Extreme makeover: John Kerry a `guy's guy'
Senator's hunting trip latest salvo in battle for voters
Campaign tries to emulate Bush's macho persona
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
The chiselling, polishing and buffing of John Kerry's image has been under way for almost two months, but yesterday the millionaire windsurfer formally morphed into the baseball-loving, goose-hunting, "guy's guy."
A meticulous late-campaign overhaul appeared complete.
First, there was the Massachusetts senator, feet up on the coffee table, munching popcorn and holding a beer as he watched his beloved Boston Red Sox pull off a miracle on the diamond, beating the despised New York Yankees for the American League pennant after falling three games behind.
Then, there was Kerry in full camouflage gear, 12-gauge shotgun slung over his shoulder, trying to bag some goose during an early morning hunting expedition in swing state Ohio.
Then there was a quick zig-zag back to the sensitive guy, comforting Dana Reeve, the widow of actor and activist Christopher Reeve, just in case women did a double-take over the sports-obsessed, gun-toting candidate.
Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said yesterday it was merely a bid to show the human being behind the guy spouting policy.
The campaign of U.S. President George W. Bush, which has meticulously crafted the image of its own candidate as the denim-wearing, scrub-clearing tough guy who can stand up to the terrorists, mocked the new Kerry yesterday.
The image battle is crucial in a campaign in its last 11 days that appears too close to call and yesterday featured the first national poll showing the Democratic challenger with a narrow lead over the incumbent Republican.
"My personal opinion is that his new camo jacket is an October disguise, an effort he's making to hide the fact that he votes against gun owner rights at every turn," U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney said during an Ohio campaign stop.
Cheney then catalogued a number of sporting missteps Kerry has made during the campaign, a litany of bloopers the Bush campaign had sent out Wednesday in anticipation of the Democratic challenger trying to make hay with a stunning Red Sox comeback.
"He does need a little image repair along those lines," he said. "You know, he said his favourite Boston Red Sox player was Eddie Yost, but of course Yost never played for the Red Sox."
He stopped short of reminding voters that Kerry had also misnamed the holy shrine of football in Green Bay, Wis., another swing state, referring to "Lambert Field," not Lambeau Field.
With the World Series set to begin tomorrow, the baseball battles on the campaign trail are more than a sideshow.
One of Bush's highest points in his first term came at Yankee Stadium when, in a bulletproof vest, he tossed a perfect ceremonial strike at a World Series game shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.
Kerry's first pitch at a Yankees-Red Sox game on the eve of July's Democratic convention won a mix of cheers and boos.
The prospect of a Texas-Massachusetts World Series matchup mirroring the presidential race was lost last night when the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Houston Astros 5-2 to advance as the National League representative against the Red Sox.
As part of his makeover, Kerry quaffed beers with GQ magazine during the summer, admitting he enjoys catching an eyeful of Charlize Theron and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but blew the everyman image when he was photographed wind-surfing.
Bush returned to his well-honed message yesterday that his opponent was a liberal elitist. "He can run, he can even run in camo, but he can't hide," Bush said in Hershey, Pa.
The National Rifle Association also took aim at Kerry, saying he is no friend of sport shooters in the United States, pointing to his strong push for a renewed ban on assault weapons.
Later, in the Ohio capital of Columbus, Kerry surrounded himself with Dana Reeve and former senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, to argue Bush is leaving Americans behind in the realm of science.
Kerry said Bush has proposed cutting the research budget at the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency and Veterans' Affairs. America has fallen to 13th in the world in broadband coverage, he said.
"You get the feeling that if George Bush had been president during other periods in American history," Kerry said, "he would have sided with the candle lobby against electricity, the buggy-makers against cars, and typewriter companies against computers."
But his overriding message was that he would continue Christopher Reeve's work in pushing for stem cell research in the United States and overturning Bush's limitations on the research.
"Eleven days ago, a light went out in my life," Dana Reeve said. "When Chris died, the world lost a truly inspirational leader.
"My inclination would be to remain private for a good long while. But I came here today in support of John Kerry because this is so important. This is what Chris wanted."
The Bush campaign issued a rejoinder from Senate Majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, a doctor, that Bush was the first president to fund any embryonic stem cell research.
But Canadian actor Michael J. Fox, who is also working with Kerry on stem cell research, has likened the Bush limitations to providing a car with no gas.
Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has been featured in Kerry campaign ads.
Additional articles by Tim Harper |
