This Can't Be For Real.

Noam Scheiber is reporting on the march of the Kerry V-P nomination process. According to Scheiber, there are a large number of reasons why Gephardt is currently a strong favorite.

1. Won't Upstage Kerry
   
2. No Greater Political Ambition
   
3. Could Be President
   
4. Personal Rapport
   

This may be all true. But let's just make this 100% clear.

IF DICK GEPHARDT IS KERRY'S VP, KERRY WILL LOSE

Who will Dick Gephardt bring to the polls? Organized labor? Are you kidding? So-called "organized" labor doesn't represent itself. For the most part, labor isn't a CONSTITUENCY... It's an ORGANIZATION. Name one national general election that has been won on the grounds of courting labor. Even in a recession, Clinton was able to win election with a pro-NAFTA message.

And, worse, Gephardt will alienate every anti-Bush moderate who is even CONSIDERING voting Democratic in 2004.

I mean, I'm a pretty hard constituency to lose. I'm a dedicated liberal, gay, urban, college-educated, knowledge-worker, atheist... I'm your "demographic sweet-spot." But a Gephardt nomination pick, a sop to the paleo-liberal state-interventionist wing of the Democratic Party will instantly undermine any claim that Kerry could make, that everyone wants to believe, that bad as he may be as a prospective President, his Administration would be better than Bush.

A Gephardt VP nomination. For the love of God, let's hope not...