Kerry Picks Ex-Rival Edwards to Join Ticket, Widen Its Appeal

Sen. John F. Kerry chose fellow Sen. John Edwards as his vice presidential running mate Tuesday, hoping to infuse his campaign with the buoyancy and charisma Edwards brought to his own White House bid.

Kerry’s selection of his former campaign rival, after months of stringent secrecy, delighted many Democrats, who think Edwards will broaden the ticket’s appeal to his native South, as well as to independents and voters who share his small-town, blue-collar upbringing.

Kerry and Edwards and their families had a private dinner Tuesday night in Pennsylvania. They plan to embark this morning on a four-day swing that will start in Ohio, perhaps the most hotly contested state in the presidential campaign, and continue with appearances in battleground states Florida, New Mexico and West Virginia.

In selecting the first-term senator from North Carolina, Kerry chose someone whose smile, sunny rhetorical style and message of “two Americas” divided by class and race won him a following among Democrats. Polls showed the 51-year-old Edwards to be the favorite vice presidential pick of the party rank and file, and many Democratic leaders think his Southern roots and geniality will complement the more dour senator from Massachusetts.

Republicans wasted no time Tuesday criticizing Edwards’ career as a personal injury lawyer and pointing out his relatively thin political resume.

Kerry announced his choice in an e-mail to supporters and then at a rally before hundreds who jammed the red-brick Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh and waved freshly printed Kerry-Edwards placards.

“I have chosen a man who understands and defends the values of America, a man who has shown courage and conviction as a champion of middle-class Americans, and for those struggling to reach the middle class. A man who has shown guts and determination and political skill in his own race for the presidency of the United States. A man whose life has prepared him for leadership and whose character brings him to exercise it,” Kerry told the crowd.

Edwards was absent from the announcement, in keeping with Kerry’s desire to keep his choice under wraps until the last possible moment. Only a handful of his most senior aides were informed late Monday night.

After combing through a list of 25 prospective candidates, the finalists were Edwards, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, according to campaign insiders, although Kerry was considering others right up to the last minute.

Kerry called Edwards at his home in Washington about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and asked him to join his ticket. The two talked for about 20 minutes, according to Mary Beth Cahill, the manager of Kerry’s campaign. Later, Edwards issued a statement saying he was “humbled by the offer and thrilled to accept it.”

After his talk with Edwards, Kerry called several other people he had considered for the job to inform them of his decision.

Within a few hours, several erstwhile rivals had issued statements praising the new ticket. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, once the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, called Edwards “a smart choice.” Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who ran as Al Gore’s vice presidential pick in 2000, said Kerry’s selection was “a home run.”

At the White House, President Bush welcomed Edwards’ return to the race, telling reporters at an Oval Office photo session that he looked forward “to a good, spirited contest.” Vice President Dick Cheney telephoned Edwards to congratulate him. But GOP strategists and their political allies skipped the niceties.

The Republican National Committee issued a statement calling Edwards “disingenuous, inexperienced and unaccomplished.” Anti-abortion activists and social conservative groups denounced Edwards as a liberal extremist.

Among Democrats, Edwards’ selection won support across the party spectrum, from environmentalists, labor leaders, Jewish and Latino groups, centrist New Democrats and liberals such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

On Tuesday night, a freshly produced Kerry campaign ad began airing on cable stations around the country, promising “a new team for a new America.”

In South Carolina, former state Democratic Party chief Dick Harpootlian said Edwards’ selection would not only make the Democratic ticket more competitive in the South, but would also boost the party’s candidates in down-ballot races such as closely fought U.S. Senate campaigns in North and South Carolina.

“They complement each other so much -- that’s going to make a tremendous difference in the synergy of the campaign,” said Harpootlian, who has criticized the national Democratic Party when he thought it drifted too far left.

“If you look at John Kerry and John Edwards standing together next to George Bush and Dick Cheney, if you want the country to head in a different direction ... that’s what they represent, physically and politically,” Harpootlian said.

In picking Edwards, Kerry apparently overcame the irritation he felt when the two competed for the Democratic nomination, and doubts about whether their distinct personalities could mesh. At various points Kerry suggested that Edwards was not qualified to be president and questioned whether, as the party’s nominee, he could even carry his home state of North Carolina.

If he wasn’t a candidate himself, Kerry once said, he would back Gephardt for president. Aides said Kerry in private suggested that Edwards was presumptuous for even running after failing to complete a single term in the Senate.

Edwards jabbed back by citing the nearly 20 years Kerry had spent in the Senate, suggesting that he was an outsider who could bring true change to Washington. He contrasted his working-class background with Kerry’s privileged upbringing.

More substantively, the two differed over trade and the death penalty, with Edwards criticizing several international agreements that Kerry supported and advocating a more vigorous application of capital punishment. Kerry, a longtime death penalty opponent, endorsed capital punishment for terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks.

On Tuesday, a Democratic strategist who knows both men well said Kerry was able to set aside any hard feelings once the nomination was secured.

“Kerry’s a great competitor, and when the primary race with Edwards was over, the primary race was over,” said the strategist, who requested anonymity in order to respect Kerry’s wishes to keep the deliberations secret.

He said there was no single moment when Edwards won Kerry over, but rather a series of conversations that went “very, very well.”

Another Democrat familiar with the process described the pick as “a combination of heart and head and politics that all came together.”

Edwards grew up in modest circumstances in tiny Robbins, N.C. His father was a millworker and his mother worked at the post office. He became the first member of his family to graduate from college, and used his personable nature and gift for oratory to make millions of dollars as a personal injury lawyer. Those same skills proved readily transferable to politics, first in a successful run for the U.S. Senate, and more recently in his strong bid for the White House.

He ran a mostly positive campaign, finishing an unexpected second behind Kerry in the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the nominating fight and, ultimately, the most important.

Edwards captured a strong following with his message of “two Americas,” one for the privileged and one “for everybody else.” His ability to captivate a crowd drew comparisons to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.

But Edwards never overcame the momentum that Kerry built by winning Iowa, and exited the race after a succession of second-place finishes.

Although some observers thought Edwards entered the race with an eye on the No. 2 slot all along, he insisted he was interested only in the presidency.

One of the big questions about Edwards joining the ticket is whether voters will balk at his relative lack of political experience, especially at a time when defense and national security are major concerns.

Another line of attack will likely focus on Edwards’ record as a trial lawyer and the millions he made suing corporations, doctors and hospitals. Critics call it ambulance chasing; Edwards says he was standing up for the little guy against powerful interests.

Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta, suggested that Edwards could help Kerry in the South, even if Bush remained the regional favorite.

“It will probably force the Bush campaign to put more resources, spend more time and money in a few Southern states” such as North Carolina and Virginia, Abramowitz said.

Beyond that, he said, “Edwards probably helps in some of the swing states outside the South, particularly among blue-collar voters in states like Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where his emphasis on two Americas and economic injustice could have strong appeal.”

Like Kerry, Edwards voted for the war in Iraq but against the $87-billion package to maintain the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

He opposes gay marriage on personal grounds, but has said it should not be a federal issue and opposes a constitutional amendment banning it. And while Edwards campaigned against what he saw as the encroachment of civil liberties contained in the Patriot Act, he voted for it in the Senate.

Kerry’s selection of Edwards marked the first time a Democratic candidate had turned to a vanquished rival since 1960, when John F. Kennedy selected Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate.

That year was also the last time a presidential ticket featured two sitting U.S. senators.

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On the record

Here is a look at Sen. John Edwards’ voting record since he became a senator in 1999, along with scores from various interest groups rating Edwards’ and Sen. John F. Kerry’s voting records in 2003.

Voting record

Voted for:

Authorization of the Iraq war

USA Patriot Act

Creation of Department of Homeland Security

Managed-care patients’ bill of rights

Minimum-wage increase

Depositing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada

Criminal background checks at gun shows

Voted against:

$87 billion in appropriations to Iraq and Afghanistan

President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts

Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Bush’s Medicare prescription drug benefit

Nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general

Impeachment of Bill Clinton

Special-interest report cards

The scores given by special-interest organizations to Kerry and Edwards for their 2003 voting records; 100 is perfectly supportive, 0 is in complete opposition.

*--* Americans for American Democratic U.S. Chamber Conservative AFL-CIO Action* of Commerce Union Kerry 100 85 0 13 Edwards 100 65 15 13

*--*

*A liberal advocacy group

Sources: Congressional Quarterly, League of Conservation Voters

Graphics reporting by Susannah Rosenblatt

Barabak reported from San Francisco and Gold from Pittsburgh. Times staff writers Ronald Brownstein and Scott Martelle contributed to this report.