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Edited on Sun Feb-22-04 10:28 PM by Feanorcurufinwe
By Rick Lyman
From church services in Columbus to a packed ballroom at Ohio State University, from a meeting with locked-out workers in Niles, Ohio, to union hall rallies here, the message was the same. "All you've got to do is look around this room, and it is clear that the people of America want this campaign to continue," Senator John Edwards said Sunday night at a packed union hall here, just as he had told several other audiences in recent days. But time is running short for Mr. Edwards as he tries to erase the imposing leads that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts has in the most recent polls in virtually all 10 states voting on Super Tuesday, March 2, for the Democratic presidential nominee.
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Mr. Edwards, a preternaturally engaging and disciplined campaigner, hardly varies his pitch from event to event, down to the tiniest gags intended to seem ad-libbed. For instance, when he mentions former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, a conservative Republican, there is almost always a chorus of groans to which Mr. Edwards bemusedly replies, as if it just occurred to him, "Correct response."
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He has also spoken regularly with Dr. Dean, including conversations as recently as two days ago, and although he called the conversations "very positive, both from his perspective and from mine," there was no indication whether Dr. Dean would endorse him. Each time, Mr. Edwards said, he has conveyed the same message to Dr. Dean: "I want your help. I want you to support me. It's not rocket science."
Marge Romero, a secretary at the Minnesota Legislature, said she had been persuaded by other ardent Dean supporters to come hear Mr. Edwards speak. "What really motivates the Dean supporters is `Oh, my gosh, anybody but Bush,' " Ms. Romero said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/politics/campaign/23EDWA.html |
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