Thank God that John Kerry finally picked John Edwards as his running mate.

If I had to read one more story saying Bill Clinton was the secret V.P. shocker, I probably would have gone blind.

I couldn't believe that there was this much hype for such an obvious choice.

Edwards is exactly what Kerry needed.

But after I read that some people where confused about this choice, I thought that I should go back and look at the other candidates and see why Edwards really is the best choice.

First, Hillary Clinton.

This was the contender who got the most hype towards the end. Everyone talks about Hillary being president someday, and this could have been the next big step.

Kerry's biggest problem is his image to the voters. People see him as being aloof and snobby. They'll see that he doesn't work hard (worst voting attendance in the Senate).

The most important problem is that they don't see him having a similar set of values, namely none. So if people see you as a self-serving snob, the best remedy for that is hardly going to be Hillary Clinton, who rode the wave of her husband's infidelity all the way to the Senate.

Another problem, and please don't read too deeply into this, is that a woman wouldn't win.

I'm not saying that's good or bad or whatever, that is just the way it is right now.

I mean, if you can recall the last time a woman was a real vice-presidential candidate, it was when Walter Mondale got embarrassed by Ronald Reagan. Besides, if he wanted someone with questionable Senate practices, he could have picked himself.

Oh, let's not forget about John McCain.

This was mostly wishful thinking on Kerry's part because there was no way in hell that McCain was going to run with him. Even though he is often criticized for being too liberal of a Republican and he has well-documented conflicts with Bush, being the vice president with Kerry would hardly go in the right direction to solve any of those problems.

Plus, McCain is no fool. He knows just how many enemies he would make if he did that. Not only would every Republican hate him until they die, senior Democrats would feel slighted and hold a nasty grudge. And there is no one who can hold a grudge like some of these old-time career politicians.

McCain knows how closely the vice president works with Congress, and he knows it's hard enough to get it to work without everyone hating you.

It's obvious to him that he would be able to accomplish far more of his goals as a senator than as a quick poll boost to Kerry.

So why is Edwards the best choice?

The only thing that I should really need to say is that he is popular and liked by regular people. That alone is the biggest obstacle for Kerry to overcome, and Edwards just moved it out of the way.

Beyond that, he's from the South, which will also help shed the New England persona that has limited Kerry's ability to appeal to voters in some of the Southern states.

People have said that he is too liberal a choice to go with Kerry, who is already known for his extremely liberal voting record. While it is true that having a pair as liberal as Kerry/Edwards could turn away moderate voters, they would most likely have been turned off by Kerry in the first place.

I've noticed that some voters were confused by the pick because they were both just competing for the presidential nomination, and many people have seen them fiercely criticize one another.

I understand some basic confusion, but looking at history, this
has happened before to wild success. The elder Bush was runner-up to Reagan and often called his economic policy "voodoo economics."

That was until Bush became his running mate, and the White House has been filled with Reagans and Bushes for the last two decades, minus the two terms Clinton was in office.

Anyway, this was easy. If you want to see some real political drama and confusion, just wait to see if Bush wants to pick a new running mate come November.