Kerry chooses ex-rival Edwards

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry tapped former rival Sen. John Edwards yesterday as his vice presidential nominee, with Democrats saying that the North Carolina senator will help the ticket appeal to Southern and rural voters and help the party take control of Congress.

“I trust that met with your approval,” Mr. Kerry told a cheering rally in Pittsburgh when he announced the pick, which he had kept from leaking until just hours before the official announcement.

“I’ve seen John Edwards think, argue, advocate, legislate and lead for six years now. I know his skill, I know his passion, I know his strength, I know his conscience, I know his faith,” Mr. Kerry said. “John Edwards is ready for this job.”

In his only public statement yesterday, Mr. Edwards said he “was humbled by his offer — and thrilled to accept it.”

Mr. Edwards flew to meet Mr. Kerry last night in Pittsburgh, where the two men, along with their wives, were to have dinner. They begin campaigning together today in Cleveland.

The pick is proving immensely popular with rank-and-file Democrats, who said Mr. Edwards, with his smooth Southern style and “Two Americas” message, are a good complement to Mr. Kerry’s war service and 20 years in the Senate.

Many Democrats had called for this choice publicly, having been swayed by Mr. Edwards’ performance in the primaries this year. Still, when the pick was named, Democrats were impressed to see Mr. Kerry choose someone whose political skills and style could overshadow him on the stump.

“Making this decision with Edwards really speaks to the fact he’s getting better and maturing in this race,” said Morris Reid, a Clinton administration official and communications strategist.

“What it says about Kerry is, he understands, he’s listening. He knows that the rank-and-file Democrats really wanted Edwards. And he also saw Edwards improving as the weeks and months went by on the stump,” Mr. Reid said.

Mr. Edwards, 51, who is retiring from the Senate when his first term ends this year, was the first person in his family to graduate from college and made millions as a personal-injury lawyer.

The candidate’s father, Wallace Edwards, said his son “makes us feel real proud, and his mother and I are real humble.”

“He’s worked hard all his life. He’s the type of person America needs in government, because he doesn’t have any agenda for himself.”

The North Carolina senator was on the list of potential picks for 2000 Democratic candidate Al Gore and, bolstered by that, he entered this year’s presidential primaries.

Although Mr. Edwards won just two contests, in North Carolina and South Carolina, he had a series of strong second-place showings, and his ever-optimistic campaign speech captured the hearts of many Democrats, even if some of them ended up voting for Mr. Kerry.

Mr. Kerry already has adopted Mr. Edwards’ message from the primaries, including his key theme about the gap between the “two Americas.”

“It’s about fundamental fairness for all Americans. It’s about people being able to go to work and actually getting the ability, through a week’s work and a month’s work and a year’s work, to pay their bills, to live decently, to get ahead, to be able to be fair,” Mr. Kerry said yesterday at the rally.

On trade, the one major area where the two men fought during the primaries, Mr. Kerry now embraces Mr. Edwards’ position opposing new trade agreements unless they include new environmental and labor standards, which will make it more difficult for other nations to compete with U.S. firms.

That, coupled with Mr. Edwards’ background as a personal-injury lawyer, could cost Democrats support among businessmen, said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers.

“As a trial lawyer, Edwards is associated with a controversial fringe of the legal profession that conducts raids on companies that not infrequently lead to larger financial gains for themselves than their individual clients,” he said. “This fringe group of trial lawyers frequently drives viable companies into bankruptcy and puts thousands of Americans out of work.”

President Bush was reserved in his reaction, although he said Vice President Dick Cheney called Mr. Edwards yesterday morning to welcome him into the race.

“I look forward to a good, spirited contest,” Mr. Bush said.

But the Republican National Committee put out a long document on Mr. Edwards, labeling him “phony and disingenuous” for having run as a conservative Democrat but voting with liberals in Washington.

The document also detailed Mr. Edwards’s opposition to such Bush stances as his tax-cut packages and the ban on partial-birth abortion. In addition, it described some of Mr. Edwards’ personal lapses, including being delinquent in paying property taxes on his home in Washington.

Other Republicans said Mr. Edwards won’t help the ticket much.

“Having been from the South and from the great state of Tennessee, where people said that Al Gore was going to be able to give this geographic balance, I don’t think that John Edwards will give any more geographic balance,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican.

Democrats, though, said Mr. Edwards brings a special ability to relate to suburban, Southern and rural voters.

“John Edwards is welcome in every single part of the country, and I would argue in every single state he will be welcome and he will be very effective in taking the Democratic message to these critical states where it is possible to win back the Senate this year,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat.

The leaders of the Democratic congressional and senatorial campaign committees both said they expect Mr. Edwards will help them in some close races, including Democrat Erskine Bowles’ bid to succeed Mr. Edwards in North Carolina.

And A. Scott Bolden, chairman of the District’s Democratic Party, said the selection “clearly indicates, despite John Kerry running strong in some middle states, he has not abandoned the South.”

He said Mr. Edwards, in particular, appeals to blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals and women, among all of whom Mr. Edwards polls well.

“There have been many complaints of African-American leaders of the base not being energized, or African-Americans not being energized,” he said. “John Edwards is going to help the Kerry campaign not only tell that story, but deliver that base of voters.”

Such presidential rivals as Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, Wesley Clark of Arkansas and former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont praised the choice of Mr. Edwards yesterday.

Mr. Gephardt, whom the New York Post reported would be the vice presidential candidate yesterday on its front page, said the Kerry-Edwards team was “a ticket that can excite, motivate and, most importantly, defeat George Bush and Dick Cheney in November.”

Even some Democratic activists who had called for Mr. Kerry to pick someone else said yesterday Mr. Edwards is a fine choice.

“The leadership and experience of a Kerry-Edwards administration offers our best hope — in fact, our only hope — of renewing the United States’ prestige, as well as its commitment to the pro-worker, pro-family ideals that made our country great,” said Teamster President James Hoffa Jr., who had publicly lobbied for Mr. Kerry to pick Mr. Gephardt.