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| Lurchy Seeks Mini-Me (Running Mate Talks Continue) |
| 2004-06-17 |
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic White House candidate John Kerry spent more than an hour meeting privately with Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt on Wednesday, adding fuel to the vice presidential guessing game. Ol’ "Red". This is his last chance! The presumptive presidential nominee and his former rival met for between 60 and 90 minutes in Kerry’s Capitol Hill office, a Democratic official said. Kerry was expected to meet with other potential candidates in coming days. An announcement was unlikely before next month. Campaign aides declined to say who the Massachusetts senator conferred with, but several congressional colleagues on the list of vice-presidential possibilities were only steps away. "I don’t talk about the veep thing, you know that," Kerry told reporters. "I’ve been very disciplined." Yeah, the "little woman" sees to that?!?!? Ha! The Gephardt meeting came as Republican Sen. John McCain scotched the idea of a cross-party election ticket, declaring: "I will not be a candidate for vice president of the United States." But I am open to Secretary of Defense With the clock running on the selection process, Kerry advisers hope the unequivocal statement will finally lay to rest any lingering notion that the Democratic candidate hopes to convince the Arizona senator and fellow Vietnam War veteran to join him in challenging President Bush on Nov. 2. Oh Shoot! The Cabal is soooooooooooooooo disappointed! Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter noted: "He also said he hadn’t been offered the job." Democratic sources said Kerry was miffed by reports that he had discussed the job with McCain on multiple occasions and been rebuffed. Keeping his vice presidential selection almost as private as the choice of a new pope, Kerry and his staff have refused to speculate on names or even discuss the process that veteran Democratic operative Jim Johnson is overseeing. The candidate’s stock response is that he will choose a running mate "before the convention," which begins in Boston on July 26. Among others in Congress who have been mentioned as possible running mates are North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Florida Sen. Bob Graham, also former rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Bill Nelson of Florida and John Breaux of Louisiana. Usual suspects! Edwards’ office said he was in New York. Only a phone call away! A dark horse surfaced on Tuesday when Kerry was asked if he was considering Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden. Oh PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE. THAT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN! "He’s a great friend of mine," Kerry responded. Adding to the flurry of speculation, two governors considered possible picks -- Tom Vilsack of Iowa and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas -- were in Washington for the release of a new report on health care. Kerry must be hallucenogenic if he thinks he can carry Kansas... Cutter said only that Kerry was "meeting with his colleagues in the Senate and having private meetings." Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, another former rival, is co-hosting a fund-raiser for Kerry in Washington on Thursday night. Kerry is scheduled to travel to Detroit around midday but will spend the morning tending to unspecified business. I’m an egomaniac and available. "At your service, Senator!" The Kerry campaign announced he had raised more than $100 million since March, topping Bush for the third straight month and shattering Democratic records. But his war chest still falls far short of the $216 million Bush has raked in for his re-election bid. Three months in a row? OK. What does that prove other than the flunquis know who the nominee is. They were holding their resources. Sorry about posting the whole thing, but there was so much GOOD material! |
| Posted by:BigEd |
| #2 But his war chest still falls far short of the $216 million Bush has raked in for his re-election bid. That doesn't include the $500 million the Dems would use to topple the President if they could ... Guys, any idea as to what amount of "indie money" is backing the president, so I don't get pessimistic? |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-06-17 3:57:50 PM |
| #1 The unspoken assumption in picking Gephardt as a running mate is that he'll keep labor on board (since the unions own Gephardt). This tells me that he is so unpopular with this key Democratic party constituency that he had to throw them a bone to get access to their resources (like volunteers and mailing lists), which other candidates would have gotten gratis. I wonder if a lot of Democratic interest groups will sit out the election this year? |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2004-06-17 1:51:41 PM |