WHO SHOULD BE VP ?!?

[zachman]

Graham has minimal charisma, the democrats are going to pick someone who helps them nationally, and is a good compliment well balanced crudentials.  After learning from 2000, the dems. choice will be selected to be the next rising star, and to have little risk involved.

[7,052,770]

My pick was Bill Richardson.
Gore in 2000 showed that Dems don't have to win a single state in the South to win.  Edwards doesn't really gaurantee anything
Kerry can perhaps bring NH to the Dem side and Richardson should bring AZ and NM.  With that, the Dems can lose MN and still win the White House.

[MAS117]

gustaf i play tennis for my school, lewis vilsack is the governor of iowa very popular... he and his wife have endorsed John Kerry

[Platypus]

I would quite like another Iowan president

A VP will do for now, until the revol...oh. Um. Carry on.

[Platypus]

we claim hoover as Iowan, although i'm not entirely sure why

[HoopsCubs]

My pick was Bill Richardson.
Gore in 2000 showed that Dems don't have to win a single state in the South to win.  Edwards doesn't really gaurantee anything
Kerry can perhaps bring NH to the Dem side and Richardson should bring AZ and NM.  With that, the Dems can lose MN and still win the White House.

Unless there is another state that Kerry is winning, your scenario of winning NH, NM and AZ and losing MN does not give Kerry the White House.  

Gore won 266 EVs in 2000, but winning the same states in 2004 only gives Kerry 260 EVs (due to changes in population after 2000).  The 260 includes NM, which Gore won in 2000.  If Kerry wins AZ (10) and NH (4), but loses in MN (10), he is only up to 264.  He would need another state.


HoopsCubs

[Ben.]

The selection of Edwards as a running mate would help soften Kerry’s edges some what and if Edwards moderate neo-populist platform along with his rhetoric of the “Two Americas” is incorporated into the Democratic campaign it will support Kerry’s initial broad base of support and please many independents as well a women and minority voters. Edwards appeal will resonate well with independents in the south and the west and while I predict that this will only help sway states in the Midwest as well as West Virginia it will assist Democratic candidates across the south in senate and congressional races. It is not some much where he comes from (though the self made southerner background is useful) it is more the message that he has put forward which Iowa showed us resonated well with voters and would do so in a general election in my view. I doubt that he would carry any southern states even NC or AS but as I have said he would help with senatorial and congressional dems in the south. #

Gephardt, Graham, Vilsack, Bayh are all too uninspiring for voters and have no compelling message that could help Kerry. Bayh is the best of the bunch as he would reassure many right leaning moderates but he also is not the best speaker. Dean, Hillary are to polarising and Dean in particular could send independents running for the republican hills and both would make the “Massachusetts Liberal” label even harder to shake while adding little or no geographical advantage to the ticket. Ted Kennedy would mean that under the constitution Kerry would be ineligible to win                
Massachusetts so he is a non possibility. Richardson is a definite possibility as that would very much help with the Hispanic vote and would accentuate democratic trends in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado as well as stiffening Democratic support even further in California. However Richardson does not have the charisma and crystal clarity of Edwards and what is more is appeal is largely limited to the Hispanic and minority communities while from the data I have see Edwards plays well across the board. What is more Edwards would be an excellent debater opposite Cheney (who what ever you say is a crafty and skilled adversary in a political debate hence his many appearances on meet the press etc…while GWB seldom (until now it seems) puts himself through the minefield of meet the press or hardball etc…).  


Edwards can also be type cast as an “ambulance chancing, pretty boy, empty suite with not experience” however a rebuttal of this can merely point out the families who he has helped and the special interests he can claim to have fought and such a counter attack goes hand in hand with any effort to rebut charges against Kerry’s authority on the issues based on his social background. A rebuttal of such attacks by Republicans would in my view be very effective, Which is why I do not see so direct a line of attack being employed by the Republicans…

[minionofmidas]

Very good analysis, keep it up, though you should work on the spelling maybe.
Two tiny hooks: AS is American Samoa. They don't have EVs. I guess you mean AR.
There is no provision in the Constitution that bans Prez and Veep from being from the same state. Only thing is that Mass. electors couldn't vote for them both and would have to vote for somebody else for Vice President. (That of course does mean there is no chance whatsoever of Kennedy being the running mate, but that was clear anyway. I think his name was added to the list more for the hell of it than for anything else.)

[Gustaf]

Next round we'll beat yu, and avenge the aussies, don't worry (we do play you next round, I think, don't we?)

Yes you do, and you wish! Australia were title defenders, now we can beat any country! And we have much better team spirit, American sportsmen tend to be more capitalist than patriotic...

[© tweed]

Nelson would have better appeal than Graham.  His only liability is that he has less than four years experience in the Senate.

I don't see how that matters,  You already have the experience question in the bag with Kerry's two decades in the senate.  bush was only a governor for 6 years when he was elected.

[Gustaf]

My pick was Bill Richardson.
Gore in 2000 showed that Dems don't have to win a single state in the South to win.  Edwards doesn't really gaurantee anything
Kerry can perhaps bring NH to the Dem side and Richardson should bring AZ and NM.  With that, the Dems can lose MN and still win the White House.

Unless there is another state that Kerry is winning, your scenario of winning NH, NM and AZ and losing MN does not give Kerry the White House.  

Gore won 266 EVs in 2000, but winning the same states in 2004 only gives Kerry 260 EVs (due to changes in population after 2000).  The 260 includes NM, which Gore won in 2000.  If Kerry wins AZ (10) and NH (4), but loses in MN (10), he is only up to 264.  He would need another state.


HoopsCubs

You're right there, perhaps he meant NV, not NM, but what do I know?

[Mort from NewYawk]

The selection of Edwards as a running mate would help soften Kerry’s edges some what and if Edwards moderate neo-populist platform along with his rhetoric of the “Two Americas” is incorporated into the Democratic campaign it will support Kerry’s initial broad base of support and please many independents as well a women and minority voters. Edwards appeal will resonate well with independents in the south and the west and while I predict that this will only help sway states in the Midwest as well as West Virginia it will assist Democratic candidates across the south in senate and congressional races. It is not some much where he comes from (though the self made southerner background is useful) it is more the message that he has put forward which Iowa showed us resonated well with voters and would do so in a general election in my view. I doubt that he would carry any southern states even NC or AS but as I have said he would help with senatorial and congressional dems in the south. #

Gephardt, Graham, Vilsack, Bayh are all too uninspiring for voters and have no compelling message that could help Kerry. Bayh is the best of the bunch as he would reassure many right leaning moderates but he also is not the best speaker. Dean, Hillary are to polarising and Dean in particular could send independents running for the republican hills and both would make the “Massachusetts Liberal” label even harder to shake while adding little or no geographical advantage to the ticket. Ted Kennedy would mean that under the constitution Kerry would be ineligible to win                
Massachusetts so he is a non possibility. Richardson is a definite possibility as that would very much help with the Hispanic vote and would accentuate democratic trends in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado as well as stiffening Democratic support even further in California. However Richardson does not have the charisma and crystal clarity of Edwards and what is more is appeal is largely limited to the Hispanic and minority communities while from the data I have see Edwards plays well across the board. What is more Edwards would be an excellent debater opposite Cheney (who what ever you say is a crafty and skilled adversary in a political debate hence his many appearances on meet the press etc…while GWB seldom (until now it seems) puts himself through the minefield of meet the press or hardball etc…).  


Edwards can also be type cast as an “ambulance chancing, pretty boy, empty suite with not experience” however a rebuttal of this can merely point out the families who he has helped and the special interests he can claim to have fought and such a counter attack goes hand in hand with any effort to rebut charges against Kerry’s authority on the issues based on his social background. A rebuttal of such attacks by Republicans would in my view be very effective, Which is why I do not see so direct a line of attack being employed by the Republicans…

I agree with this analysis. Edwards has got appeal for the broader Democratic base. If he stays in OH, WV, PA, IA, MO, WS and MN the whole campaign banging out the "Two Americas" theme, that may be all he's needed for.

There's a lot more potential in the Midwest with Edwards than there is in the Southwest with Richardson.

[TheWildCard]

I voted for Howard Dean... Thers no chance in heck he'll get to be Kerry's running mate but from a republican stand point a Kerry/Dean ticket sounds good.

[Nym90]

Hoover was originally born and raised in Iowa, but California was his state of residence at the time of the election, thus technically his home state. He was never elected to any political office there (or anywhere) though, and thus his ties to the state are tenuous. Hoover's Presidential Library is in Iowa as well (West Branch).

Hoover was the first President from west of the Mississippi River, BTW.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Possible V.P's:

South
Edwards
Warner
Landrieu
Graham
Cleland

Midwest
Gephardt
Bayh
Vilsack

South West
Richardson

[Peter]

I voted for Gephardt, but I personally would like Senator Diane Feinstein of CA as the running mate

[Ben.]

I have to say that Feinstein would be a bad choice… a liberal from California and a liberal from Massachusetts is what many would see a Kerry/ Feinstein ticket as being comprised of…and there would be little geographical advantage or appeal to any particular group (remember Ferraro in 1984?)…as I have already said Edwards is Kerry’s best choice…however if a female running-mate for Kerry is what your looking for then Senator Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas) or Senator Mary Landrieu (Louisiana). But Feinstein with Kerry would make for an uncompetitive ticket IMHO…      


On another subject had Feinstein gained the Democratic nomination (possible if not very likely) then I think she could have been a powerful and competitive candidate running with a moderate, male running-mate SO Feinstein/Clark, or Feinstein/ Baucus, or Feinstein/ Breaux, Feinstein/ Doyle any would have been competitive tickets against Bush however would America be ready for its first female and Jewish president?        

[NHPolitico]

I voted for Gephardt, but I personally would like Senator Diane Feinstein of CA as the running mate

She'd be the best, in my opinion, of the possible senators he could choose, but I'd still suggest he get someone outside of DC.

[Nym90]

I think that Kerry should pick Mary Landrieu. A moderate woman from the South...that balances the ticket nicely, and she would appeal to a lot of swing voters in all parts of the country. Plus, with a Dem governor there now, no risk of losing a Senate seat even. The Dems will already lose Kerry's Senate seat if he is elected (although I'd say they have a great chance of taking it back in the special election, but the GOP will have it for at least 2 years anyway).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I think that Kerry should pick someone from the South, and either Edwards, Landrieu or Warner would be a good choice.
They would all balance the ticket, and would bring extra states into play.

[© tweed]

I'm sticking with Evan Bayh or Bill Nelson, but Edwards is a rising star in my party.

[zachman]

Would Edwards get picked if he smoothly fades out of the presidential election, the way Clark has?

[© tweed]

Would Edwards get picked if he smoothly fades out of the presidential election, the way Clark has?

Yeah, probably.

[zachman]

You put Ted Kennedy on the ballot?!?! That's unconstitutional.

[© tweed]

You put Ted Kennedy on the ballot?!?! That's unconstitutional.

I dn't know why he is even listed in this poll...maybe it was a joke.