Sunday, March 21, 2004
Thomas Oliphant has some advice to absolutely cement the image of Kerry as a guy who wants to have all sides of an issue covered - nominate a Republican as your running-mate.
American winner-take-all party politics just don't work the way Oliphant fantasizes. Both men would alienate their parties and earn nothing. If Kerry can't convince the electorate that he stands for anything, he won't be helped by choosing a Republican to run with him, short of the two splitting off and forming a third party on a new, clearly stated, set of political platforms, and Kerry, having already won his party's nomination has absolutely zero reason to do so.
Further, as has been shown time and again, Americans base their vote on the Presidential candidates, not their running-mates. That is at best frosting. If the cake tastes bad, it won't help one bit.
Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / McCain should be on Kerry's mind
If he does, he knows he will get some slack from his Democratic supporters, but also some impassioned flack. He really ought to take advantage of the former in order to ride out the latter and give the notion of an alliance with an independent Republican the consideration the country's condition deserves...
