This is not a general-purpose argument for Edwards as VP. I'll be posting that argument later today. Rather, this is a diary focused specifically on the most prominent argument against Edwards-that his consistent and impressive showing in the SUSA VP matchup polls only shows that he has name recognition, and any candidate chosen will have that, after the convention, at least. This diary is heavily dependent on comments made by two individuals late in the discussion of my previous diary, "SUSA--New VP Polls Show Edwards Still Unchallenged"-- Blue November and BruinKid.
Blue November focused on the difference between name recognition and brand recognition, arguing that what Edwards has is not simply name recoginition, but brand recognition-and that's something that can't just get overnight. BruinKid focused attention on the matchups in Minnesota, and presented an argument about why they are more revealing of Edwards' strengths than people have realized. In a separate comment, BruinKid also pointed to a DKos diary from late last year in which he shows that North Carolina was one of just three states where Bush did worse in 2004 than he did in 2000. Bush even did better in Kerry's home state in 2004 than he did in 2000-but not in North Carolina. It's a major body blow for the argument that Edwards had no impact in 2004-which in turn is part of the "it's only name recognition" argument. ("It's only name recognition, see, he didn't do anything as Kerry's running mate.")
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