What drives this "heartland" of ours? It mystifies me.
I could tell a joke we tell about ourselves here in Alabama that might help explain the heartland, too, but... it's unseemly for a lady to say such outside the holler. :)
Here is Kerry in Wisconsin ~
Ridicule, indignation at leader 'out of touch'
Economy, health care take top billing in senator's stops in state
By CRAIG GILBERT
cgilbert@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 15, 2004
Milwaukee - Accusing President Bush of turning his back on middle-class families, Democrat John Kerry campaigned by bus through eastern Wisconsin Friday, decrying high gas prices, high health care costs and lagging wages, saying Bush "either just doesn't understand what's happened to our economy . . . or he understands but doesn't care."
Mixing ridicule and indignation, Kerry painted a grim portrait of average Americans riding an economic "treadmill" and of a president who doesn't understand their problems.
"The president has proven beyond a doubt that he's out of touch with the average American family, he's out of ideas, and he's unwilling to change," Kerry said. "He can spin until he's dizzy, but at the end of the day, who does he think the American people are going to believe - George Bush or their own eyes?"
Making his third bus trip in a state he is fighting to keep in the Democratic column, Kerry spoke at Milwaukee Area Technical College before rallies in Sheboygan and Appleton.
Democratic supporters along the way said they had drawn some optimism and energy from the Bush-Kerry debates, which appear to have eroded most if not all of the president's September lead nationally.
"Was he the smarter man? Was he the better man?" Sen. Herb Kohl asked cheering supporters at the Kerry rally in Sheboygan.
An economy with the flu
Both sides believe no more than a point or two separates the candidates in Wisconsin, where the fierce struggle for the state's 10 electoral votes was reflected in the presence of both Kerry and Bush Friday.
In his Milwaukee speech, Kerry played off the current shortage of influenza vaccine, saying "the economy has a bad case of the flu, and we need a new medicine."
Kerry also ridiculed Bush for being "proud" of his domestic record, which Kerry summed up as "millions of American unemployed, tens of millions without health insurance, millions of families facing rising costs and failing incomes."
Said Kerry:
"Ladies and gentlemen, if that's what he's proud of, I'd hate to see what he's ashamed of."
Kerry, who tossed a football and shot trap on a previous bus trip, this time had a political rendezvous with soccer moms, stopping in Brown Deer Park to kick the ball around with middle-school girls from two Shorewood and two Bayside soccer teams.
He was joined by a pair of U.S. soccer Olympians, Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach, with whom Kerry juggled a soccer ball, using his feet, knees and head.
"He's a good soccer player. It's not easy to juggle," said Wambach. "He got better" in the course of a few minutes, Wambach said. "Just give him another five or six months and suit him up." A campaign aide said Kerry played soccer as a student at Yale.
Appearing with Kerry Friday were Gov. Jim Doyle, Kohl, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee congressional candidate Gwen Moore and leading Democrats.
Touting 'Fresh Start'
Kerry's trip, featuring the slogan, "A Fresh Start for America," came on the same day that new September jobs numbers were announced for Wisconsin, showing a loss of more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs. Those numbers were not seasonally adjusted, but did represent more than the typical August-to-September decline.
Going back to the beginning of 2004, Wisconsin has outperformed most other battleground states in both overall jobs and manufacturing jobs. Republicans believe that is one reason Bush led in many spring and summer polls here.
But the state is still down more than 60,000 manufacturing jobs since the start of Bush's presidency.
In a recent Chicago Tribune poll, health care and jobs ranked as the top two concerns of Wisconsin voters. Pollster Nick Panagakis, who has polled extensively in Wisconsin over the years, said those were the right issues for Kerry to be focused on when he campaigns here.
"That is what he should be talking about. That is what he should be emphasizing. It's not just any jobs. It's primarily manufacturing jobs that are the issue - outsourcing - all of it," Panagakis said.
In Milwaukee, Kerry outlined a formula for manufacturing jobs he has touted before on the campaign trail, including changing the tax code to reward companies for keeping jobs in the U.S., offering tax credits to businesses that are hiring, helping companies with their health care costs.
In a meeting Friday with Journal Sentinel editors and reporters, Kerry addressed skepticism about the ability of a president to shape trends in an area like manufacturing employment.
"Of course a president can affect job growth. Enormously," Kerry said. "Now, is a president responsible for all the cycles of the job sector? The answer is no. I don't suggest that (Bush) is. But a president is certainly accountable for the choices he makes and the promises he makes." He cited Bush's projections of job growth that failed to pan out.
At an outdoor rally in Fountain Park in Sheboygan before several thousand supporters, Kerry criticized Bush for announcing in Wisconsin his support for the extension of a dairy price program, shortly before the extension died in the GOP-controlled House.
During his events at Lawrence University in Appleton, Kerry slipped in this reference to a famous local: "Even Harry Houdini couldn't hide Bush's mistakes."
jsonline.com |
