This is getting flogged to death, but so what? For fun, here are mine:
Most Likely Choices:
- Max Clelland. Kerry really likes him and it would highlight the Vietnam theme.
- John Edwards. Kerry doesn't much like him but there'll be huge pressure from the party to choose him.
- Dick Gephardt. Kerry likes him and he'd be acceptable to the Party.
My opinion: none of these are especially good choices. Gephardt would be a lousy choice because of the War resolution and the Kamikazi-Iowa campaign against Dean. Clelland is a social and fiscal conservative who doesn't match well with Kerry's liberalism when you get down to it; and anyway, he could win his Senate seat back from Chambliss in 2006 which would be a real coup. Edwards would be OK as VP, but I don't think he brings as much as it's rumoured. He didn't really get many working-class votes in the primaries. And he and Kerry just seem like very different sorts of pols.
Who I'd like to see:
- Eliot Spitzer. Corruption-buster, socially liberal, perceived as intelligent and squeaky-clean. A perfect match for Kerry. Would bring out his best qualities.
- Russ Feingold. Kerry is more of an "outsider" than he seems. Feingold would solidify his maverick credentials and go down well with the base.
- Bob Kerrey. Kerrey was the quintessential anti-Clinton Dem in Congress in the 1990s and the first Dem to run on single-payer health insurance back in 1992. He suffers from a bit of Vietnam-war-crime scandal that might make him too dangerous a pick though and he'd be a lightning rod for the right. Still, I'm a fan.
Getting around the shot-at-Clinton implied in a Feingold or Kerrey pick would require some good schmoozing on Kerry's part but I think he could manage it.