Second-best

The first thing that must be said about John Edwards, Sen. John Kerry’s running mate, is that he is his second choice.

When the Massachusetts liberal went shopping for a vice presidential nominee, he offered the No. 2 spot on the ticket to Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona who backs President Bush. Mr. Kerry hoped he could lure the popular and highly respected Mr. McCain away from Mr. Bush, split the Republican Party, and that would give him the margin he needs to win in November.

Mr. McCain had a number of things going for him that Mr. Edwards does not, including high name recognition, deep experience in national security and foreign affairs, and someone who is clearly qualified to step into the office of the presidency at a moment’s notice, should that event arise.

Moreover, the message Mr. Kerry sent by going after Mr. McCain angered many Democrats. Mr. Kerry was clearly saying his party did not have anyone he believed was qualified to be vice president. By going hat in hand to the GOP to find the running mate he wanted, he was choosing someone who supported Mr. Bush’s positions, which Mr. Kerry clearly opposes, from tax cuts to going to war in Iraq.

Mr. McCain of course turned Mr. Kerry down who was then forced to look within his own party for a vice president. The choice wasn’t easy. Mr. Kerry didn’t like most of the candidates his advisers presented him, and insiders say he at first believed Mr. Edwards was much too inexperienced — an issue I dealt with in a previous column.

The second thing that needs to be said about Mr. Kerry’s running mate is that voters do not consider vice presidential candidates when they go to the polls in November. And Mr. Edwards is no exception to that rule.

Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis thought Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen would have some appeal in the South, but George H.W. Bush dominated the Southern states. The Clinton-Gore ticket did better in the South, but that was because both were from there — though in the end it was Mr. Clinton’s Southern roots that carried the day in key states.

Eight years later, when Al Gore was the nominee, Mr. Bush’s son, George W. Bush, swept all the Southern states. Mr. Gore could not even carry his own state of Tennessee.

Mr. Kerry’s high command may make the argument Mr. Edwards will make a difference in the South and put some of the region’s states in play, but that is highly unlikely.

The former corporate liability trial lawyer chose not to seek a second term in the Senate because polls showed earlier this year he could not win in his adopted state of North Carolina.

Yes, Mr. Edwards won the presidential caucuses in his state as the home favorite, and he won the South Carolina primary, but Mr. Bush is expected to carry both states — indeed polls show him holding the edge there now.

One of the reasons — perhaps the only significant reason — Mr. Kerry chose Mr. Edwards was to give the Democratic ticket a lively campaigner. A lot of Democratic state chairman I have talked to in the last few weeks told me Mr. Kerry needed a “good campaigner” to energize the party’s base. Their not-so-hidden message was that Mr. Kerry’s aloof campaigning style and his overnuanced manner of speaking were not the political qualities that can excite Democratic voters.

Mr. Edwards, they said, would help to fill in the ticket’s excitement gap.

But that is a very shallow reason to pick a vice presidential running mate who could, after all, be heartbeat away from the presidency.

Yes, the good-looking Southern populist may bring some excitement to the Democratic ticket, but that will only take John Kerry so far. In the end, voters will focus on the presidential candidates, not their running mates. Presidents are the ones who are in charge of running the government and protecting the country, who will make the policies and fashion the arguments in their behalf.

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