« Someone, Anyone? | Main | Elect this man »
February 29, 2004
Kerry-Edwards
I've been phone banking a little for Edwards in Georgia. Bet you can't wait to see who I endorse. Anyway, when I talk to people that like both candidates I convince them to vote for Edwards to keep him alive. I'm hearing from a lot of Democrats who would love for both to be on the ticket. Since they think a Kerry candidacy is inevitable, I tell them to vote for Edwards as a VP vote. They love it.
Kerry is said to be looking for a VP candidate who can carry his own state. Richardson qualifies, but New Mexico only has 4 electoral votes. I have my doubts about Bayh. Even though Edwards might not be able to carry his own state (and then again, he might) voters in every state like him a lot.
If Edwards were to become the nominee, he may face an onslaught of negative advertising that brings down his positives, but as the VP it will be hard to focus this on him and the Bush/Cheney team would look petty for it anyway.
With Edwards on the ticket the Democrats send a good message of inclusion to the South. Of course we don't answer the root claims of the Zell Millers but then again I reject those complaints anyway. Zell basically wants to be a member of a conservative party (something, btw that he never wanted until 2001 or so) but doesn't want to call himself a Republican because his mother would roll over in her grave. That's his problem, not mine.
Edwards on the ticket would address the perception that national Democrats don't care about the South, and that's what really upsets self-identified Democrats accross the spectrum in this state.
Finally, using a VP to cherry pick a state is a pretty bad electoral strategy. Lord knows Bush isn't going to fall for it, and neither did Gore who came about as close as possible to winning without actually winning last time (even though lets face it if his voters had done a better job in Florida he would have).
If Kerry actually plans on winning, it makes a lot of sense to have a vibrant Southerner on the ticket who can campaign for Congressional races in areas of the country where Kerry might not be strong. And just think about the asset that Edwards, as VP, would be in 2006 when Democrats would seriously want to contest Congress.
In fact, about the only people I can think of who would really be against Edwards as VP are politicians with their own ambitions. If Kerry-Edwards wins, you could very probably shut out any other Democrat from making a shot at the White House for 12 years. And, if Kerry-Edwards loses, the same applies as Edwards would be the early favorite for 2008 as well. So what I'm basically saying is don't let Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton and Jennifer Granholm's ambitions stand in the way of a winning ticket.
Posted by Chris at February 29, 2004 04:46 AM
Comments
Granholm's Canadian. You don't think the GOP will push through the "Elect Arnold" ammendment before 2008 do you?
Posted by: stress at February 29, 2004 10:18 PM
I think Richardson is the better choice because frankly, I'm not convinced ANY southerner is enough to win over any southern states from Bush, whereas I think Richardson not only brings in New Mexico and Arizona but quite possibly Colorado and Nevade. Further, Richardson is a grab for Hispanic voters for the future, an extremely important grab. We need hispanic voters a hell of a lot more than southern voters. Hispanics are the future of elections in the United States. The south is, as far the DNC should be concerned, the past. Lastly, I just don't buy that Edwards is qualified to be President. I know that such quibbles are meaningless this year in our quest to win at seemingly any cost, but the guy does not have the experience and knowledge I believe the President should have. Bill Richardson does, and then some. He has a great resume and is a good and decent human being. Edwards has half that, and his half just doesn't cut it for me.
Posted by: Voice of Reason at March 1, 2004 03:34 AM
Folks, we're gonna win Nevada anyway. Yucca, Yucca, Yucca.
But I do agree that Richardson would be a better VP pick for either Kerry or Edwards than either Edwards or Kerry.
And lastly, Kerry won't pick Edwards anyway. Kerry feels threatened by the last other man standing, and isn't going to get over it any time soon. He soesn't strike me as that large-spirited an individual.
Posted by: Will at March 2, 2004 09:29 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)