John Edwards for Vice President

In the New Hampshire primary, voters can write-in their Vice Presidential preference. This January, John Edwards received 16,641 votes for VP, compared to 7,636 for the next closest candidate. (http://www.sos.nh.gov/presprim2004/dvpressum.htm)

According to a February CBS News poll, a Democratic ticket that combined John Kerry for President and John Edwards for Vice President had more appeal than either candidate by themselves, and could give the two Democrats a solid victory over Bush and Cheney. In fact, registered voters would choose a Kerry-Edwards ticket over a Bush-Cheney ticket by 50\% to 42\%. The combination of the two Democrats gives them an edge among a number of voting groups that either candidate might otherwise lose on his own. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/09/politics/main598867.shtml)

In a March CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, John Edwards was the choice of 30 percent of voters who are Democrats or lean Democratic. Almost a dozen prominent Democrats were mentioned by poll respondents, but the rest drew support in the low single digits. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3837586,00.html)

On the March 3rd episode of Crossfire on CNN, James Carville said, "We have just seen Senator Edwards' stunning performance to end his campaign for president. We're talking about the presidential campaign with Republican strategist Charlie Black and senior Kerry adviser, dear friend and brilliant media consultant, Michael Donilon, originally of Providence, Rhode Island. Mike, of course, last night, I said I thought that Senator Kerry should pick Senator Edwards as his running mate, as an Edwards veep supporter, whatever that means. There's two people I hope watch that performance today. And that is Senator Kerry and my good friend, Jim Johnson, the very competent man who was put in charge of his veep selection committee, because I, frankly, thought that was an awesome performance by my candidate for vice president, John Edwards."
(http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0403/03/cf.00.html)

Michael Tomasky, executive editor of American Prospect Magazine, put it this way, "So I'd been thinking this thought over the past few days, and then last night I was chatting with some smart people who'd been thinking the same thing: John Kerry should put John Edwards on his ticket right now. The reasons are simple. Edwards has clearly earned the spot." (http://www.prospect.org/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=7236)

Obviously, we aren't the only ones saying it, but we the undersigned strongly urge the selection of Senator John Reid Edwards as Vice Presidential candidate. Senator Edwards will greatly strengthen the Democratic ticket, and we believe he is the best choice for the United States of America.