A Tale of Two Johns

Personally, I'd rather it was Linnell and Flansburgh, but Kerry and Edwards is your 2004 Democratic ticket. There was a message on an aviation message board late last night (about 1:30am Eastern Time) that claimed they saw Kerry's campaign plane repainted with "Kerry/Edwards" on the fuselage, which turned out to be the case. So maybe you CAN believe everything you read on the Internet.

I like this choice a lot because of what it shows about Kerry's decision-making. First of all, they were able to keep it quite secret instead of playing the veepstakes game through the media. Instead of Kerry hearing the Lieberman choice by seeing it on television, everyone was told before anything got out in public. Also, this is a look forward to the future rather than the past. Gephardt would have represented a safe pick from the heart of the Washington political establishment. This pick shows me Kerry wants to win.

But most important, this shows how willing Kerry is to listen to his constituency. He was obviously torn between what might be best for the ticket and who he would be personally comfortable with. Edwards was clearly the favorite for Democrats, and it appears Kerry put aside his difficulties with him, and that shows leadership.

Kerry/Edwards is already taking heat from Republicans, with most of the talking points out almost minutes after the announcement. This does show a certain amount of fear, yes, but the GOP would have been all over anyone that was selected. The Bush campaign ad featuring John McCain was launched today, trying to somehow paint McCain as the first choice for the VP slot. McCain's goodwill toward Kerry and Edwards (as evidenced by his quote on the back of Edwards' book Four Trials)seems to defuse that. The attack that Edwards has no experience is laughable, considering that he's been in Washington longer than George W. Bush has. Overall, this is a pretty solid choice, and as much as Republicans want to grouse, I think the proof will come during that Edwards-Cheney debate.