Vice-President list narrowed down to 4

[cityboi]

As John Kerry searches for his running mate, James Johnson is helping him to do just that. Johnson has looked at 4 contnders for the VP spots and they are formal presidential rivals John Edwards, Dick Gephardt and governors Thomas Vilsack and Bill Richardson. I actually think John Kerry made up his mind a long time ago and its very clear to me that John Edwards would be the most likey choice of the 4 that are on this list. Foe one thing, John Kerry and John Edwards are very good friends and they pretty much agree on all the issues so it will be easier for them to work together because they have the same interest. Edwards has that young appeal that reminds people of John or Robert Kennedy, He is a fresh face and America loves him. That was obvious when he came in second behind John Kerry. The democratic party h as pressed for him to select a running mate from the south to help attract southern votes in a heavily republican region of the country. John Edwards is the only one of the 4 thats from the south. Based on Dick Gephardt's primary results Kerry would be a moron to select him. Hes old and he remind people to much of Jimmy Carter who was one of the worst democratic Candidates in the 20th century. Gephardt supports the old democratic ideals, but we need a running mate who supports the new democratic party with fresh ideas like a Bill Clinton to turn this country around.

[monsoon]

[Scott]

Oh, come on guys it's Edwards all the way! He's from the south, young, and from the south. ....and I ain't talking South Boston either

[tocoto]

I remember when the south was a Democratic bastion. Conservative Democrats.

[BrandonTO416]

I don't understand the negative attitude towards Gephardt...

Gephardt has proven to be quite a good leader for his St Louis consitituency. His daughter is an outspoken Lesbian and Stonewall Democrat, and he supports her 100%.

Not only that - look what he's done for STL. He helped them get funding for MetroLink - one of the most successful full scale LRT systems in the USA today. He got their second airport up and running - Mid America Airport. And regardless what people say - it has been a help to the very depressed economy of the eastern side of the STL metro area.

Major positive change has happened in STL - and Gephardt has been there all the way.

This is a man who has proven he cares about people - and if you think his "old style" Democratic policies are a failure - I consider them a success.

He's a man who has created positive change.

[Sean Reynolds]

Could it be that Gephardt has done a total 180 since he entered congress?

Heckles go read up on what Gephardt was like in the 70s and 80s. He's what we call Reagan Democrats.

The FACTS about Gephardt and social security:

• Gephardt VOTED to limit Social Security benefits

• Gephardt argued for making benefits subject to individual need -positions he would later lambaste when Republicans proposed them.

• Speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 1979, he placed himself in the vanguard of moderate Democrats by asserting that Social Security, Medicare and other "safety net" programs "lack a needs test."

• Elderly St. Louisans accused him of trying to destroy Social Security.

• Gephardt persisted, and his willingness to adjust or delay payments in the name of protecting the future of Social Security also, on occasion, put him at odds with labor unions.

• Gephardt was one of 41 Democrats voting for a budget resolution that would have eliminated cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security checks.

Now let us further get into Gephardt's record as a congressman, shall we?

Gephardt on abortion

"He ran as a pro-life congressman for a decade, voting for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion," said John Hancock, a political consultant and former executive director of the Republican Party in Missouri. "In "86, he changed positions on the abortion issue about the time he ran for president."

Gephardt caught political fever while growing up in Missouri

Des Moines Register 08/24/2003

"President's position on Abortion, Busing, School Prayer Criticized," the headline said - in a release that reproached then-President Ronald Reagan for not doing enough to end abortion, to block school busing and to promote prayer in school.

Gephardt news release in August 1981

Gephardt Twice Voted To Override President Clinton

[Brickell]

No Bob Graham?

I don't think Edwards has the experience or political ties.

[monsoon]

[BrandonTO416]

Well either one of two things has happened:

Gephardt has actually evolved over time and changed his positions to become genuinely more liberal.

...or Gephardt really is a flip flopping politician who will say anything to get elected.

I don't know the real answer to this, but all I'm saying is that he's helped a few things in St Louis with his support of Metrolink and the Mid America Airport.

Metrolink isn't just some pork project - it has been a very successful light rail project. Mid America Airport is pork, but its helped out one of the most depressed regions of the St Louis metro area economically and offered jobs.

He isn't a local politician so he can't be blamed for a lot of STL's problems.

The last thing I can say is that one of the worst things you can do to a politician is NOT expect them to mature and change opinions over time. To box someone in and not allow them to mature is like taking away someone's ability to reason and think. If Gephardt has changed on abortion, but has remained consistent for over 15 years - then I'd be more then willing to let his flip flop slide.