US Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), seen here in May 2004.(AFP/File/Robert Sullivan)
Posted on 07/08/2004 8:25:44 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Americans watching Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) square off against Democratic Senator John Edwards (news - web sites) in an October debate will see two politicians with starkly different styles: the sober Washington insider versus the silver-tongued freshman senator.
The lone nationally televised face off from Cleveland, Ohio, will pit an eloquent candidate with boyish good looks against an older, balding vice president with a sedate speaking style.
But the debate will also highlight Edwards' brief governmental experience against a Republican with a resume long on national security issues who has been a key adviser to President George W. Bush (news - web sites) in his decision to invade Iraq (news - web sites).
"I believe that the debate between the two vice presidential (candidates) will be important and will receive a lot of press attention because the two men are so different in many ways," said Eric Davis, a political science professor at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Prior to entering politics, Edwards earned millions of dollars as a persuasive trial lawyer representing parents who lost their children in botched hospital deliveries, and children who lost their parents in car wrecks.
The 51-year-old southerner, who Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) picked Tuesday as his running mate, became one of North Carolina's two senators in 1998. It was his first elected position.
Cheney, by contrast, has more than 30 years of government experience and is the former chief executive officer of energy giant Halliburton, a key contractor in Iraq.
Cheney, 63, was former president Gerald Ford's chief of staff in the 1970s and former president George Bush's defense secretary during the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) to oust Iraq from Kuwait.
Bush, who will seek a second four-year term in the November 2 election, has already taken a shot against Edwards by underscoring Cheney's experience.
"Dick Cheney can be president," Bush said.
Kerry, of course, disagreed.
"This man is ready for this job. He's ready to help lead America. He's a person of compassion and conviction, of strength," Kerry said of his running mate, who was his main rival in the Democratic primary.
Democrats have pointed out that Edwards has gained foreign policy experience by serving on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
But little government experience is not necessarily a weakness.
When Bush won the 2000 presidential election, he had been governor of Texas for just six years.
Bush's decision to pick Cheney as his running mate four years ago was seen as an attempt to boost the Republican ticket's national security credentials. Kerry's pick of Edwards in this election is seen as an attempt to inject charisma into the Massachusetts senator's sober campaign.
Although the vice presidency has been considered in the past as a largely ceremonial post, the last two vice presidents have held important roles in their respective administrations.
"Seeing the vice president as merely the nation's official representative at foreign funerals is passe. Bill Clinton (news - web sites) made Al Gore (news - web sites) an important member of his policy team, and no one doubts Dick Cheney's central role in the current administration," the New York Times said in an editorial.
Still, to Davis, voters will not be swayed by who the vice presidential candidates are when it is time to cast their ballots.
"At the end I think voters will make up their mind based on the presidential candidates," he said.
US Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), seen here in May 2004.(AFP/File/Robert Sullivan)
But, it will be obvious who the statesmen is.
No Sh*T!! Look what the SOB wrote,"an older, balding vice president with a sedate speaking style". I'm just surprised the writer didn't substitute Senile for Sedate! Get ready for the smear campaign on Cheney.
Democratic Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (news - web sites) (D-Ma) (L) and Vice Presidential candidate Senator John Edwards (news - web sites) (D-NC) look out onto the crowd at a rally in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, July 8, 2004. Kerry and Edwards will be formally anointed later this month at the Democratic convention in Boston as the party's challengers to President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) in the November 2 election. REUTERS/Jim Young US ELECTION
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