John Kerry deserves a lot of credit for handling his VP search discretely. After his own experiences in 2000, he realized the flaws in parading potential candidates around before the cameras in an effort to please various constituencies, and insisted his search be conducted with some diplomatic acumen.
The frustrating part of this secrecy is, of course, that none of us has any idea who he’s going to pick. Various rumors pop up constantly, and speculation is ubiquitous, but the actual choice remains a mystery. He could go with a popular but predictable Edwards, a steady but unexciting Gephardt, an intriguing but untested Vilsack, or any number of qualified wildcards including Wesley Clark, Joe Biden, Sam Nunn, Evan Bayh, and Bob Graham.
Apparently, the suspense may be over as early as next week. The Boston Globe is reporting the choice may be announced as early as Tuesday.
Kerry’s public campaign schedule has been disclosed only through Monday, the day after he wraps up a Fourth of July bus tour through the Midwest and then flies back to Pittsburgh. His staff has assembled the telephone numbers and schedules next week for potential running mates, said a top adviser to one of the candidates. Kerry has asked a select few of his closest supporters to reserve Tuesday and Wednesday to travel with the campaign, which would allow for a barnstorming tour by the Democratic duo in advance of a gala fund-raiser next Thursday in New York City.
”We’re hearing it’s going to be Tuesday,” said the adviser, who spoke on the condition that neither he nor his boss be identified.
Whoever it is, the pick will be able to hit the ground running.
Whoever the choice and whenever he is announced, the Kerry campaign has already hired the running mate’s chief of staff, and is in the final stages of hiring the rest of his staff. The campaign has also reserved a second charter jet and added support staff in its campaign travel office to facilitate travel for the running mate and his entourage, according to Kerry campaign aides.
The Secret Service, meanwhile, has agents ready to begin protecting the nominee as soon as the announcement is made.
Without any idea who it actually will be, I have to say that I’m all but convinced John Edwards is the right choice. In fact, The Gadflyer’s Tom Schaller helped lead me in this direction.
During the primaries, Edwards refined his message and presentation to near perfection. Seeing him up-close for the first time at a small event in Iowa Falls last January, it was obvious how well Edwards connects with audiences, especially in close, personal settings. His charms derive in no small part from his country-lawyer style and uplifting biography.
Plus, as I remarked from Iowa at the time, Edwards fixed the problems with Al Gore’s ambiguous “people v. the powerful” message from 2000 by offering a purer dichotomy with his own, “two Americas” theme. Whereas some suburban professionals were understandably unclear as to which side of Gore’s people/powerful divide they resided, Edwards’s seamless version left no ambiguity: You are either among that select group of Americans with the luxury of fancy tax lawyers and special shelters when April 15 rolls around each year, or you suffered under the tax rules that apply to “everybody else”; you either had private insurance and access to the best specialists in the country, or you grappled with the spiraling costs and administrative hassles so familiar to “everybody else.” And so on.
Because he energized a larger bloc of devotees than any other candidate save Howard Dean, Edwards is also generally acceptable to wide swaths of the center-left Democratic community. If reports about Kerry’s private conversations with some labor leaders are accurate, even Rep. Gephardt’s incomparable labor credentials are no hurdle to Kerry picking his fellow senator over Gephardt (labor wants to win as badly as any other constituency in the “anybody but Bush” movement). Edwards’ Democratic Leadership Council credentials, coupled with his courageous anti-poverty themes, make him exactly the sort of pan-ideological ambassador who can repair any residual, center-left tensions with the Democratic Party (that is, beyond the helpful contributions of a certain 43rd president).
Good points all.
I’m also struck by the stunning support Edwards enjoys among Dem lawmakers on the Hill. A coalition of major House Dems is urging Kerry to tap the NC senator, as is a host of Kerry’s Senate colleagues. I can’t remember any potential running mate getting this kind of congressional support in any recent campaign cycle.
Even grassroots Dems are throwing their support behind Edwards. While I initially dismissed these polls as name-recognition contests, I’m starting to believe Dems just like the guy and would be excited to have him on Kerry’s ticket. Dems in Gephardt’s Missouri have come to the same conclusion.
Of course, if Kerry was hoping to surprise the public with an unpredictable choice, then Edwards has no shot at all.
Regardless, it looks like we’ll know for sure in less than a week. Stay tuned.