By C.G. Lynch
After a highly secretive selection process that lasted months, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry chose Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina as his vice presidential candidate Tuesday, a move expected to give the Massachusetts senator a spike in polls against President George W. Bush.
The decision comes in the wake of Edwards’ private fundraiser for the Kerry campaign at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston Monday.
Since withdrawing from the primary presidential contest after winning only South Carolina, his birthplace, Edwards has jockeyed for the number two spot by traversing the country in support of his former opponent.
“I have chosen a man who understands and defends the values of America,” Sen. Kerry said in his announcement at Market Square in Pittsburgh, Penn., not far from the estate of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. “[Sen. Edwards is] a man who has shown courage and conviction as a champion for middle class Americans and for those struggling to reach the middle class.”
Runners up in the contest included former House minority leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa.
“Of all the candidates, Edwards is probably the most well-liked,” said Heidi Buch-anan, a junior political science major who heads NU Students for Kerry. “I think Edwards has a lot of charisma about him. It might also help lighten [Kerry’s] aloofness.”
The choice of Edwards, a first term North Carolina senator, is expected to deliver votes from the south, an area Kerry needs in order to carry the election.
But political analysts also believe Democrats favored Edwards for his charismatic manner to counterbalance what many see as Kerry’s aloof, aristocratic demeanor.
“He’s probably the best orator the Democrats have,” pollster Frank Luntz told the Associated Press. “He’s a very good debater and he has the capability of electrifying the Democratic convention.”
Edwards’ engaging qualities, many Democrats assert, could serve as a stark contrast to the unapproachable personality of Vice President Dick Cheney.
“Cheney’s recent vulgar outburst directed at Sen. Patrick J. Leahy was another example of Cheney as a lightning rod,” said Alan Schroeder, a professor of journalism at NU, in a release. “It creates an opportunity for Kerry to provide a strong contrast to a strong personality.”
A self-made man whose father worked in a mill, Edwards, 51, has a strong record on trade and economic policy for the lower and middle classes, giving him appeal with blue collar voters who do not favor President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy.
The Republican National Committee and the Bush Administration have already launched a smear campaign that paints Edwards as a second choice, noting that Kerry courted moderate Republican and friend Sen. John McCain of Arizona as a running mate.
“We think it’s important that people understand that this is a ticket of John Kerry and his second choice,” Nicolle Devenish, the Bush campaign’s communications director, told The New York Times.
GOP officials also highlighted Edwards’ short political experience and his role as a trial lawyer before running for Senate.
Even after spending millions on anti Kerry-Edwards commercials in the coming weeks, Bush administration officials acknowledged that given the media surge from the VP announcement and the upcoming Democratic Conven-tion in Kerry’s hometown of Boston, they expect a surge in polls as high as 15 percent.
“We could easily be 14 or 15 points behind in the first week of August,” Matthew Dowd, Bush’s chief campaign strategist, told the Times. “How long that lasts and what happens after our [RNC] convention, well, we’ll have to wait and see.”
