The conventional wisdom is that John Kerry picked a popular, telegenic, and charming running mate, only to keep him well hidden. What’s worse, we’re told, John Edwards is too nice to deliver the tough blows against Bush and Cheney.
The truth is, John Edwards isn’t hiding and he’s hardly holding back.
In recent weeks the Democratic vice presidential candidate’s stump speech has gone from an easy-listening autobiographical commercial to a rat-a-tat indictment of the Bush administration. He compares George W. Bush to Ken Lay of Enron infamy, declares that “Iraq is a mess because of this president” and seems to relish roughing up Dick Cheney: “Dick Cheney said if you vote for us and we’re attacked again it’s your fault,” he roars. “What Dick Cheney said is un-American, and George Bush still has not denounced it.”
When he whips off his jacket, just as he and his audience are heating up, he turns even that cliché of political stagecraft into a fresh provocation, a pantomime of his challenge to Republicans: “You want a piece of me?” And at every stop of a campaign swing through West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky last week, grateful Democrats practically cried with relief at the sight.
[…]
For weeks, Democrats have wondered where Edwards has been hiding — and whether he’d been disappeared because Kerry was afraid of being eclipsed. But in an interview on his campaign plane, Edwards argued that if he had slipped off the radar, it was only because he’s been spending most of his time in smaller rural markets “where I can do the most good, even if I don’t get as much national attention.”
I don’t know if this is an effective strategy or not, but it is an explanation as to why we don’t see much of Edwards on the national news every night. I wouldn’t call him a “stealth” candidate, but Edwards does seem to be quietly making connections in fly-over country that reporters on the coasts have been missing.
Congressional Quarterly’s Craig Crawford explained that people “have to get out of the big city hotels to find Edwards” — and that those who do tend to like what they hear.
Edwards is going after the swing voters where they live. His recent Pennsylvania stops covered a suburban swath where nearly 20 percent of the state’s likely voters reside.
Earlier in September, I caught up with Edwards in Chillicothe, Ohio. About an hour’s drive south of Columbus, this town of 20,000 residents produced nearly 5,000 for an Edwards rally. TV news crews from all around central and southern Ohio covered it; people were passing out in the crush of humanity and heat. And, for those Democrats who think Edwards is too passive, he dished out loads of red meat, hurling barb after barb at his vice presidential opponent.
When you get 5,000 people in attendance in a 20,000-person town, you’re having an impact. When you do this in Ohio, you’re helping dramatically.