''This is great for us," Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie said as he prepared to go on CNN to discuss Edwards selection. Citing the nonpartisan National Journal ranking of senators, Gillespie said, ''We've got the first- and fourth-most liberal senators on the Democratic ticket."

"The elite media may seek to paint John Edwards as a moderate, centrist Democrat, but that portrait is plain phony," Executive Director Richard Lessner of the American Conservative Union said. "There isn't a [bit] of difference between the two Johns. They're both far-left liberals in the Ted Kennedy tradition."

"In 2003, Edwards voted against repeal of the death tax, against repeal of the marriage tax penalty, against research into advanced nuclear weapons, and against medical malpractice reform, while voting in favor of the Roe v. Wade abortion decision. That's hardly the record of a moderate," said Richard Lessner.