GEP ENDORSES KERRY
Gephardt to endorse Kerry, according to CBS. The announcement will apparently take place tomorrow morning.
Two ways the media could, and probably, will play this:
1) Gep is sticking it to Dean one last time by timing his endorsement in the days right before Michigan and Wisconsin.
2) Gep wouldn't mind being on the ticket.
Would Gep be a good running mate for Kerry? Certainly he would be a great pro-labor, populist counterpart to Kerry's national security emphasis. This wouldn't necessarily help Kerry much in the South, but electorally, the Dems don't need the South to beat Bush. Gep's history with labor unions would probably be enough to put Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and certainly his home state, Missouri, into play.
That being said, no Democratic ticket should give up on the South, or even say they are. There are a couple of arguments for aggressively pursuing southern voters. The first, obviously, is that the coattails of the presidential campaign will help Democratic congressional and senatorial candidates. Secondly, it would be nice to see the Democrats co-opt the Rove "inevitability" strategy. If the Dems go on the offensive in more Bush-friendly territory, it could fuel the perception that the Bushies are on the defensive, and that the battleground states have shifted in favor of the Democratic ticket, politics being perception and all. This is what the Bush campaign did with California shortly before the 2000 election. Of course, it didn't work, as 500,000 more people voted for the Democrat, and tens of thousands more people in Florida went to the polls with the intent to vote for Gore than for Bush.
If Edwards passes Kerry and wins the nomination, Gep wouldn't make sense as the running mate, as they would both be middle-America populists with union cred. Edwards could choose any number of people, from Clark to Bill Richardson to Bob Graham to anyone else.
Gephardt to endorse Kerry, according to CBS. The announcement will apparently take place tomorrow morning.
Two ways the media could, and probably, will play this:
1) Gep is sticking it to Dean one last time by timing his endorsement in the days right before Michigan and Wisconsin.
2) Gep wouldn't mind being on the ticket.
Would Gep be a good running mate for Kerry? Certainly he would be a great pro-labor, populist counterpart to Kerry's national security emphasis. This wouldn't necessarily help Kerry much in the South, but electorally, the Dems don't need the South to beat Bush. Gep's history with labor unions would probably be enough to put Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and certainly his home state, Missouri, into play.
That being said, no Democratic ticket should give up on the South, or even say they are. There are a couple of arguments for aggressively pursuing southern voters. The first, obviously, is that the coattails of the presidential campaign will help Democratic congressional and senatorial candidates. Secondly, it would be nice to see the Democrats co-opt the Rove "inevitability" strategy. If the Dems go on the offensive in more Bush-friendly territory, it could fuel the perception that the Bushies are on the defensive, and that the battleground states have shifted in favor of the Democratic ticket, politics being perception and all. This is what the Bush campaign did with California shortly before the 2000 election. Of course, it didn't work, as 500,000 more people voted for the Democrat, and tens of thousands more people in Florida went to the polls with the intent to vote for Gore than for Bush.
If Edwards passes Kerry and wins the nomination, Gep wouldn't make sense as the running mate, as they would both be middle-America populists with union cred. Edwards could choose any number of people, from Clark to Bill Richardson to Bob Graham to anyone else.
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