July 06, 2004

Edwards for VP

Of course the big news story today is that John Kerry has chosen Senator Edwards as his running mate.

I voted for Edwards in the NH Primary. As I wrote at the time, I voted for him mostly cause I wanted him to be able to stay in the race a bit longer to see what would happen.

As the primaries played out I came to like Edwards as a candidate, and I think I'm happy with him as VP candidate.

But I'm not so certain whether he is the best running-mate in terms of attracting swing states. I'll be watching this for awhile.

I also have some sadness at seeing a quality politician being relegated to the relatively uninvolved role of VP. I'll admit that VP Cheney has shown us that the VP can wield power, but I think his example has been an abuse of the system, not an improvement.

So Edwards has agreed to eight years of obscurity in order to bolster the ticket, and to be the candidate in 2012. Interesting choice.

Posted by jackhodgson at July 6, 2004 12:07 PM