Edwards vs. Hillary.
What does the selection of John Edwards mean for the White House aspirations of Hillary? The possibilities are endless. Any talk about Hillary's being VP in 2004 has obviously been squashed, and it doesn't appear that the Kerry/Edwards ticket will falter so much that the Democrats will need a savior on a white horse to come save them at their convention in August. According to most observers, Edwards has now secured a political future that had been in jeopardy by his decision earlier this year to retire from his North Carolina Senate seat. Now the former trial lawyer automatically jumps to the top of the list for any consideration for the presidency. If Kerry/Edwards wins in 2004 and 2008, Edwards will be 59 and primed for election his own as president in 2012. If that happens, Hillary will have no chance for the White House until at least 2016, when she will be 69 years old -or as old as Ronald Reagan was when he was first elected in 1980. If Kerry/Edwards wins in 2004 but loses in 2008, the Vice-President will still be one of the top favorites in the 2012 election, and even if the ticket loses this fall, pundits believe that Edwards will still compete favorably against Hillary for the 2008 nomination. But the Democrats might want to keep in mind the recent examples of Walter Mondale and Joe Lieberman, who were VP's on losing tickets and who never made the jump to the next level. The fact is that Edwards and Hillary have quite a bit in common. Both want to be President, both have served just one term in the Senate, and both are very liberal (Hillary was rated the #2 most liberal senator, just behind Kerry, by the National Journal, Edwards #4). Another similarity: Edwards' political action committee, New American Optimists, wasn't far behind the ever-generous HILLPAC in giving to fellow Democrats, raising $3 million compared to Hillary's $3.3 million. According to Steve Grossman, who served as Chairman of the DNC in the late '90s, Edwards is also one of the few politicians who can match the "luminosity" and star power of Bill and Hillary. In fact, many people have compared Edwards to Hillary's husband, in that both are Southern, eloquent, empathetic and great campaigners. They both have also been said to emphasize style over substance. It's almost as though Hillary would have to run against a cleaner version of Bill. Nevertheless, Hillary has been quite vocal in her support for Kerry and his choice of Edwards, and appears to be doing all she can to ensure a Democratic victory in 2004. HRC as JFK?
While Kerry and Edwards are doing their best to model themselves after John F. Kennedy, perhaps Hillary is the one following the slain President's example most closely. She may remember that in 1956, a young JFK lost the presidential nomination to Adlai Stevenson but was offered the VP slot, but he turned it down, not wanting to be on a losing ticket. And while Stevenson, like Kerry, chose a prominent Southern senator as his running mate-Estes Kefauver-the Democrats lost in November and Kefauver, despite his once promising career, was never really heard from again. Meanwhile, Kennedy lived to be elected another day. Within a few months, we'll have a better idea of Hillary's possibilities.
