Where I Stand — Columnist Brian Greenspun: Kerry’s smart choice

Friday, July 9, 2004 | 5:18 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 10 - 11, 2004

So, it is Kerry-Edwards. No surprise there.

The talk this past week has confirmed the wisdom of Sen. John Kerry's decision to keep his vice-presidential choice under seal until he was ready to tell the American public. There is nothing like suspense to keep the public's attention at a time when the public would rather attend to other matters. Such as summer vacations, kids, work and mortgage payments.

So while many voters have waited anxiously to see who would make it through the thoroughness of Kerry's friend, Jim Johnson's, vetting process, it is now a matter of record who will share the Democratic ticket in this November's quest for the White House.

And since this is being written on the same day that the whole country learned of Sen. Kerry's choice -- I like to do these things every once in awhile to see if I can be right for almost the entire week, no small feat in politics -- there is much that could change between now and the time this is published to prove me right or wrong. But, that should not be a concern, only what people think of the senator's choice. So here is what I think.

From the beginning of the end of the Democratic primary process it was abundantly clear that John Edwards was the favorite for the second spot. In part, because he lasted longer than anybody else. In part, because his campaign was the most energetic and hopeful, whether that was because of Edwards' age and ability to connect with young voters or because of his rhetorical style which set him apart from the more serious Sen. Kerry.

I have to admit, Sen. Edwards was not my first choice for the second position. The problem I kept having was trying to settle on a candidate who would be my choice -- if I were making it-- who was also available.

In spite of the chatter on the nightly cable news shows, Hillary Clinton, who could have been the hot choice of the political year, was not available. Not only had she said no to anyone who did ask, but she had already said yes to the voters of new York when asked if she would complete her six-year term.

Sen. John McCain was an interesting prospect to me as, I am told by the pundits, he was to John Kerry. But, you had to take him at his word that he was not interested in crossing party lines and that he was interested in re-electing President George W. Bush.

If there is a downside to that little political episode, it is that the Bush campaign is now trying to take advantage of the presumed interest in Sen. McCain by Sen. Kerry for the veep spot.

In a Washington world marked by some of the most venomous partisanship ever displayed in the Nation's capital -- one in which nothing gets done just because of what party you belong to rather than the quality of your ideas -- it was pleasing to believe that someone was considering extending a bipartisan hand across the Great Divide. Whether for purely political advantage or in the belief that the country would be better served, Kerry's consideration of McCain should have been applauded.

Instead, the other side is using that gesture of American optimism to bludgeon Kerry rather than to mimic his open effort at bipartisanship. I guess that makes the GOP the smarter of the two parties proving, once again, no good deed goes unpunished.

So, having missed out on the two electrifying choices, who was left to the Democratic candidate as his choice for his running mate?

Like many others, I went up and down the line and back and forth and couldn't settle on one name that would benefit the ticket more than Edwards. That's why I decided weeks ago that Kerry would pick him.

As a Nevadan, I have not been too excited about the North Carolina senator. When our own senior senator, Harry Reid, asked Edwards to vote with Nevada on Yucca Mountain, nothing happened. Actually, what he did was really something. He voted to affirm President Bush's choice of the Silver State as the nation's dumping ground for high-level nuclear waste. That didn't make Edwards the liar that the president turned out to be, but he was a close second on my list of undesirables. As a presidential candidate he would not get my vote. As a vice-presidential candidate running with a man like Kerry, who has promised Nevadans that Yucca will not happen, he is way ahead of the president. And, I suspect, despite the GOP leadership in this state wishing it weren't so, many of Nevada's families will be voting the same way. You just can't look into your child's eyes, kn owing that his future is in jeopardy solely because of George W. Bush's decision to back big business against the people of! this state, and not want to do something about it.

So, with the Yucca Mountain issue safely in the potential hands of a President Kerry, I can consider the value of a John Edwards on the ticket. He is young, he is passionate, he is articulate and he seems to have the political fire burning deep within him, enough so that he will stand up well to Vice President Dick Cheney in the battle for an optimistic tomorrow.

Will they win? Who knows? Beating an incumbent president ain't easy and President Bush is as tough as they come. But, given all the choices Sen. Kerry could have made -- and considering the ones he couldn't have made -- picking Edwards was a smart move. We will see during the rest of the summer whether the voters will agree.

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