RRusso summed it up nicely. I'm still convinced if Kerry picked Dick Gephardt as his VP or even Bob Graham that he would've won the election. John Edwards added nothing to the ticket and in a close race that mattered.
Dick Cheney was also an unheralded factor, if only because he cleaned Edwards clock in their debate and it served as a valued reset after Bush stumbled really badly against Kerry in the first debate. Joe Biden also served this function in 2012 when he beat Paul Ryan and helped get some grounding under the Obama re-election effort after Obama had a poor first debate against Mitt Romney.
Cheney was an HP, but that Senator Gone quote was probably the best burn in a debate I have heard about.
