As Edwards prepares to campaign with Kerry in Florida tomorrow, a lot will be said about his chances to be tabbed for the VP slot. A big negative that everyone notes is that he is almost certain not to be able to carry his home state. But would that matter. Is Edwards's real political "home" the midwest? Is his appeal more suited for, say, Ohio and Wisconsin, than Tennessee and Louisiana?
"Many pundits assume the presidential race will be decided in the Rust Belt, in blue collar-heavy battlegrounds like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Oddly enough, though the South appears to be beyond Edwards's sphere of influence, the Midwest may not be. Several political specialists say Edwards could help Kerry win over socially conservative, but economically liberal, working-class voters in the Rust Belt.
''Because he's from the South and has that drawl, it carries the expectation that he will be more moderate. This helps in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other industrial states," said Theodore S. Arrington, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. ''And work, as a moral issue, is the theme he does best of all. And that works well in those states,
Todd Domke, a Massachusetts-based GOP consultant, concurred: ''Ironically, Edwards as a Southerner would have more appeal in the Midwest than the other Midwestern politicians.""
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