In the waning hours before coast-to-coast election contests on Super Tuesday, the rhythm of the top two Democratic presidential campaigns couldn’t have been more telling.
Before boisterous crowds on college campuses and in a Southern concert hall, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts talked about the general election as though the presidential nomination had been decided, promising, “We’re going to go right at George Bush.”
In contrast, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina made a frenzied dash through Ohio and Georgia, drawing sparse crowds and spending more time answering questions about whether he would drop out of the race than talking about his would-be presidential vision.
Kerry vows election fight
Ignoring his fading rival, Kerry sought to sweep all 10 states, which include Democratic strongholds New York and California and swing-state Ohio, and vowed to wage a general election fight against President Bush that would highlight the differences between the increasingly polarized parties.
“This isn’t going to be some kind of `We’re like them, they’re like us, wishy-washy, mealy-mouth, you can’t tell the difference’ deal,” Kerry said. “This is going to be something where we’re giving America a real choice.”
As Edwards crossed Ohio, meanwhile, there were clear indications of a diminishing campaign.
At a rally in downtown Cleveland, against a backdrop of Lake Erie, a few dozen people arrived to hear Edwards speak on the eve of this critical primary. The room remained so vacant that campaign aides repeatedly moved forward a large American flag, hoping to make the venue seem smaller and more crowded.
Even Bush’s election team, not wanting to cede the political oxygen to Democrats in this key battleground state, added to the sense the race was largely over by focusing sharp criticism solely on Kerry. Edwards, when asked later why all the attention was paid to Kerry, said: “He’s ahead, he’s ahead.”
Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a Bush surrogate, told reporters in a conference call that Ohio’s economy was turning around, thanks in large part to Bush’s tax cuts, and that Kerry’s “negative sound bites . . . just don’t add up to an economic plan.” Edwards went unmentioned.
But Kerry, making his second visit to the state in less than a week, told voters that Ohio has lost 150,000 manufacturing jobs during the Bush presidency and many people were struggling to hold down two or three jobs at a time.
`Mission abandoned’
“It’s not mission accomplished, it’s mission not even attempted, it’s mission abandoned,” Kerry told the crowd, which greeted him with chants of “Impeach W.”
Across Ohio, in the same University of Toledo room where Kerry drew more than 1,000 people a few days earlier, Edwards attracted a considerably smaller and more sedate crowd.
Dozens of empty chairs sat within the circle of about 300 people who surrounded Edwards. On the sidewalk outside the student union, where Republicans had protested Kerry’s visit, not a soul stood to shout down Edwards.
The candidate was decidedly less animated than he had been during the heady days of his campaign through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Just one measure: his speech–once nearly 30 minutes long–had been scaled back to just over 13 minutes. Edwards declined to tell reporters how many states–if any–he would have to win to remain a viable candidate.
In contrast to other states where Edwards saw a last-minute surge after securing the endorsement of key state newspapers, one of Ohio’s largest papers, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, threw its support behind Kerry on Monday. The endorsement was pointed in explaining its rationale for choosing the more experienced politician over the charismatic upstart.
“The conventional wisdom is true: Edwards is warmer, more charming,” the paper wrote. “If you were organizing a back-yard barbecue, you’d call Edwards first. He speaks eloquently of those left behind even when the economy was roaring. But he strikes us as a work in progress. He calls for bold solutions, but offers few.”
Some of Edwards’ most ardent supporters disagreed.
Della Shockley attracted the senator’s attention as she held up her hand-stenciled sign, saying: “Edwards 4 the Small Fry.” After the speech she said Ohio voters were missing an opportunity to elect a new leader who hasn’t spent decades in Washington.
“People say they want a change, but I don’t know if they do or not because they keep going back to that same barrel of rotten apples and picking an apple that they think might not be rotten,” Shockley said. “But they should go to a different barrel and pick a good, fresh apple like John.”
Edwards, though, struck a realistic tone.
“At some point I have to start getting more delegates than him if I’m going to be the nominee,” Edwards said.
