And what about his military experience? Supposedly Gephardt's time in the Missouri National Guard is seen as a negative because it takes Bush's record off the table.

Heh. Vill-sack.

Why would anyone think that a Democrat VP needs to be qualified, never mind in the area of national security.

A D-VP should be seen rarely and heard from never.

The ones that thrash about (Gore) just cause grief for both Dems and Repubs, never mind the fly over folks.

More evidence of how weak the Dem bench is. If Bush drops Cheney he's got Rice, Rudy, and perhaps at least 6-12 more plausible choices.
Hard to see how Vilsack helps Kerry win anything except Iowa (which is what, 8 electoral votes?)

I'd say Kerry wants Vilsack to court 'Little League Dads'. He shows there is still a place for middle-class white men in the Democrat party. His appeal isn't geographic, it's demographic. Gephart's appeal would be similar, I think, but directed more at blue collar union men.

Vilsack and his wife have a nice back story that might counter how the 'Cabana Boy/Ketchup Kween' pairing plays. The pitch.. college sweethearts wed, graduate flat broke, head from PA to Christie's hometown, Tom joins his father-in-law's small town law firm, becomes mayor of IA small town after tragic shooting of incumbent (nice gun control angle there), state senator, then governor. Nice wholesome stuff.

Vilsack can also play on how he lead the state through the Bush recession, keeping the lights on and the budgets balanced. He has experience but without much of an issue trail.

Military service probably isn't an issue. I can't remember if he served in any capacity or not but I doubt it. He's only 5 years older than I am, we're way post-Vietnam.

I think his most important qualification, though, is that he won't induce another round of buyer's remorse in the Democrat Party. He's minimally qualified but doesn't have the gravitas to seem a plausible presidential candidate. Vilsack is what G HW Bush wanted with Quayle, but Quayle was too much of a light weight. I got to thinking about this a few months ago when his name came up here, and if Vilsack gets the nod over Bill Richardson this is probably why.

He might cause Cheney some heartburn in a debate, but Condi would probably chew him up.

Chris B: Interesting angle. I'd offer one slightly different interpretation:

This is the singly most incompetent major-party presidential campaign I have seen in all of the years I have actually paid attention to national politics, which means I'm including Mondale and Gore.

This article leads me to wonder if Kerry's going to announce his VP pick very soon, to try to get back some of the momentum that Bush has obviously picked up. It would be a bad idea, but then, I agree with Chris.

Chris:

Except you wouldn't choose a governor who vetoed a partial-birth abortion ban if you were trying to appeal to men, nor a guy with no national security experience. And you'd squander the economic issue unless IA performed well above the national average the past few years. Worst of all, you already have a presidential candidate who no one's heard of, adding an unknown vp would allow the GOP to define the whole ticket.