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Lefty Ticket a Boon to McCain

US still leans center-right

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 25, 2008 9:41 AM CDT

(Newser) – Barack Obama has taken a big risk by choosing a VP almost as liberal as he is, writes Fred Barnes in the Wall Street Journal. In the past, Democrats have found success in politically balanced tickets: centrist Jimmy Carter and lefty Walter Mondale, moderate Bill Clinton and more liberal Al Gore. Despite a slight move leftward since ’04, America remains a center-right nation, Barnes claims.

Pundits have been kind about the choice, but that’s because Joe Biden “may be the most well-liked person in Washington,” he argues. "He's affable and gregarious and nice to everybody, including the press and Republicans." Offshore drilling, which both Obama and Biden oppose but most of America supports, is just one of their shared leftist positions Barnes thinks could pose problems for the ticket. And Biden won’t unite the party: “he’s never demonstrated any ability to influence the presidential choice of voters.”

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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., and his vice presidential running mate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., appear at a campaign rally Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., walks with vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., at a rally in Springfield, Ill. Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., jogs out to meet Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as they appeared together Saturday in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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Liberal Democratic presidential tickets usually lose, as John Kerry did with John Edwards as his running mate in 2004. - Fred Barnes

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Lefty Ticket a Boon to McCain