In announcing his choice of Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as his running mate on Tuesday, US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry hopes that could help boost his bid for the White House, at least for the time being.

Recent opinion polls showed that Kerry tied President George W.Bush in support among likely voters. In a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll released late June, Bush was found to lead Kerry by merely one percentage point, 48 percent to 47 percent, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 3 percent.

In another survey by The New York Times/CBS News released last Tuesday, Kerry had the support of 45 percent of registered voters,with Bush supported by 44 percent. In a three-way race, Bush wouldlead Kerry by 43 percent to 42 percent, with 5 percent for Nader.

The surveys were conducted when the American public's discontent with the situation in Iraq was growing and its approvalratings for Bush's performance were dropping. Analysts said that Kerry's announcement at this time was aimed at arousing the public's interest and inputting some energy into his tepid campaign.

A MOVE TO BOOST CAMPAIGN

When he was securing the Democratic presidential nomination in the party's primaries early this year, Kerry was once found leading Bush in opinion polls. A survey in March showed that in a two-way presidential race, Kerry would beat Bush by 52 percent to 44 percent.

Kerry's campaign activities, however, were eclipsed by a series of major events since then, which included the hearings of the Sept. 11 commission, the revelation of the scandal of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, the G-8 summit and the funeral of former president Ronald Reagan.

The Massachusetts senator's choice of the time and place to make the announcement was apparently an effort to insert some vitality into his campaign and to make it a focus of media attention, analysts said.

There are no major events scheduled for the three weeks leadingto the Democratic National Convention that begins on July 26, another event that could help boost the campaign. Kerry and Edwards will be officially nominated at the convention to be held in Boston.

Pennsylvania is considered by both sides as a battlefield in the campaign, where Bush lost to Democratic Al Gore by five percentage points in the 2000 elections. Bush has spent millions of dollars in campaign ads in the state, and paid more than two dozen visits there since taking office. Kerry's selection of the state to announce his running mate showed the importance of the state for his campaign.

EDWARDS REGARDED AS POSSIBLE BEST CHOICE

Reports said Kerry laid out a five-point criterion for choosing his running mate, which included committing to Kerry's issues and vision for the country, being capable of inspiring confidence in voters from all parts of the country and all walks of life, and being compatible with Kerry "on every level."

Kerry started the selection process with a list of about 25 candidates, including Missouri Representative Richard Gepharht and Edwards, two of his rivals during the primaries, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Florida Senator Bob Graham.

Edwards, 51, a lawyer-turned-politician, entered the Senate andpublic life in 1998. During the primary campaign, Edwards did better than Kerry among Republicans and nearly as well among independents, exit polls showed.

Edwards portrayed himself as a positive campaigner, and scored political points with an anti-Bush message about "two Americas" - one for the privileged and another for everybody else.

A poll last month showed that Edwards was the most popular among all the candidates for the No. 2 slot in the Democratic ticket, and some Democratic leaders urged Kerry to pick Edwards ashis running mate.

Edwards is from the south, another factor that has prompted Kerry, who is from the northeast, to choose him as his running mate so as to win voters in the south of the country.

SITUATION IN IRAQ MAY DECIDE WHO WINS

A recent Times/CBS News survey showed Bush's approval rating at42 percent, the lowest since the beginning of Bush's presidency inJanuary 2001, and 51 percent of the respondents said they disapproved of his job performance.

A majority of respondents in the poll, conducted before last week's transfer of power to an interim Iraqi government, said the war was not worth its cost in American lives and that the Bush administration did not have a clear plan to restore order to Iraq.

Another poll by the USA Today/CNN/Gallup, released late last month, found that 54 percent of Americans now said that sending US troops to Iraq was a mistake, and for the first time, a majority of Americans thought that the Iraq war has made the United States less safe from terrorism.

The survey showed a turnaround in views toward the war in less than a month. Continued violence in Iraq, questions about the war's justification, and the abuse scandal apparently were eroding Americans' support for the government's policy on Iraq.

Despite the transfer of power to an interim Iraqi government and about 140,000 US troops still staying in the country, violence in Iraq has not become less as a result, and the situation there remains chaotic.

Issues surrounding Iraq have shaken the public confidence in the Bush administration, and in a way may help Kerry in his bid for the White House. The Iraq situation and the economy, however, will eventually decide how American voters will cast ballots in November, analysts said.

Source: Xinhua