The Democratic challenger, John Kerry, reached out to America’s heartland on Tuesday, choosing as his vice-presidential candidate a charismatic mill worker’s son who embodies Southern charm.
The choice of John Edwards, a dazzling performer on the campaign trail, was made public at a rally in Pittsburgh, after weeks of feverish speculation.
In settling on the senator from North Carolina, Kerry came down heavily on the side of charisma over experience.
Edwards is just 51 and is serving his first term in the senate. In an age dominated by terror and the war in Iraq, he has no foreign policy experience. The choice was seen as an attempt to reach out to moderate Democrats, those from small towns and rural areas who are thought to be more at ease with the conservative values of a southerner like Edwards.
Kerry also appears to be adopting Edwards’ defining message. ”I have chosen a man who understands and defends the value of America, a man who has shown courage and conviction as a champion for middle-class Americans and those struggling to reach the middle class,” Kerry told the rally. As he spoke, aides unfurled banners declaring ”Kerry-Edwards. A stronger America,” and tossed Kerry-Edwards T-shirts into a cheering crowd.
Edwards did not speak to reporters before leaving his home in Washington’s Georgetown district to join Kerry. But in a prepared statement he said he was delighted at the offer, describing Kerry as ”a man of strength, character and courage”. The two men planned to make their first joint appearance today, with the Kerry campaign seeking to maximise the impact of the announcement by appearances later in the week by the Democratic spouses, Teresa Heinz Kerry and Elizabeth Edwards.
The decision was hailed by Democratic analysts as one of the great balancing acts of US politics, pairing Kerry, the aloof Yankee product of privilege and elite institutions, with a politician who struggled from humble beginnings as a blue collar worker’s son.
Commentators said it was the first pairing of two senators on a presidential ticket in 44 years. It was also the first time a party challenger had selected a vanquished rival as his running mate since Ronald Reagan turned to the first George Bush in 1980.
Although Edwards was the runaway favourite of the Democratic party faithful, who were charmed by his electrifying stump speech and his populist message, Kerry had been said to be leaning heavily towards another former rival from the primary season, Dick Gephardt, a veteran Congressman from Missouri.
Kerry is said to have been won round by the senior senator Ted Kennedy, one of his most trusted advisers. Tom Vilsack, the governor of Iowa, whose wife campaigned for Kerry, also made the shortlist in a search that at one point had two dozen candidates under consideration. In his announcement on Tuesday, Kerry paid tribute to all the contenders, before saying of Edwards: ”He is ready for this job.”
The claim was immediately disputed by the Republicans, in what some commentators saw as a sign of nerves at the addition of the charismatic Edwards to the ticket. Minutes after the announcement, the Republicans issued a 28-page denunciation, dismissing Edwards as inexperienced, and as Kerry’s second choice after John McCain, a moderate Republican, turned him down. – Guardian Unlimited Â