Fascinating [View All]

[whometense]

Just look at what google accidentally turned up:

Gore's obvious choice

By Joshua Micah Marshall

Memo to Al: Never mind what everyone's trying to tell you. Your ideal running mate is Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

- snip -

Some of this complexity shows through in his biography. Take an example from Kerry's young adulthood: After graduating college Kerry enlisted in the Navy and served as a gunboat officer in the Mekong Delta, earning three Purple Hearts and a number of other medals along the way. Then, after leaving the Navy, he became the leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a key antiwar group. He's unassailable. No one can gainsay his courage or patriotism; yet he's got perfect credentials for anti-war types. For a Democrat, you just can't get a better record than that. Kerry's mix of political views doesn't match that dramatic flair, but for a Democrat in the year 2000 they make for an equally good combination.

Second: temperament. Kerry is intelligent, knowledgeable on policy, attractive and articulate -- like Gore. Also like Gore, he's no glad-hander, or emotion-gusher like Bill Clinton. He's not stiff and wooden exactly, but more cool and perhaps a touch distant. But for Gore's No. 2, that's a good thing. Kerry is a deceptively good campaigner, as he demonstrated when fending off challenger William Weld, then the most popular pol in Massachusetts, in 1996. Like Gore at his best, Kerry oozes experience and seriousness of purpose. And maybe a little unlike Gore, he's got flair.

Third: He just looks the part. And that matters more than you might think. Kerry has the look of a future president, and it's no secret he'd like to be one. Graham could help a bit in Florida. But does anyone think Graham would have any hope or chance of being a president unless Gore puts him on the ticket? Or that the party faithful could get excited about the idea of Graham (who'll turn 64 a couple days after the election) as a future president? Of course not. Graham's an impressive figure, but not a future president, or the equal partner a modern veep candidate should be. Dick Durbin of Illinois? Same thing. He might help a bit in Illinois (and he'd probably be the second-best pick), but he lacks Kerry's punch and style.

Kerry has his shortcomings, as every pol does. His second wife is heir to an almost billion-dollar fortune, and that will get him a little ribbing. Kerry's a bit of blue blood, or as they call them in Massachusetts, a Brahmin. And Kerry's choice won't electrify the press the way someone like Colin Powell would for Bush. But Kerry would be a deceptively strong choice, and voters would warm to him the more they got to know him.

Hmmmm....