How about Howard?



Boston.com



[I
know, I know.  Another post about Howard Dean as VP?  Well,
it is clearly a sea change.  Do you remember back when the Kerry
Kamp listed 40 names they were considering for VP and Howard was
nowhere on the list?  Finally, a poll that shows it might be a
good thing, and all the Kerry Kamp can say is basically, “We like that
boring, bland, inexperienced John Edwards.”  Well, I suppose
that's better than boring, bland, evil-twin Gephardt.  Here's an
article from the Boston Globe.]



JOHN
KERRY wanted Arizona Senator John McCain, a charismatic Republican, as
his running mate. It's funny that the man who will be the Democratic
presidential nominee is searching for charisma in a running mate,
because his party could not stand the idea of Howard Dean, a
charismatic Democrat, topping the ticket in November.



News
accounts of Kerry's overtures and McCain's ultimate rebuff focus on the
tempting idea of a bipartisan ticket that could reach across the
vituperative divide in American politics. But Kerry would also benefit
from the edgy energy and tell-it-like-it-is approach politicians like
McCain and Dean exemplify. Settling for the handsome but bland optimism
of North Carolina Senator John Edwards makes safe political sense. But
it also shows the limits of tolerance for spark, verve, and controversy
when Democrats think about selling fellow Democrats to voters or when
Republicans think of selling fellow Republicans like McCain to voters.



Dean is
a doctor and a former governor; McCain is a senator. They hail from
different backgrounds, but still there are similarities in the
presidential campaigns they waged and lost. Like Dean, McCain energized
independent voters when he competed in Republican presidential
primaries via the “Straight Talk Express” in 2000. Like Dean, McCain
was undone at least partly by opponents who undercut his message by
focusing media attention on questions about temperament. Dean made it
easy for opponents by showing a wild and crazy side on television after
finishing third in the Iowa caucuses. In McCain's case, the issue was
raised more subtly, by revisiting his years of captivity as a prisoner
of war during the Vietnam conflict.



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