Sen. John Edwards, the one-termer from North Carolina and Sen. John Kerry's choice of running mate, made his case last night, with his usual charisma, weaving some old themes into some new ones.
Edwards won over crowds, even some Republican commentators, during the primaries, with his presentation of what he calls the "Two Americas" -- the one set for life, the other living paycheck to paycheck. He actually had the audacity to talk about poverty, a fairly taboo topic in politics these days. Even though he delivered mostly a set of platitudes ("Hope is on the way...because this is America, where everything is possible...."), he's a great orator, his skills honed over years working over juries, who often gave his clients millions of dollars in their personal injury cases against doctors, insurance companies and corporations. Republicans have attacked him for being a trial lawyer.
Poliblog saw Edwards at a union hall in Seattle in the early spring of 2003. Last night, it seemed Edwards may be more comfortable with a smaller audience, where he can connect with people -- and especially women -- in a more personal way, though one can't be blamed with still learning how to speak to 15,000 people.
Last night Edwards also tried to bolster Democratic bona fides on national defense, something he rarely talked about during the primary campaign. "You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you," he said of America's enemies.
As David Postman reports this morning, this is all part of Kerry's case that he will be a more effective national defense president than President Bush, a case he's tried to make trotting out the likes of Gen. John Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for President Clinton, and a Steilacoom, Pierce County resident, who spoke on Kerry's behalf last night. Kerry trails in polls to Bush on the issue of the Iraq war and the war on terrorism. One recent poll had one-third of Americans unaware that Kerry is a Vietnam veteran.
Maureen Dowd, writing in today's New York Times, dished that President Clinton told people at a late-night party that he doesn't think Kerry has persuaded independent voters that he's tough enough on national defense. Voters prefer strong and wrong over weak and right, Clinton likes to say.
The convention has been a well-produced attempt to win over these independent voters in states like Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington (roughly in order of importance). That's where the election is more than likely to be decided.
Speakers at the convention have used the words "strong/strength" 141 times; "hope" 98; "health care" 161; "values" 89 times. These words have been market tested, to be sure.
Tonight, expect Kerry to continue this theme, beginning with his old Navy shipmates. Poliblog saw the writing on the wall in Iowa, where Kerry began his victory march, watching C-Span in January, when Jim Rasmussen, a lifelong Republican from Oregon, told the story of Kerry saving his life in Vietnam. Rasmussen called the campaign unsolicited, and they flew him out.
In 1960, during the height of the Cold War, Jack Kennedy ran to the right of Richard Nixon, of all people, on national defense, claiming -- falsely -- that the Eisenhower-Nixon administration had allowed the Russians to build up a "missile gap" -- an arms advantage. Kerry seems to be trying the same ploy (though we're not suggesting mendacity here.)
(In the bonus scenes of "Fog of War," Robert McNamara, Kennedy's Secretary of Defense, recalls telling the press on his first day on the job that there was no missile gap. It's an amusing scene, though must not have been for Nixon.)
Kerry's been given great leeway to maneuver on national defense by the Democratic base, which usually spends a good chunk of its convention talking about interest group politics: abortion rights, gay rights, civil rights, the environment, labor rights. This time, they've convened to get Kerry elected, or get President Bush out of office, anyway.
His speech will be written by Bob Shrum, who's written speeches for seven Democratic nominees -- most recently Al Gore -- none of whom has ever won. Ted Kennedy has used him forever, and Poliblog had to wonder whether Kennedy's speech Tuesday night, which lacked rhythm and cadence, was mostly lacking Shrum. (Kennedy lent Kerry all his best people, including Shrum, back in December, when his campaign was flailing.)
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A final note on TV coverage. Poliblog just signed up for cable, and though he admits to being a junkie, switching back and forth between CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, he often settles on C-Span. The TV pundits never tire of telling us what to think, while ignoring, to the best of their abilities, substantive issues. How many times did we see Teresa Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to "shove it." And why do they keep using the term "red meat"? And what, precisely, did Chris Matthews mean when he said of stem cell research, "I know the metaphysical questions surrounding this issue, and I understand them thoroughly." Oh, really?
Plenty more later.
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