From Rivals to Running Mates to Rivals (Kerry and Edwards)

[liberalpragmatist]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/politics/16dems.html

WASHINGTON, March 15 - John Kerry and John Edwards, rivals turned running mates in the last presidential campaign, have become rivals once again, assembling competing political networks, jostling for attention and staking out ideological turf in preparation for a potential rematch in 2008.

<snip>

Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards declined requests for an interview on the subject, but aides described their relationship as warm and cordial. Mr. Kerry's aides said that his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had been a regular visitor at the Edwards's home in Washington, which is about a block from the Kerrys' home, since Mrs. Edwards's cancer was diagnosed.

"Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards are good friends and they ran a great campaign together," said Jenny Backus, an adviser to Mr. Kerry's political action committee.

<snip>

The image of these men heading down parallel tracks as they seek to recharge their political careers is the latest chapter in what many Democrats view as an uneasy relationship between the two party leaders. Although the men went to great lengths in the campaign to present themselves as friends, associates of both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards quoted them as questioning each other's campaign performance.

<snip>

Over the last month, Mr. Edwards, who did not run for a second term in the Senate in order to seek the presidency, founded a center at the University of North Carolina to study poverty. Mr. Edwards these days has made little secret of disagreements he says he had with the presidential campaign, saying for example that it should not have pulled out of Missouri and that it was slow in responding to the attacks on Mr. Kerry's Vietnam record by other Vietnam veterans.

"I wanted to fight back the day it started," Mr. Edwards said recently on the ABC News program "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos.

***

Personally, I think this piece tries to build up a conflict that doesn't really exist. I mean, there's bound to be some tension and there are bound to be some rivalry, but I think the key piece is later, where it states that the two are still quite friendly and THK is a frequent visitor to the Edwards home. By most accounts they still talk quite frequently and are genuinely friendly terms, unlike Gore and Lieberman, who stopped talking quite quickly after the election.

Still, it'll be interesting how things go. I genuinely hope things don't get too bitter between them because I think they genuinely did grow to like each other (even the snarky Newsweek post-election cover said that though he was initially skeptical, Kerry and Edwards hit it off very well) and I really like both of them. I'd currently be very happy with either of them as the nominee again, especially rather than Hillary or Bayh or even Warner (Bayh and Warner are a tad too conservative for my tastes).

[Tweed]

1. Please, neither Kerry nor Edwards will be considered for 2008

Any run by either will end up in 'Johnmentum'. Edwards especially has no chance. What is he going to be doing for the next four years to remain relevant?

Rivals? That's a laugh. They aren't even rivals at who is the most important in the Democratic Party. Edwards is an asterisks for the history books at best.

[TomClash]

4. Edwards would be an excellent candidate in 2008 if Hillary doesn't run

Relevant? Who in the Democratic Party is "relevant" now? No one on the federal level because no one has any power. The Dem Governors, except for maybe Schweitzer and Warner, are a pretty mediocre lot.

Edwards is the closest thing the Dems have to a populist candidate. Boring moderates and upper class libs will not win in 2008.

Here's a flash: as much as I like him, a certain former Editor of the Harvard Law Review will NOT run and would not win in 2008. So don't get your hopes up.

[glitch]

2. Now how did I know before I clicked the link that this would be Nagourney?

Consider the source, and in this case, discard.

[Mass]

5. Typical of the man

Does he ever have a direct quote rather than anomymous sources?

[blogbear]

3. I hope that everyone will bring to the table..

not only their favorites, but also their individual talents and experiences. We will need a great deal of diversity and of pooled interests if we hope to reach our final destination together.