Have you heard the one about the overly-cheery lawyer politician?

EVERY Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States wants to be John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Which is not surprising, given that Kennedy was the last Democrat to enjoy the status of national icon.

The Republicans have Presidents Reagan and Eisenhower; the poor Democrats have to make do with Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson.

This goes a long way towards explaining why the Democratic challenger John Kerry chose John Edwards as his running mate. Edwards is young, cheerful, energetic and optimistic, like Kennedy, whereas Kerry is craggy, leaden and negative.