Not Your Sweetie

In Search of a Running Mate

If not Edwards, then who? On the basis of pulling weight around the
country, three figures appear to be in the top tier of candidates,
though no one is near having a lock on it.

First is Clark, a retired four-star general and former NATO supreme
commander. He and his campaign hit hard at Kerry early in his
campaign, and he is said to have infuriated Kerry by at one point
claiming his military expertise was vastly superior because he had
been a general where Kerry had served in Vietnam only as a lowly,
though highly decorated, lieutenant.

But Clark wasted no time at all in enthusiastically endorsing Kerry
right after he pulled out of the race last week, and his team is said
to have already put out feelers to the Kerry camp on the running-mate
question.

Clark could bring several attractive qualities to the Kerry campaign.
He would offer clout in his native Arkansas, a crucial, traditionally
Democratic state that would have given the presidency to Al Gore had
he won it in the last election.

Clark also has shown his best strength in crucial heartland states
such as Oklahoma and Tennessee that Kerry early would love to win. If
Kerry proves determined not to take Edwards, then Clark easily is the
most eminent and promising Southern candidate for the No. 2 spot.

Further, a Kerry-Clark ticket would offer the Democrats the truly
enticing prospect of not one but two highly decorated Vietnam heroes
on the ticket, something that no party has ever had before. That would
truly twist the knife in the most telling contrast Kerry has been able
to establish between himself and Bush: what they both did or did not
do in that war.

http://tinyurl.com/2docp
http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/03/02/Politics/In.Search.Of.A.Running.Mate-608644.shtml