Posted on 03/06/2004 8:12:17 AM PST by buffyt
Many Democrats look at the Super Tuesday election results and see a John-John ticket, with Sen. John Edwards as Sen. John Kerry's running mate.
Not so fast.
Kerry will rely on a formal vetting process to examine his options for vice president, headed by Washington businessman Jim Johnson, who worked in the Jimmy Carter White House and was chairman of Vice President Walter Mondale's losing 1984 presidential campaign. It was an excellent insider's choice; there are few secrets in the Democratic Party Johnson doesn't know.
Edwards, despite his popular upbeat message and down-home charm, is not the strongest candidate Kerry could pick. His chief selling point was supposed to be his appeal in the South, but he won only his home state and blew Oklahoma and Georgia.
In any case, Kerry is not glued to a Southern strategy. He said during a January New Hampshire town hall meeting that "Everyone always makes the mistake of looking South."
Attacked for writing off the region, Kerry later explained he gave "a mathematical answer" indicating that it is possible to win a general election without carrying the South, even though it means winning just about everywhere else.
Indeed, the strongest potential running mate in sight is a fellow liberal Northerner, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. She is one of the party's most popular figures and, with her husband, the former president, its biggest money-raiser.
She has been, by even bipartisan accounts, a responsible and effective senator. The Gallup Poll lists her as the country's "most admired" woman, ahead of first lady Laura Bush.
And she will give a major speech to the Gridiron Club, a journalists' group, tonight, a date she knew in advance would fall promptly after the Super Tuesday results focused interest on the vice presidential pick.
But Hillary is also one of the country's most polarizing politicians. She would energize Democrats but infuriate Republicans.
To pick Hillary, Kerry would indicate that galvanizing his liberal base is more important than appealing to centrist independents. But the possibility that her celebrity might outshine his shouldn't bother him.
He has self-confidently made his own way for two decades as the junior Massachusetts senator in the shadow of the party's giant liberal lion, Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Hillary dismissed the idea of being Kerry's running mate -- as do all potential veeps. "I'm having a great time being senator," she said with a laugh on CNN Wednesday night.
She has two years left in her first Senate term; more seasoning there could position her well for her own run for the White House in four or eight years.
If she declines, however, someone else will get in line ahead of her. Remember what the late House Speaker Sam Rayburn advised Lyndon Johnson in 1960: "You go home from the convention with something."
Public attention would shift from her to the vice presidential nominee, whether or not the ticket wins. Most vice presidents and veep wannabes move on to run for president. Just ask Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
Another possible running mate with superstar power is Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He insists he would never leave the Republican Party, but his party has not been kind to him since his primary challenge to Bush in 2000.
He is a Kerry buddy; their friendship was forged through joint Senate initiatives to which they were drawn by their Vietnam War experiences. A double war-hero ticket would be a powerful rebuff to Bush's claim to be the best possible protector of our national security.
But McCain and Kerry don't agree on some major issues, which would disturb many Democrats.
There are other attractive possibilities as well. Former Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, a stalwart party soldier with deep labor support, could help to carry Missouri, his home state.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has more pep than Gephardt and will chair the Democratic convention this summer. He would also be the first Hispanic on a major national ticket, no small political asset.
Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, whose senator father Birch ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, is often mentioned as destined for greater things. But he may not have the requisite ambition. He declined to run for the White House earlier this year when it seemed Bush would be difficult to beat.
But Hillary trumps them all. Picking her would electrify the Democratic Party. She's a Clinton, but not the adulterous one. She's a woman, without Geraldine Ferrarro's baggage. And what can she lose? Her reputation has already transcended false GOP accusations of various high crimes, including the murder of White House aide Vincent Foster.
Means is a Washington, D.C.-based columnist for the Hearst Newspapers. (means@hearstdc.com)
Shadow? That's more like a total eclipse of the sun.
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Isn't this because biggies (Hollywood, Rich Dems) give them LOTS of money in one contribution....NOT because the little guys give them lots of smaller individual contributions....like the Republican's?
She will torpedo his campaign and make him unelectable for two reasons:
More Americans hate her than would vote for her and...
Can you say Geraldine Ferarro?
And Hillary Clinton always tells the truth...especially when there is a microphone or a reporter nearby...right?
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