you said,,,,,That governor, Lawton Chiles, who beat Jeb, is dead. Thus he is unlikely to be selected.//////
I say...he can still vote in Florida
Kerry needs some excitement and star power in his campaign. If he can't get hillary, I'd suggest Josiah Bartlett (he's got Presidential experience) , Barbra Streisand (she's got the lower classes covered), or Mike Farrell (didn't he spend years in a MASH unit?).
Kerry's whole existence is a game of "let's pretend", so why not have a Veep who's really good at it?