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July 06, 2004
Here's Johnny...
Congrats to John Kerry for proving that not only can he make a really smart decision that may not exactly jive with his personal preferences but that he can very competently and discreetly control the flow of information so that it doesn't leak out early or come back to bite him on the ass. That alone shows that he'd be a much better person to have in charge of things like the names of CIA agents or shady characters like Ahmed Chalabi.
In reaction to Kerry's picking Edwards, Howard Dean's former "chief blogger" Mathew Gross says that "North Carolina has suddenly become a battleground state". Interestingly enough, Gross is actually a former and now once again an NC resident himself - he played drums in the Chapel Hill pop band June for a couple of years before the band's John Howie/Beggars Banquet era. But yeah, I like this battleground-state line of thinking. The conventional wisdom about Edwards as VP has tended to be that he can't carry NC but that he'll be a huge help in the Midwest states and that he'll help Democrats win some of the crucial toss-up Senate seats in Southern states like NC, SC, GA, FL, and LA. But I think it's time to throw out the pessimism and start thinking about and working towards a blue NC. After all, Edwards always closes well and he's risen rapidly in polls before. This American Prospect article from last summer points out that with 6 weeks to go before the 1998 election, Edwards was behind Faircloth by 10 points in at least one poll. Nothing will be determined until November, of course, but I can't wait to see the NC polls that come out in the next few weeks so that we can see what sort of bounce Kerry/Edwards might get.
The other day I was reading this News & Observer article about that other famous North Carolinian who spent the weekend restlessly figuring out his place on the national stage. And I was struck by one Dook fan's comment: "It's actually pretty exciting that somebody from N.C. is making it all the way to LA. Maybe he'll put Durham on the map." As wide-eyed and hillbilly-ish as that quote may sound, I bet a lot of North Carolinians are now feeling this same sort of positive sentiment in relation to Edwards and his own potential big-time job. When he was ambitiously seeking the top job for himself against unfavorable odds, some folks probably thought he was too-big-for-his-britches, foolishly trying to be above himself. But when the nominee chooses you and says that you're ready for prime time, then it's much more acceptable and everyone else can happily identify with you and your success. This is all baseless theorizing, but I do think that Southern attitudes about modesty and achievement are somewhat weird like this.
When John Edwards suspended his own presidential bid back on March 3rd, I drove over to Raleigh to see his concession speech at the Broughton High School gymnasium. Since the whole thing was a last-minute decision following the Super Tuesday primary results, there hadn't been much advance publicity for the event and it was surprisingly easy to get in. A short line, no metal detectors, no frisking, no questions. I was curious to see if Edwards was really as electrifying in person as all the news media folks had been saying. To be honest, it didn't seem appreciably different from the impressive stump speeches that I'd already seen on TV, but it was still cool to go and see folks swarm Edwards with post-speech autograph requests while his modest parents casually stood outside on the Broughton lawn. I took a bunch of photos, but except for the one above, they're are all fairly blurry and crappy due to the dark room and the bad camera angles. Oh well, it's not like Edwards is going to be lacking for media coverage anytime soon...
Correction in red added above, Mathew Gross apparently moved back to NC after the Dean campaign shut down.
Posted by Tim at July 6, 2004 08:55 PM
Comments
you are so committed, tim. and your posts are all adult and politically-charged. i am very impressed. the last political thing i did was volunteer for Nader's campaign and frankly, we all saw how well that went for the country. maybe i will just leave all the heavy stuff to you braniacs and be like most other Americans--vote for who i think is the the cutest candidate.
Posted by: yonni at July 7, 2004 07:35 PM
Hey, as long as you vote. And don't be discouraged by the Nader debacle, no one knew that was going to have such a huge effect in 2000. People seem to know better this time, though....
Posted by: Tim at July 8, 2004 11:33 AM
They're Back!
I got this from a friend in Wake County. John & John are going to be in town this weekend.
from http://www.wakedems.org/
SATURDAY July 10th -- See John Kerry and John Edwards in Raleigh
Join John Kerry and John Edwards in their first joint appearance in North Carolina on Saturday, July 10th. Gates open at 1:00 P.M. at the Court of North Carolina on the NC State Campus, near the Bell Tower at Hillsborough Street and Pullen Road/Watauga Club Drive. Parking will be available at area lots and garages on the NCSU campus.
Posted by: Paul at July 8, 2004 12:06 PM