What if John Kerry was Al Gore's Running Mate in 2000?

[pragmatic liberal]

The three finalists for Al Gore's running mate were John Kerry, John Edwards, and Joe Lieberman. As we all know, Lieberman was selected.

What if Gore had selected John Kerry? Would things have worked out differently?

I think it's possible that Kerry might have flipped Gore the election. Mainly because...

(a) His presence may arguably have swung at least a handful of New Hampshire voters into voting for Gore; Gore only lost New Hampshire by a few thousand votes and winning NH would have won him the presidency without Florida.

(b) He would likely have done better against Cheney in the VP debate and his more progressive record would have swayed SOME (by no means all) Nader voters into sticking with the Democratic ticket (some of the more informed Green Party voters - and a lot of them were just tuned out wannabe hippies - cited Joe Lieberman as a key reason they voted for Nader).

On the other hand, Kerry would probably not have helped much in Florida, where Lieberman's presence might have helped (although getting retired liberal Jews from NY to vote for Gore can't have been that hard). Also, Kerry would almost certainly not have garnered the positive press the Lieberman selection did in August; the buzz the ticket had coming out of the convention was a huge boost to Gore and a Gore/Kerry ticket might not have had the same positive press coverage and the same momentum.

I can think of another likely outcome; had Gore and Kerry still lost, I think Kerry would have failed to be the '04 nominee. Let's assume that Kerry still votes for the IWR resolution as in real life, he still starts out as the frontrunner in '03 and let's assume Howard Dean's run occurs as in real life. When Iowa voters look for an alternative, they might turn instead to John Edwards, who was a fresher face. Kerry would have been more of a known commodity had he been the VP nominee in '00 and he may not have been able to pick up as much support from voters who didn't know him as well.

Although, on the other hand, if Kerry had more campaign experience from '00 and DID become the '04 nominee, maybe he would have campaigned better and emerged victorious.

Thoughts?