07-07-2004, 12:11 PM
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Commentator
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Houston
Age: 48
Posts: 1,196
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While you are technically correct there is this from Larry King last night:
Quote:
SCHIEFFER: No. I think Ralph Nader is trying to run for president, and I think if he were going to get out, he would have got out some time ago. If he doesn't get on ballots, that of course is another question.
I'll tell you what I think is the interesting thing about this, Larry, is immediately after this was announced, the Republicans said, well, hey, let's not forget here that John Edwards is really second choice, that the man that John Kerry really wanted was John McCain.
And there is some truth about that, and the Kerry campaign is being rather candid about that. I spoke to Jim Johnson today, who headed up the search effort for Senator Kerry, and I asked him about this, this whole business about McCain. I said, did you really do that?
And he said, well, Senator Kerry talked about this as a concept. He said a national unity ticket, with John McCain possibly as a running mate, but said we only talked about it as a concept, the job was never offered to McCain, and finally that idea was abandoned.
And I said, well, why did you abandon the concept? And he said, well, because Senator McCain was not available. I said, well, what would you have done had he been available? He said, well, that's a hard question. That's hard to say. But he wasn't available.
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Edit to add some more:
Quote:
KING: David Gergen, would that ticket have worked?
GERGEN: The Kerry/McCain ticket?
KING: Yes.
GERGEN: Absolutely. I really thought it was stupid for the Kerry people and Democrats to put it out that he'd approached him, that they'd had these early conversations. Because I think it did exactly what Bob Schieffer said, it made whoever his next choice was look like a second choice. I thought that was just a clumsy campaign movement on their part.
Having said that, I think he's now able to open a new chapter, a new page. And I'm very struck by what Ed Rollins said about Ralph Nader. I do think that this may come -- it may hold Nader back some. He's having a hard time getting on some of these ballots, but if he softens his voice, he's going to be even less of a force. So I think that's a fascinating part of this.
The only other point I'd add is that Dick Cheney has made the office of the vice presidency one heck of a lot more important than it seemed only four years ago. And, therefore this choice I think is going to be taken more seriously than we ordinarily think, and that it makes more difference whether Edwards turns out to be a candidate than it does in most races, because I think Edwards is going to run straight at Cheney.
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