John to the Second Power

Kevin Drum considers one way of judging Kerry's choice of Edwards:

....The fact that Kerry was willing to choose someone who's a more charismatic speaker than himself and will inevitably take some of his spotlight away speaks well for him. Like they say, first rate people hire other first rate people. Second rate people hire third rate people. This was a first rate choice....

Superficially, I'd say that, for appearance's sake, Kerry had to find someone to counter his non-charismatic looks (my wife says that Edwards is definitely a looker, a la Clinton). And don't berate such a sophomoric analysis, because appearance alone means so much to so many. Subconsciously there will be many undecided voters who will cast theirs for Kerry-Edwards just because of Edwards' looks. Politically, Kerry is basically a liberal (and I hate it when the Dems call him progressive, because he's nowhere near that), so Edwards' more-conservative leaning tendencies will appeal to many, thus strengthening the ticket. Bottom line, Kerry didn't screw up by choosing Edwards, and these days not screwing up is, unfortunately, actually considered a sign of very good character (rather than what used to be the minimum standard).