| The partnership [between Kerry and McCain] is so tight, in fact, that insiders in both camps are speculating about the pair teaming for a 2004 presidential ticket, according to a source close to the buzz -- even without McCain switching parties, as Beltway rumors have previously hinted. As one well-placed Democratic strategist says "Kerry and McCain together would form an almost nonpartisan 'unity ticket' that would keep the attention on Vietnam heroics, something sorely lacking in both Bush and Cheney." Mind you, the move wouldn't be wholly unprecedented; at the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, tapped Democrat Andrew Johnson for a running mate. When I [MJ reporter Jonathan Miles] ask Kerry about the prospect, he doesn't nix it. "I've seen enough in my life to know tomorrow can be a completely different world from today, and I think John McCain would tell you the same thing," he says. "I wouldn't rule out or rule in most anything, other than you learn to do what feels right in your gut." And although a McCain advisor dismisses the idea as "summertime chatter," McCain recently shouted, "Kerry for President," as he was leaving a Washington luncheon in their honor -- perhaps a clue, or perhaps a glib wisecrack |
