Senator Kerry’s going to announce his choice for the Veep spot… via an email message to everybody who subscribes to his campaign web site. It’ll be some time in the next three weeks, obviously, and the secret will supposedly be kept until then:
“The folks who are going to learn first about my choice are going to be the people on JohnKerry.com,” Kerry said. “They’re the people who’ve helped carry this campaign. They’re the folks who’ve been part of our effort across the nation. And they’ll be the first to know what my decision is.”
Don’t get me wrong, I think that it’s a clever idea and a pretty good way of giving Kerry’s base supporters a bit of positive reinforcement (which is a perfectly honorable thing to want to do). I just sincerely doubt that it’s going to work. Somebody will spill the beans; if I was on Kerry’s campaign staff I’d actually plan on waiting until somebody did to make the formal announcement. Free buzz that way.
I think it’s a very clever way to get people to subscribe to his campaign’s emails, and to make sure that they read every one. Particularly people who may not be Kerry supporters, but are at least a little curious about his campaign. It’s just a good way to get a few more votes.