What's John Kerry's Brother Doing in North Carolina?

Cameron Kerry, a Boston lawyer and close political adviser to his brother, met top Democratic Party leaders Wednesday in Raleigh to get "the lay of the political landscape" (no jokes, please, since no one named Clinton is involved in this story!).

Speculation about John Kerry's VP choice is reaching a boiling point, with some indication that the candidate will announce his choice as early as next Monday. Everyone seems to think that John Edwards is on the short list, along with Gephardt and Vilsack (those household names!), but we had heard that Kerry is "not comfortable" around Edwards and would never move outside his precious "comfort zone." But this visit by Kerry's brother with the Demo operatives in Raleigh is the strongest hint we've seen that it actually might be Edwards.

We've been no fan of the senator's -- we confess it! -- but given that short list of Gephardt/Vilsack/Edwards, we'd far prefer the "Breck girl" to Eeyore, the stoic sad-sack Gephardt. And who knows a thing about the strangely named governor of a cold Midwest state? If you discover that Vilsack can bend steel with his bare hands, please FAX us immediately.

Edwards would put North Carolina in play (while Gephardt would put everyone to sleep, but let that go!), and we're beginning to like the discomfort to the North Carolina Republican Taliban that having North Carolina in play would cause! And we can't think, really, how Edwards would hurt the ticket (though we can think of how Gephardt would).

So, please, God, don't let it be Gephardt! Give us Barabas!