I think a lot of us assume that we're going to have a Kerry-Edwards ticket in the fall -- but it was pointed out last night, by some pundit or other, that John Edwards has said he doesn't want to be vice president. Here's the quote, from the Today show a week ago: "No, no. Final. I don't want to be vice president. I'm running for president." And, for all we know, Kerry might not want to pick Edwards.

If Kerry and Edwards don't pair up, I think Kerry's might try to gobsmack the two noncombatants on the other ticket by pairing himself with a fellow veteran -- Max Cleland.

We know Cleland has campaigned for Kerry. And we know that a campaign that's willing to revisit the Bush AWOL issue is willing to bring up other issues the press considers old news -- such as the disgraceful Republican campaign ads that compared Cleland to Saddam and bin Laden. With Cleland on the ticket, those ads would go nationwide -- the ads would run on the nightly news, juxtaposed with footage of Cleland in his wheelchair, and the whole country would get a glimpse of the GOP in all its sleazy glory.

Two Nam vets? I know the rules say that running mates are supposed to "balance" each other -- but Clinton threw the rulebook out in '92, picking a fellow young Southerner as his #2, and it worked. That said the Democrats were ready to battle for the South. This would say the Democrats are really ready to take on the flight suit.