Kennedy outshines and upstages aloof Kerry
By Marian Wilkinson, Herald Correspondent in Des Moines
January 21, 2004
Everywhere John Kerry went in the last days of the Iowa campaign, Teddy Kennedy was by his side, whooping, shouting and screaming to the crowds: "Are you going to do it for John Kerry? Are you going to stand up for John Kerry?"
When the tall, lanky Kerry embraces the famously flabby, sweating Kennedy on stage it is indeed a sight for sore eyes. But at almost 72, Kennedy is still a joy to watch on the hustings, outshining and upstaging the aloof Kerry from the moment he opens his mouth. When Kennedy told Iowan Democrats he wanted to talk about "John Kerry's heart", they listened.
The Kennedy connection was one of Kerry's biggest assets in Iowa - that and Kerry's profile as a Vietnam War hero. It was the Massachusetts senator who introduced Vietnam veterans on stage, and their compelling stories of Kerry's heroism, like the night he rescued his fellow soldier under fire after the man was knocked overboard from a patrol boat Kerry was commanding.
"John Kerry turned that boat around and went back and took the risk to his own life and brought that man to safety", Kennedy hollers. "John didn't leave him behind that night and he'll not leave the children of America behind."
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