As Kerry mulls the veepstakes

YOU'RE JOHN Kerry, and you've certainly proved that you can keep a secret.

For weeks now, reporters have been trying to figure out what you're thinking when it comes to picking a vice president.

But you didn't like the very public way Al Gore hung the hopefuls out there in 2000, the year you lost the veepstakes to Joe Lieberman. So you've put your selection process under wraps.

Not even your own circle knows exactly what you're thinking -- though there are some suspicions. They know you're not that crazy about John Edwards, that you thought it presumptuous of him to run for president as a one-term US senator. And that you don't particularly like the way Edwards has been campaigning for the job. Why, he looks just like . . . well, um, just like you did back in 2000. Further, word is that Teresa isn't altogether wild about Edwards's wife, Elizabeth.

And they know where your affections lie. "If he picks who he likes the most, it would probably be Gephardt," says one person tracking the process closely.

Well, sure. After all, with his own presidential hopes shot, Dick's as comfortable as an old loafer. Of course, you like Florida's Bob Graham too. A longtime senator, he's a serious man. But those notebooks . . . is he really vice presidential material?

If you could afford to choose an unknown, there's Iowa's Governor Tom Vilsack, whose wife, Christie, endorsed you before the caucuses there. Too bad she got the family's full allotment of charisma. Tom's serious but as flat and bland as the Iowa fields. Not like Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico. Too many sharp elbows -- and rough edges -- to make him worth risking.

Which brings you to Wesley Clark. The general would enhance your national security credentials. But he can be an erratic performer. Why, when he launched his candidacy, he couldn't even give a coherent explanation of his position on the Iraq war. And if you can't be clear on an issue like that . . . er, nix that thought.

Besides, do you really need reinforcement on the national security front? On Iraq, Bush has moved closer and closer to the stances you've outlined. You've looked good there: wise, measured, responsible.

And hearing your pollsters discuss the public polling on a recent campaign conference call has made you increasingly confident. Presidents with numbers as bad as Bush's don't usually win reelection. The big thing that's buoyed him is the notion that he'd be better at defending the United States. And now you're just about even with him in that category, too.

So you probably can win this thing with your own foreign policy bona fides. Yes, there's a little Joe Biden buzz, but that's because he was in on the same conference call. You both know he's more secretary of state material.

Why not Gephardt, then? After all, he's been vetted, he knows the drill, labor wants him, he might bring Missouri, and he's reasonably popular in big Midwestern swing states.

And yet . . .. he turned out to be an awful dud this year, didn't he? Most of the smart money thought the Democratic race would become a Kerry-Gephardt fight. Instead, Dick collapsed in Iowa, a state's he's been working hard since, oh, say, 1986. You took first -- and Edwards sprinted from way back in the pack to claim second.

The North Carolinian then emerged as a real, if distant, rival. And if the calendar hadn't been so front-loaded, he might have become formidable.

You've got to admit, he's magnetic. You do well in a small group, but you're a more distant presence in a big hall. But Edwards can light up either. He's got that special something. He even looks a little like JFK, your idol. And you know Teddy thinks he's one of the most promising young senators he's ever seen.

"Gephardt and Vilsack are just not in that league," says one strategist close to your campaign. "Edwards brings excitement, enthusiasm, youth, energy. There is real rocket power there."

You know all that is true. He might not bring his home state, but Edwards is a choice that would add appeal everywhere. He'd be a charisma injection for a nominee who is an acquired taste but not yet a passion.

You're John Kerry, and in your heart you know who the best choice is.

But you're going to have to be a big man to make it.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.