Vice-Presidential Candidates

[louis c]

Here is a layman's assessment of the most talked about Vice-Presidential candidates. Assuming McCain is not offered, nor accepts a Kerry offer, let's look a the remaining men. If the election turns on the economy, then Gephart will be the most obvious choice. He was against NAFTA, and the WTO and can bring that issue home. Also, Missouri is a huge swing state. The down side is he brings little, if any excitement to the ticket, his opposition to the trade policies might remind people that Kerry was in favor of them, the economy may not be the top issue anyway, and he has never run state-wide in Missouri. Edwards is an exciting choice. Handsome and charming and a great speaker. He could even put North Carolina in play, and appeal to the New South. The down side is his lack of experience, that he might not be able to carry that hostile southern state,his charisma might upstage Kerry, and he's a trial lawyer. This last point should not be underestimated. I bet Rove has the opinion that trial lawyers are the major reason we have such expensive health care, and would have wheeled it out against Edwards if he got the nomination. He certainly will use it if he is chosen to be our V.P. candidate. Gov. Richardson was Energy Secretary under Clinton, has an Hispanic heritage, was U.N. Ambassador and is Gov. of a toss up state. However, he is little known outside the South West, and he introduced Clinton to Monica (a point not lost on the scumbags on the other side). Finally, we have Gen. Clark. He's an outsider, which is a plus. No flip flop ads here. He was NATO commander during the Bosnia conflict. A Rhodes Scholar who speaks fluent Russian. Add that to the many languages Kerry speaks, and look at the advantage we have over a President who barely speaks English. His speaking style is strong, and compliments Kerry without upstaging him. If Kerry's policy is to put a strong, new face on the Iraq conflict, Clark becomes ideal. The public will feel comfortable with his experience as a decorated General. As the campaign wears on, I will enjoy telling our opponents, when they call me unpatriotic, "I'm voting for the two war heroes, you're voting for the two draft dodgers, and you accuse me of being unpatriotic?" What do you think?

[emulatorloo]

1. Kerry-Clark is my dream ticket

and I would be proud to cast my vote for them and campaign for them

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Scoopie]

16. Kerry blog says

it's down to three
1.) Clark
2.) Vislak (I can never remember how to spell this name, so forgive me if this is wrong)
3.) Edwards

Clark is also, apparently, the hot ticket to get in Charleston, W.Va.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/June/07/LNtop2.htm
which is yet another Southern (mostly - Parkersberg is more like the industrial north) swing state. He's already spoken in Arkansas.
Then, of course, there was his speeches in Alabama and Mississppi.

:)

[ezee]

2. NO matter

who Kerry picks, and I think either Edwards or Clark will be great for your reasons stated, one can still us your line "I am voting for a war hero". I think thats GREAT!

[madmax]

3. louis what is that last icon?

[louis c]

7. icons

I'm new at this. I have no clue about these icons, I never use them. However, I'm enjoying the hell out of DU. I'm working my ass off to beat that Idiot in the White House, but I'm from Mass. so I have to travel to N.H. to have any impact. Remember, I'm a Union officer and the Repugs declared war on us a long time ago.

[leyton]

19. Methinks it is ICQ chat?

I don't know anything about ICQ other than that is some sort of chat thing...

[ablbodyed]

4. Sounds cogent to me, but....

what do I know?
My choice is out in left field. If the excitement about a Kerry/McCain ticket that would bridge the partisan divide has value, but McC is way too conservative (and he ISISISIS), then perhaps another Republican might work. How about either of Maine's two senators. Both voted against convicting Bill, they're moderate, and they're women. I've proposed this before, but no one has responded.

[NMDemDist2]

5. Louis old wimmins like me have a tuff time reading posts like yours

please use the "return" key and break it into some paragraphs. My old eyes jump around too much on the screen and I lose my place

i look forward to reading something from you another time with paragraph breaks

[AP]

6. I heard David Axelrod (a political consultant) on Tavis Smiley talking...

...about Kerry's ads and he said something worth noting. He says that Kerry presents his miliary record as "service" and walks a fine line of not appearing to be too "military" because (IIRC) "he's a Democrat and that tends to backfire for Democrats" (or something like that).

He's right, I believe. Many many democrats served in the miliarty. Gore. Carter. McGovern. JFK. They rarely try to foreground their military service because the fact is more voters believe that the Republicans are stronger than Democrats on national security, military issues, terrorism, etc.

The best you can do on military issues, if you're a democrat, is to play a little defense -- show that you have the bases covered. But, when you start running ON military issue -- if you make it ALL about the military, I think too many people in the military who are already willing to give the Republicans the benefit of the doubt on these issues, will think, 'hmm, if this is what it's all about, then the Republicans' world view must be the right one." And they'll vote for the Republican.

[louis c]

11. They missed the boat

P.T. 109 and Kennedy were synonymous. I know, I'm from Mass.(8yrs. old for that one). McGovern broke my heart when a piece of shit like Spiro Agnew questioned his patriotism and he didn't respond. Carter won because Ford pardoned Nixon, and Carter was no War Hero. If you don't think this line could have won 2000, you let me know. Only one member of congress' son fought in Viet-Nam, Sen Gore of Tenn. While Cong. Bush of Texas protected his brat coward son by placing him in the National Guard. If that couldn't have switched 300 votes in Florida, I don't know politics. I say shove it up their ass, the time is now!

[AP]

12. I have a record of JFK speeches from the campaign and I don't thik he ...

...mentions his military service once.

Carter may not have been a war hero (timing?) but he was a graduate of the Naval Academy (first in his class???) and served.

If McGoven's patriotism could be questioned by Sprio Agnew, what's going to save Kerry or Clark from the same attacks?

The fact is, even a Democratic war hero's patriotism and service can be questioned BECAUSE the Republicans get such a huge head start over Democrats on these issues.

If you wan't to put all your eggs in one basket, fine. But look at how Democrats win elections (Clinton, LBJ, JFK, Carter, FDR, HST). The win by appealing people's sense that their government cares about making their material life better by creating a level playing field with equality of opportunity, and that the social safety net is important because knowing it's there allows people to reach higher for greater rewards.

[louis c]

13. Good Point

Now tell me when we last beat an incumbent during a war. Truman couldn't even think of running in 52 (Korea), Johnson couldn't get nominated in 68 (Viet-Nam). McGovern wanted to withdraw our troops in 72. Kerry and Clark can appear in charge with a strong strategy during this time of heightened fear. We can take away their trump card. Carl Rove believes that you beat your opponent by going after his strength. He did it to McCain, Gore, and now he'll attempt to do it to Kerry. Let's beat him to the punch. Fuck them.

[Darkamber]

14. The war is an unstable issue...

The problem is the current war is an unstable issue. Even today there was good news coming out. What if it changes? What if things start to go well there? What then?

If you put all your faith in picking an anti-war General and want to make military service the center piece of your campaign, what then?

I want to hear about the budget deficit and how Bush plans to fix it. I know how Kerry will fix it. I want to hear about Education and bring forth that Bush intends to take cuts in Education. I want to hear about the energy policy and health care and go after the corp like the Texas based Enron.

If you pick someone like Edwards who was pro-war, you take the war off the table and you bring the issues back to the strengths of the Democratic party. If things go well there...you have someone who Swing Republicans can look at and say, "Oh, yeah...Edwards was pro-war and it worked out. Maybe he can help to balance Kerry. I'll listen."

I don't think there is any doubt that Kerry will have Clark on board in his Administration, but placing him in the VP spot will narrow his focus too much and perhaps even close off a whole set of voters.

[AP]

17. McGovern made the focus of his campaign Vietnam, and Nixon merely had

to rescind the draft and talk about winding things down (without even doing anything concrete) and that took the war off the table for most voters leaving people little reason to vote for McGovern, who had aimed his entire campagin, practically, on that issue.

[MontecitoDem]

8. Naturally I AGREE!

Clark should have been our nominee, imo.

Thanks for the thoughtful post. You'll find the Edwards supporters will not agree with your analysis - especially that being a trial lawyer is a negative. (I've had that discussion here before).

Read an article today that said that he won't be announcing until July - so we've got lots more time for speculation!

:hi:

[louis c]

9. All I Want To Do Is Win

I didn't care who we nominated, he would have been my candidate. I'm 51 years old and started working for Presidential candidates in 68 (15 yrs. old) for Gene McCarthy. Then McGovern (42 flights over Berlin as a crew member on bombing missions: the assholes called him a traitor, too). I'm running out of time. WE have to win.

[AP]

10. Don't forget Clinton and Carter.

[Mattforclark]

15. Clark, Graham, Edwards

(Also Richardson, but since I'm limited to 3, and he has expressed repeatedly that he doesn't want to be VP...)

There's a significant chance that it will be someone 'out of the blue,' not much discussed, like Kerrey. But I think that his personal chances are dimmed because of 2 things - his work on the 9/11 commission (picking him as VP would be called 'politicizing' 9/11), and his vietnam 'experiences' in that village.

[in_cog_ni_to]

18. Perfect.

I'm with you. I want Clark and he is, hands down, the BEST candidate to help us win in Nov.