Take a look at the records of John Edwards and Dick Gephardt.
Except for Edwards voting against keeping the SOcial Security lock box locked, they are virtually identical
http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/John_Edwards.htmhttp://www.issues2000.org/House/Dick_Gephardt.htmON top of this Vote Match categorizes both Gepahrdt and Edwards as being almost completely of the same political stripe, with Gephardt being Rated as a Liberal Populaist, and Edwards being rated as just slighlty more conservative as a Liberal Leaning Populist:
Gephardt:
http://www.issues2002.org/VoteMatch/candidate_map.asp?a1=2&a2=1&a3=1&a4=2&a8=1&a9=4&a10=5&a5=4&a6=2&a7=4&a14=4&a15=2&a16=5&a19=1&a17=1&a18=1&a20=2&a11=1&a12=4&a13=4&i1=1&i2=1&i3=1&i4=1&p=48&e=15&t=11Edwards:
http://www.issues2002.org/VoteMatch/candidate_map.asp?a1=1&a2=1&a3=1&a4=2&a8=2&a9=5&a10=5&a5=3&a6=4&a7=4&a14=5&a15=1&a16=4&a19=5&a17=1&a18=2&a20=2&a11=2&a12=4&a13=4&i1=1&i2=1&i3=1&i4=1&p=63&e=23&t=16The onlt real difference is the fact that Gephardt has years more political experience, more politicval connections within the region he has represented, and has far greater depth of knowledge about many of the issues that a vice president should have. Edwards campaign speeches revealed a lack of depth of knowledge in many critical areas of government, in particular foreign affairs and national security. Not to be unexpected, as he has net even served one term in Congress.
I like Edwards. He has shown a great deal of political courage on a number of occasion. I firmly beleive that Edwards will eventually be president of the United States. But I dont think he has the credentials for VP right now. He certainly does not have the ability to delive a large number of states. As the democratic nomination process has proven, this is not a popularity contest. Edwards is certainly popular. But has no political record and has not garnered political support among orhganizations that have traditionally supported democratic candidates. It is stated that no one sees Gephardt assisting Kerry winning states that he is not already going to win. SO far the region in which Kerry is string and does not need assistance is the Northeast. He is string there, and is string on his own. But in the Midwest, States which have been listed as securely blue have fallen into the "too close to call" range. while Wisconsin, which was too close to call, has just fallen into leaning towards Bush. In most of these states, Kerry is a few points ahead of Bush now, but he has lost the very large and comsfortable margins he had in places like Michigan where exactly a month ago Kerry had a ten point lead, Iowa where he had a ten point lead, Missouri, where Bush has a 7 point lead, Ohio, with Bush only 2 points ahead, and so on.
Lets look atr the South, where Edwards would be expected to be the draw to boost Kerry:
North Carolina, Bush has 7 points on Kerry, Alabama, Bush has 19 points on Kerry, In SOuth Carolina, the last polls had Bush with a 17 point lead on any Democratic candidate,Texas and Oklahoma, Bush has large double digit leads on Kerry,Tennessee next door to Edwards North Carolina, Bush has an 11 point lead on Kerry, Kentucky BUsh has a 16 point lead on Kerry, go stright North to Indiana, borderlin South/Midwest, Bush has a 15 point lead on Kerry.
Edwards simply might add some points to Kerry's polls in these state, but nothing like enough to boost Kerry into the lead in any of them.
Florida, Kerry won bigtime. Edwards didnt do well enough to influence much here, and Lieberman's support in the souith of the state has done more to firm up support for Kerry here. West Virginia, still leaning towards Bush, but a Kerry possibility still exists as its close.
The best shot is to go after those states that Kerry is ahead of Bush in, but are too close to tell, and to fight for those states in which Kerry is just barely behind Bush, like Ohio.
The odds are that Gephardt has more clout and political support though unions and other political organizations to pull those states towards Kerry. Certainly Edwards has no real clout in those areas. And can anyone see Edwards bringing that line of states from Alabama though Indiana, all in high double digits in Bushes favor,over to Kerry. That is a far longer haul and strategically less likely than it would be for Gephardt to bring Kerry up ine or two points in an industrialized, unionized state like Ohio, a state like Iowa, or Wisconsin.
WhileEdwards seems to be the popular choice, he is not likely the strategically logical choice, and a choice based on popularity,rather than strategy, can easily cost an election. Edwards did well in many areas while running for the democratic nomination, but the race against Bush will be a whole other ball of wax.
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