulled the "malpractice lawyer" ads off TV.

Why? Edwards put on a series of ads showing that he fought for regular people against HMOs, large insurance companies, and corporations and that THOSE entities are the ones driving up costs in this country, not regular people like you and me.

It worked in NC and set the Repuke opponent on his heels (who was an incumbent AND funded by the Jesse Helms political machinery).

So I think John knows how to handle himself on this issue.

[Nashyra]

30. Of course John knows how to handl himself

but he will be trying to handle this issue in 50 states not one with the vast majority of senate and house candidates going after him at once and the election will be about John Kerry not John Edwards. The veep andidate can not afford to have a volatile issue that can be made into a national campaign against the ticket. I know how you feel towards your candidate it is like how I feel towards mine, I think Clark would be the less volatile, I don't think either one of us will be happy with the choice but I also think that serious consideration should be given to Gov's Warner and Richardson.

[Lex]

33. I didn't think Clark was even being vetted

at this point.

[Crachet2004]

31. You are correct.

It would be too easy for the corporate media and the Bush campaign to characterize John Edwards as an ambulance chaser who is personally responsible for the entire mess in health care.

And I am getting sick of us chasing the Southern vote, when we don't have a snowball's chance of getting it, without some modification in our platform...like getting rid of the gun control language.

Until the Democrat Party gets real about pursuing the rural vote, forget the Southern strategy.

If this election is about national security, you gotta go with Wes Clark...John Edwards brings nothing to the ticket but a pretty face.

[AP]

23. Edwards did great in WI and OH. I think OH was his best super tuesday

state after GA.

Also, exit polls in those states showed that voters wanted him to be the VP at incredibly high rates (IIRC, in every Super Tuesday state, 30-40% wanted him, with the next highest vote getter at 10%). I bet numbers like that are unprecedented in a primary -- and he was beating Landrieu in LA and Graham in FL.

However, I will concede that if the media was trying to bury his primary chances by saying he was running for VP, they might have guaranteed that he'll be the next president of the US by sowing the seeds of the expectation that he'll be VP this year; ie, the media might (inadvertantly) be the thing MOST responsible for the sense that Edwards should be VP. However, if he wasn't such a great candidate, the media wouldn't have had to do that to ruin his chances, and if he wasn't a great candidate, people would have dismissed him regardless of what the media said.

[rocketdem]

26. Edwards is a natural choice

Both because he's one hell of a politician and because he's a Southerner. For better or worse, that latter part seems to have become a de facto requirement.

However, regardless of who is chosen and who accepts, I will support the ticket 100%.

[stevedeshazer]

27. Hate to break it to all you Clarkies

But it's not gonna be Wes. I think it will be Gephardt. And that ain't necessarily a bad thing, IMO.

[Zynx]

28. That's horrible.

What does Gephardt do? Labor will vote for you anyway, there is no evidence he would bring you Missouri, he is uninspiring, boring, and does bring you anyother states. No thanks. Kerry would be wasting the slot if he gave it to Gephardt.

[Lex]

29. It won't be Gephardt.

Kerry's looking at the numbers, the energy, and how sweet it would be to make Chimpy spends lots of money in SC and NC just to assure a victory in thoses states.

John Edwards gives Kerry those things. Plus Edwards helps deliver the Midwest too (given his very good showing there).

[okieinpain]

35. I knew this was the way that kerry would run things. he does not have

time for this bullsh**. he needs to make a good pick, and he needs to do it now. he needs to get his office up and running in the battle ground states, and he needs to get some commercials up and running.

I just had a feeling that his would be all fired up during the dem primaries then slip back into a boring hard head.

[skooooo]

40. ...I think he knows what he's doing.

I think the man knows timing! He's a closer. I think it will be starting up all too soon enough.

[narcjen]

41. I haven't read anything

in this artcle or anywhere else for that matter that indicates Clark is even being considered. Which is sad that the Kerry people would name someone like Bayh as a potential cnadidate but not even mention Clark. Though Edwards would probably be my second choice.

[sofa king]

42. How 'bout Tom Daschle?

This isn't as crazy as it sounds, really. Herseth is running a great special election campaign and has a state-wide network just as any Senator--or John Thune--would have. Slip Daschle out, have Herseth jump tracks and go for Daschle's Senate seat, and have all the stumping power of two politics-is-local Senators rooting for a now-seasoned campaigner for the Senate and an out-of-nowhere presence for the House garnering the highest recommendations. Even if we lose the House Special Election in June we still have four months for Democratic battlewagons to back the same candidate in the November election.

It's a crazier-than-a-shithouse-rat maneuver which might just corner the market on SD, which is electorally unimportant but which serves as a crucial lynchpin in Midwestern state unity. Crack into that demographic and the thumpers and chickenhawks have to either play ball or watch that political block disintegrate, perhaps forever.

Make voting Democratic fashionable in South Dakota, and the whole world may change. For the better.

[sofa king]

43. addendum

...Because crazier than a shithouse rat isn't as crazy as a shithouse rat on crack, which is probably how that proposal sounds to most of you.

[AP]

47. Daschle is a lightening rod for the RW, without even having the benefit

of being a person the left really rallies behind. In other words, all the minuses of Hillary with none of the pluses.

[dolo amber]

51. Kerry/Gephardt

Dull and Duller...:boring:

I'm just sayin'...

[dudeness]

53. if the pay is right..I'm interested..

call me 1-800-wanka..