Nancy Pelosi Says: Chet Edwards for VP!

During a recent and brief interview with Newsweek?, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that United States Representative Chet Edwards (D-TX) of Waco would be an excellent choice as Sen. Barack Obama's running mate. Here's Pelosi:

“Anyone that Barack Obama wants is my choice for vice president,” Pelosi told the interviewer, who appeared to be from Newsweek. “But I do think in the list of considerations there should be somebody from the House of Representatives and Chet Edwards is a person that many of us think would be a good person to be in the mix.”

And the video interview:

I've had the privilege of voting for Chet in the past two elections. Chet is an ardent supporter of church-state separation and one of the strongest supporters of religious liberty in Congress over the past 10+ years. Just a handful of months ago, Chet received the Abner McCall Religious Liberty Award presented by the Baylor University Alumni Association. Also, last year Chet read part of G.W. Truett's "Baptists and Religious Liberty" speech as part of the historic Baptist Unity rally from the steps of the United States Capitol. Chet attends Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.

Texas in Africa offers a few upsides and downsides to Chet as Veep. Check 'em out.

Here's a few of her upsides:

The military LOVES him. Fort Hood re-elected him over and over until Tom DeLay redistricted Edwards away from the base.

He knows defense policy.

He supported the Iraq war, which could help with winning moderates. Extreme anti-war rhetoric won't work in the general election, and Obama knows it, even if the DailyKos crazies don't.

Unlike certain governors of other states whose names keep getting tossed around, there aren't any skeletons in his closet. Edwards is a solid guy.

He's figured out how to beat the Republicans in what should be a solidly Republican district.

Chet Edwards To Receive Religious Liberty Award

My United States Representative, Chet Edwards has been perhaps the strongest advocate for religious liberty in Congress over the past decade. On Saturday, Chet will receive the Abner McCall Religious Liberty Award at Baylor University. Past winners include (1998) Dr. James Dunn, former executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.; (2004) Dr. Edwin S. Gaustad, a 1947 Baylor graduate and noted scholar in religious history in America; and (2005) the late John F. Baugh, founder of SYSCO Corp. and Baylor Alumnus Honoris Causa, who served on the Baylor Board of Regents and received the Founders Medallion, one of the most distinguished honors presented by Baylor.

From Baylor Alumni Association

The Baylor Alumni Association will present the Abner V. McCall Religious Liberty Award to U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, during Baylor University's winter commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Ferrell Center. The award honors alumni or friends of the university who, by their lives and actions, have exemplified the courage and dedication of the late Baylor President Abner V. McCall to the belief in and commitment to religious liberty.

Edwards was elected in 2006 to his ninth term as the congressman representing the 17th Congressional District of Texas, which includes Baylor. As a lifelong person of faith, he has led Congress in the protection of religious liberty by opposing attempts to insert federal influence into the practice of individual faith and by seeking to keep government funding and regulations out of our churches and houses of worship.

For these efforts, Edwards has received numerous recognitions, including the 2006 National First Freedom Award, the 2005 T. B. Maston Christian Ethics Award, the Jordan/Hatfield Courage Award from the Baptist Joint Committee, the Interfaith Alliance Walter Cronkite Award, the Anti-Defamation League's Religious Liberty Achievement Award, the 2003 Associated Baptist Press Religious Freedom Award, and the Congressional Leadership Award from the American Jewish Committee.

A 1974 graduate of Texas A&M University, Edwards worked three years for U.S. Rep. Olin E. "Tiger" Teague, before earning an MBA from the Harvard Business School. In the 1980s, he worked in commercial real estate and was owner and president of Edwards Communications, a rural radio station. From 1983-89, he served in the Texas Senate, where he was named one of Ten Outstanding Legislators by Texas Monthly magazine.

Edwards and his wife, Lea Ann, along with their sons, J.T. and Garrison, attend Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.