Chasing the Wind

The Drudge Report says:

Official Washington and the entire press corps will be rocked when Hillary Rodham Clinton is picked as Kerry’s VP and a massive love fest will begin!

So predicts a top D.C. insider, who spoke to the DRUDGE REPORT on condition he not be named.

“All the signs point in her direction,” said the insider, one of the most influential and well-placed in the nation’s capital. “It is the solution to every Kerry problem.”

Hillary’s not on the short list – most bets before today would have guessed John Edwards, though possibly Wesley Clark or Richard Gephardt.. There’s no comment from Kerry who’s holed up in his wife’s mansion for the weekend trying to rebuild his poll numbers by keeping quiet and out of view.

I had a discussion with Sean last night about a comment Hillary made:

“‘Many of you are well enough off that … the tax cuts may have helped you,’ Sen. Clinton said. ‘We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.’”

Hillary’s statement puzzles me, for Democrats know not to mention that they’ll raise taxes in an election year. Hillary’s not an idiot – but for her to claim “many of you are well off enough” and the same time Kerry’s touting his Misery Index of the oppressed middle class doesn’t make sense *if* Hillary wants to run.

I’ve opined before that the Clintons really don’t want Kerry to win, they just want him to come close. What they really want is for Hillary to run for President in 2008. Would Hillary be excited about being a V.P. instead of the junior NY Senator, then run for President in 2012? As enticing as that would be to her, I don’t think Hillary will do it, primarily because it’s such a long way away, but also because I’m sure she thinks poorly of Kerry. She’s got to know that she’ll outshine Kerry but be a bit player in his adminstration. That won’t be good for either of them. She’s too headstrong to be the quiet, behind the scenes Presidential supporter.

So I think Hillary floated the “higher taxes” remark yesterday to remind people of “tax and spend Democrats” on purpose. She’s not running for re-election, what does she care? She floated that on purpose to poke another hole in Kerry’s balloon. It fires up left wing Democrats that think *anything* Bush did was wrong – they believe Bush’s tax cuts caused the deficit. It fires up right wingers in a negative way – they all jumped on that quote yesterday. Right wingers blame the stock market crash of 2000 on Clinton and *that* caused the deficit. And the independents are too busy watching “American Idol” to form an opinion.

I also don’t think Kerry will choose Edwards. John Edwards is a charismatic individual and will make Kerry look as exciting as… Bob Dole. He’ll look like a old log. You don’t want that in a V.P., outshining you like that. Nor do I think he wants the untested Clark who made his share of gaffes during the primaries.

Who else is left? Evan Bayh, Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, Bill Nelson, Sam Nunn, Bill Richardson, Tom Vilsack, Mark Warner. Half of those have almost no name recognition, so I think Kerry will choose either Gephardt or Nunn.