NEWS ANALYSIS
Kerry Selects a Partner With Contrasts That Complement
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: July 7, 2004
WASHINGTON, July 6 — In John Edwards, Senator John Kerry selected a running mate who embodies the very attributes that some Democrats worry Mr. Kerry lacks: a vigorous campaign presence, an engaging personal manner and a crisp message that stirred Democrats from Iowa to New Hampshire.
Mr. Kerry even took a risk or two in compensating for his own shortcomings, embracing a trial lawyer who has less governmental experience than any other major vice-presidential candidate in at least 20 years.
As a result, many Democrats said Tuesday, this highest-profile decision of Mr. Kerry's public life was as instructive about the party's presumed presidential candidate as it was about Mr. Edwards. It was the move of a candidate who is proving to be methodical, discreet, coolly pragmatic and exceedingly self-assured; one who is so intensely focused on victory as to be presumably unruffled by the unflattering stylistic contrasts that will surely be drawn whenever he and Mr. Edwards share a stage.
"The fact that he's big enough to accept somebody on the ticket that has that kind of impressive and shiny personality — the public will see that," said Walter F. Mondale, the former vice president. "He was looking for someone who could add strength — not just geographically — to the ticket and help him get elected."
"Presidential candidates are always suspicious of anybody on the platform who outshines them. I remember how Lyndon used to chafe when Hubert was on the platform," Mr. Mondale continued, referring to his fellow Minnesotan Hubert H. Humphrey and President Lyndon B. Johnson. "Hubert told me he learned to trim his sails when Johnson was there."
And so it was that Mr. Kerry settled on someone whose strengths as a campaigner were often held up to highlight Mr. Kerry's own shortcomings, but whose political attributes were widely agreed upon by Democrats who pressed Mr. Kerry to choose him. In fact, even one Republican who should know, former Vice President Dan Quayle, said the selection was the "logical, natural choice."
It is not just a matter of Mr. Edwards's patching up any holes in the Kerry résumé. He is a prodigious fund-raiser, especially given his deep ties to trial lawyers. He has a strong appeal to minority voters. And he brings the skills of a courtroom lawyer to a campaign debate, as Mr. Kerry learned earlier this year, and as Dick Cheney will soon experience firsthand.
As several Democrats argued Tuesday, Mr. Edwards's selection will probably reconfigure the geographic calculus of both campaigns, putting new regions of the country in play. The fact that Mr. Edwards grew up in a small town in North Carolina suggests that he will be a strong salesman for the Kerry ticket in rural parts of Midwest states like Ohio and Missouri that have been a target of Mr. Kerry's this summer.
"He opens up a part of rural America that has been shutting down for Democrats," said James Carville, a Democratic commentator close to Mr. Edwards. "He knows how to talk to them: of his language, his speech, his mannerisms, his everything, tells them I was one of you, I understand you."
And while few Democrats believe it is likely that Mr. Edwards can win his own state of North Carolina (the betting among Democratic officials is that Mr. Edwards would have had a tough time winning re-election as senator), his presence on the ticket means that the White House may be forced to divert some resources into Southern states that it would just as soon take for granted.
nytimes.com |
