What if no one knew...

What if no one knew who the Vice-Presidential candidate was until the convention?  I have floated this idea before, but I have come back to it again and again, like a bad girlfriend.

What if, once Kerry assumed the nominee position, everyone else continued running under the pretext that they were going to be the V.P.

You would have had Edwards focusing on NC/SC/GA.
You would have had Clark focusing on Arkansas.
You would have had Graham in Florida.
You would have had Richardson focusing on the Southwest.
You would have had Gephardt focusing on Iowa and Missouri.
You would have had Dean focusing on New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and the remainder of New England.
You would have had Kucinich focusing on Ohio.
You would have had all these candidates out there, speaking to people, spreading the word, going on television to counteract the Republican spendfest in August.  This would be different than their merely supporting the ticket and doing events as they did, because they would be POTENTIAL VP Candidates.  So, they would get more coverage, at least by local papers.

I think this is something we should seriously consider for 2008.