Dear George:

The selection of John Edwards gives the Democrats in this election something the Republicans do not have: a vice presidential candidate who may be readily perceived as a future president by a broad spectrum of the electorate.

The vice presidency is the most common port of entry to the White House, and if John Kerry was incapacitated or completed two terms in that office, the public could readily see John Edwards as moving up. But if George Bush were to be re-elected in November and served four years, few people, I venture, could see Vice President Cheney as the Bush successor. Rather, the Republican primary would be wide open and Cheney, should he choose to run, would face opposition from his own party. Thus, a Kerry-Edwards ticket appears more solid in the mind of the national electorate than a Bush-Cheney ticket.

If the Republicans were flexible, they might conceivably drop Cheney at their convention and select a vice presidential candidate who is a superior campaigner and who could be perceived as being of presidential stock. However, the Republican White House does not like to admit to shortcomings, even when Cheney's unpopularity numbers are as bleak as his stump speeches.

As matters stand, the Democrats have two candidates who can wage a vigorous campaign and out debate their rivals. Adding Edwards to the ticket ought to be a huge help in the South where Kerry is not that far behind President Bush in the polls in North Carolina and Virginia and tied with him in Florida. Even if Edwards were to swing only North Carolina into the Democratic column it could be the winning gambit for the Democrats.

Sherwood Ross (electronic mail, July 7, 2004)