If it’s Friday night in Wisconsin, it’s time for a fish fry. And if you’re a politician, there are few better places to go in search of a captive audience.
The statewide tradition of fish fry night dates to the 1920s, during Prohibition, when taverns would serve free fish to draw a crowd. To wash all that fish down, alcohol often would be sold–illegally.
Most diners and restaurants still offer fish fry night. So Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean visited one in Milwaukee on Friday, as did local candidates running in Tuesday’s primary.
Noticeably absent, local Democrats said, were Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Edwards left to raise money in California and appear on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” Kerry traded fish for the lights of Las Vegas, flying to Nevada for the night.
— Jeff Zeleny
HAIL ELIZABETH
It may be the most unheralded political play of the primary season.
Elizabeth Edwards, the down-to-earth, straight-talking wife of Sen. John Edwards, has encouraged her husband’s campaign to seek the endorsements of folks she thinks might mean more to the average voter than a bevy of political heavyweights.
Campaign aides say it was Elizabeth Edwards who first encouraged them to tout the endorsement of former Oklahoma University football coach Barry Switzer. When the coach came out for the North Carolina senator before the Oklahoma primary, Edwards’ standing in public opinion polls jumped.
Now, Elizabeth Edwards, campaigning in Wisconsin, is doing the same thing. She attended an undecided-voters dinner in Green Bay on Thursday at the home of one of the Packers’ defensive line coaches.
“I know more about football than most of the guys on the plane,” she said, jokingly, later, referring to the senator’s all-politics, all-the-time staff.
–Kirsten Scharnberg
