Not Your Sweetie

http://www.boston.com:80/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/09/angling_for_vice_president

What did Kerry himself do when Al Gore was looking for a running mate back in 2000?

Well, the senator staged something of a private audition. He threw a $5,000-a-head fund-raiser for the Democratic Party at his Georgetown home, with Al Gore as the special guest. There, he made a rip-snorting speech tearing into George W. Bush and his newly selected VP choice, Dick Cheney -- that sort of partisan broadside being, after all, the kind of duty a veep nominee draws.

And, with Gore listening, he offered up a wince-inducing joke to the Democratic donors: “A number of you have come up to me tonight and asked me if I have any interest at all in serving as vice president with Al Gore. Actually, none of you have asked me that, and I'm a bit ticked off.'' (Roll the laugh track.)

Gore, himself humor impaired, praised the speech and even noted the quip.

But though Kerry made the VP short list, he eventually lost out to Senator Joseph Lieberman. Why? Well, Lieberman had raised his own profile -- and rendered himself an attractive prospect for a ticket-topper looking to separate himself from the Clinton controversies -- with his speech on the Senate floor scolding the president for his liaison with Monica Lewinsky.

Memo to VP aspirants: That's one move that won't work this year.