Last week, John Kerry chose John Edwards (D-NC) as his running mate to no one's surprise. Others considered for the slot were Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, Missouri Representative Dick Gephardt, and Arizona Senator John McCain. Vilsack and Gephardt may have had some chance but McCain was a non-started from the beginning. The only positive result Kerry could have possibly gotten from considered McCain would have been the extra attention. However, all the attention he did get was from consultants and analysts who spoke and wrote of the political impossibility of these two coming together. McCain knew it and that's why he declined any consideration whatsoever. No matter how close he and Kerry may be on any issue, the addition of a Republican Vice-President to a Democrat President would have created only political havoc. Having to battle both parties instead of only one would have made the pace of getting things done at the White House incredibly slow. That's also assuming that the country could have put aside its partisan nature to elect a mixed ticket.
Dick Gephardt is closer to McCain than one might think. His chance of being Kerry's running mate was aborted early due to the popular conception that he is politically used up. Gephardt has also been running and exiting his own presidential campaigns since 1988, which seems like a million years ago in political time. Having already been a power player in the House and in Missouri, Gephardt would bring considerable experience to the ticket that Kerry doesn't need. Kerry has been a senator long enough to know how Congress operates and long enough to make his own set of friends and allies in Washington that might come in handy if he makes it to the White House. On the other hand, Gephardt would have been the ideal running mate of the three if Kerry had no Washington experience.
Governor Vilsack also made a less-than-perfect choice, although a Governor is an ideal candidate. Vilsack is a political nobody to the larger American voting public. Here, the only gain Kerry would have made would have been with any Midwestern voters who felt compelled to Vilsack to offer their support to Kerry. One will remember that the only other Massachusetts liberal to run successfully for the Presidency, John Kennedy, was forced to pick a VP, Lyndon Johnson, from a different region of the country. Vilsack could probably deliver Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Kansas but could he deliver Florida, with its twenty-five electoral votes? This is where John Edwards comes in.
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