A Southern All-Star Team for Democrats

A primary unwritten law of selecting a vice-presidential candidate is to balance the ticket. A secondary law often has been to delay the announcement so as to inject suspense into an otherwise bland convention. Bill Clinton shattered both precepts. Four days before the opening of the Democratic Convention he chose, of all potential running mates, the one closest to being a carbon copy of himself: Tennessee Senator Al Gore. Besides hailing from neighboring mid-South states and swimming in the centrist mainstream of the party, they are close enough in age (Clinton is 45, Gore 44) to form the first all baby-boom...