The unlucky 'Other Edwards'

What's in a name? In the plausible opinion of a former potential running mate for Barack Obama, a tough political break.

Last week, numerous media outlets reported that Texas Rep. Chet Edwards, relatively unknown to voters outside his state despite nearly nine terms in the House, had made Sen. Obama's vice-presidential final four along with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, the eventual selection. Those same reports cited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's strong recommendation of Rep. Edwards for the VP slot.

Rep. Edwards has since suggested that his shot at the job was effectively eliminated on Aug. 10, when major news broke about a sex scandal involving former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who was not only the No. 2 man on the 2004 Democratic ticket but the No. 3 finisher in this year's race for the party's presidential nomination.

Though Rep. Edwards praised Sen. Biden as "the perfect choice" Sunday after arriving in Denver for the Democratic convention, he also said: "It probably wouldn't be off base if you said something about that time period is exactly when another Edwards name jumped on the front page of every newspaper in America."

Rep. Edwards added: "I would have to think that a bumper sticker that said 'Obama-The Other Edwards' might have been a bit difficult."

Thus, the marital indiscretions of Sen. Edwards, a Seneca native, might well have damaged not just his own political prospects but those of Rep. Edwards.

Then again, if enough voters had heard of the Texas congressman before his name emerged in the recent VP speculation, he wouldn't have been "The Other Edwards."