Bravo post. Here's one from The Donkey's Inn...
Edwards Set Loose in Key States
October 16, 2004
latimes.com
Kerry's running mate has gone on high-profile attack since his debate with the vice president.
By Maria L. La Ganga, Times Staff Writer
He stopped short of calling Dick Cheney a liar, but he raised doubts about the
vice president's truthfulness on MSNBC. He didn't quite accuse George W.
Bush of being a girlie-man, but he jokingly questioned the president's
manhood on late-night television.
And he swept into Oregon a day before Bush, promoting the Democratic
ticket in a crucial state at an important juncture, snagging front-page stories in
a bid to blunt the effect of the president's visit.
Sen. John
Edwards' busy
schedule and his
television
appearances this
week - he also
tangled with Ted
Koppel on
"Nightline" - are a
testament to his
changing role in
the 2004 election
and the closeness
of the contest
between Bush and
Sen. John F. Kerry.
After spending much of the summer and early fall in mostly minor markets
where his high-wattage smile and sunny disposition attracted little national
attention, Edwards has evolved into a high-profile campaigner with a sharp
edge since debating Cheney in Cleveland nearly two weeks ago.
Just listen to him at a crowded Eugene, Ore., rally Wednesday, mocking
Bush's performance in the second presidential debate a few days earlier: "He
asked a really important question." A pause. A grin. "This is what he said: 'My
time up yet?' "
Or in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Thursday: "George Bush says he wants to be
judged on his record. We want George Bush to be judged on his record. We
lost more kids in Iraq in September than we lost in August. We lost more in
August than we lost in July. We lost more in July than we lost in June."
Kerry aides promise that Edwards will deliver more of the same in the
shrinking map of battleground states, with the North Carolinian paying
particular attention to the Midwest and Florida, where he will campaign today
and Sunday.
"The [vice presidential] debate made the difference," said Joel Goldstein, a St.
Louis University law professor and author of "The Modern American Vice
Presidency." "Up until the debate, he was clearly No. 4 of the candidates. Now
he's being deployed in the major states and covered increasingly by the
media."
If there is a vice presidential precedent for Edwards' evolution, it probably
would be more Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 than Al Gore in 1992, Goldstein said.
Bentsen, then a Texas senator, had been relegated to campaigning in the
South as Michael S. Dukakis' running mate - until he shook then-Vice
President Dan Quayle with the now-famous debate line: "Senator, you're no
Jack Kennedy."
After that, Bentsen "had a similar trajectory," Goldstein said, appearing in
battleground states, regularly interviewed on national television and a focus of
campaign advertising.
Unlike their counterparts in 1992, "Edwards and Kerry have not appeared a
lot together on the campaign trail," said Roy Neel, a longtime Gore advisor.
Gore, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton and their wives "were
together a great deal, in part because they wanted to project the team, all four
of them - youthfulness and a good-looking group."
The Kerry camp prefers to send the candidates and their wives out separately
to cover more ground, particularly in the election's waning weeks. One
exception was a chilly Thursday night event in Des Moines, where Kerry,
Edwards, Teresa Heinz Kerry and Elizabeth Edwards rallied several thousand
supporters in a state they had hoped would already be safely on their side.
During his solo appearances, "Edwards has not disappointed the Kerry
campaign in drawing crowds," Neel said. "He has not skipped a beat in
defending Kerry. He did very well in his debate with Cheney. He's done all the
things expected of him."
In a short, clear campaign speech that rarely varies, Edwards often articulates
the Democratic positions more succinctly than Kerry does, as was evident in
Iowa, Oregon and Ohio this week.
"John Kerry has a real plan for Iraq," he said over and over, "starting with
speeding up the training of the Iraqis to provide for their own security,
speeding up the reconstruction process, making sure the elections take place
and, returning to the proud tradition of the last 75 years, America once again
leading strong alliances around the world."
Edwards speaks in complete sentences, arranging his thoughts in neat
paragraphs. He rarely gets knocked off kilter. Watching the former trial lawyer
for any length of time is like seeing the 500th performance of "Cats" -
precise, workmanlike, utterly effective as far as it goes.
These days, he is venturing toward the traditional territory of
vice-presidential-candidate-as-attack-dog. Appearing on "Hardball" Thursday
night, he was pressed by host Chris Matthews about Cheney's different
statements on whether there was a link between ousted Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks - a link some think the vice president had
once sought to make.
Matthews: "You think he forgot all the times he said - suggested [such a
link]?"
Edwards: "No, of course he didn't forget. I think it has been very carefully
calibrated to keep moving the line each time he talks about it, and it becomes
more and more obvious to the American people that there is no connection
between Saddam Hussein and 9/11."
Matthews: "Does the videotape say he is dishonest?"
Edwards: "The videotape says that what he has been saying is not true. That's
the way I look at it."
And on the "Tonight Show" on Tuesday, he mocked Bush's days as a prep
school cheerleader, comparing that experience to his own time as a mill town
football player.
"I run, and I played a little football back when I was in school. And the
president, I think, was there at those football games, too. He was, I think, on
the side, maybe with his pompoms?" Edwards drawled, to Leno's surprise.
"Can you run fast with those cheerleading outfits on? I don't know." |
