Veep! Veep! The Wiley Crystal Ball Wonders Who Will Be Kerry’s Road Runner
We are a little stubborn at the Crystal Ball. With only a couple of exceptions, we liked our original Vice-presidential picks from earlier in the year. Look, no one – not even your Crystal Ball using a ouiji board at a séance – can get into John Kerry’s head, where the decision will ultimately be made, with advice from his VEEP guru, Jim Johnson – a super-discreet guy who, unlike Dick Cheney, will not choose himself for the honor. So all we can do is say which candidates make the most sense for Kerry. Our ultimate, fundamental criterion is that Kerry wants to win above all and therefore he will select the person best able to help him do that. Sure, there will be talk about how he put political considerations aside and just picked the individual best able to be president if need be. Uh huh…that’s what they all say. The name of the game is the Electoral College, and the VEEP Lotto winner surely will be someone who can bring a chunk of electoral votes to the Democratic column, right? Yes, if the process is rational. Right away, this filter eliminates loads of great candidates, whose states are