Is it possible to squee over political candidates?

Because if so, I’m squeeing, baby.

So I watched Larry King last night with Edwards and his wife. I don’t normally watch Larry King, but it was John and Elizabeth and thus, I had to. It was like a law of physics, or something.

With the possible exception of Elizabeth’s wardrobe malfunction (what the hell was that blue-jacket-buttoned-up-to-her-chin thing? because hello, what happened to her neck?), they hit it out of the park. He answered questions candidly, straight-on, and (here’s a concept) intelligently. Hmmm, that might be a quality to look for in our elected officials, yes? That they understand the issues and can converse intelligently upon them? Wow, what a novel idea!

Continue to be impressed by Elizabeth. I loved her answer to the question “Is the prospect of being the Second Lady intimidating?” Not at all, she says, and in fact, she views it as a tremendous platform to do her part to make the country better. That’s the kind of thing we should be hearing. She’s not taking the “barely seen, never heard, possibly drugged 24/7” Laura Bush route, nor the “rarely seen or heard and when she does speak, she’s as scary as her husband” Lynne Cheney route. She’s not an “ambition and career are my purpose in life” Hilary or a “we would never even know who you are if it weren’t for your attempt to put ratings on music” Tipper. She’s her own woman, and god bless her for it.

And also, his response to Larry’s questions about their son’s death spurring him into politics was handled both graciously and gracefully. I imagine they’ve deflected that question more times than they care to count and have probably honed their responses, but still. It would be easy to get irritable after hearing the question asked a million times, or for your answer to sound rehearsed and stilted, but they were both genuine and as I said, gracious; more so, considering the topic.

So count me yes, officially in love with this couple. These two people are what Kerry needed to help us warm up to him. With John and Elizabeth on the ticket (yes, her too), that warm fuzziness rubs off on Kerry, even for those of us who were already well inside the Kerry camp. It’s popularity by proxy.

Which says two laudable things about Kerry: 1) that he can objectively analyze a situation on its merits (in this case, that he needed to make himself more personable to the public without trying to be something he’s not), and 2) he can make a good and informed choice based on that analysis, despite whatever his personal choices/beliefs might be (in this case, he’s confident and comfortable enough to pick someone with charm and political savvy because that’s the choice he needs in order to win, even though that someone could easily overshadow him). This is the kind of guy I want making foreign policy decisions and domestic policy.