I've been reading Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail'72 and I came across one section in particular that struck me as interesting. Thompson is talking with Frank Mankiewicz, campaign manager for the McGovern campaign, about delegate counts and asks
...if something goes wrong...If you can't carry it on the first ballot and the convention turns up deadlocked...then, if Kennedy jumps in, McGovern might consider [being Kennedy's Vice President]
Prior to reading this it had not occurred to me that someone who did not run for President could jump in at the convention, but now that I have this information, I know that a vote for Edwards could be a vote for Gore.
Now, I sincerely doubt that this will actually happen, it's more just theory, but if Edwards does well enough to prevent anyone from carrying the first ballot, Al Gore would have a great opportunity to jump in and win the second. He would steal a ton of people from the Clinton and Obama camps, nearly all of the Edwards camp, and numerous super delegates.
With the bickering between Obama and Clinton, Gore could become a symbol of party unity, someone we can all agree on who would juxtapose beautifully with the chaos that the Republican convention is likely to be. The modern Gore is essentially exactly what the Democrats want and with an Obama VP and Edwards Attorney General he would be able to capture the movement and win a commanding victory in November.