Posted on 07/19/2004 2:02:31 PM PDT by Cagey
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - The front porch conjures up images of rocking chairs, lazy summer afternoons and icy drinks. But not in election-year politics as Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards use the setting to reach out to voters in choreographed events with miked candidates and hand-picked audiences.
"The most important thing you can do as a political leader is not to talk, but to listen," Edwards said Monday from the front porch of the split-level home of Durham's Democratic mayor, Bill Bell.
It might have looked as though Sen. Edwards just stopped by for a folksy chat in this leafy, upper middle-class neighborhood in his home state.
But the neighbors and friends were hand picked. A large camera stand stood on the lawn. Satellite trucks lined the street. Electrical cables snaked everywhere. Dozens of reporters and photographers were present. A man pushing a lawnmower was stopped by police from getting any closer.
|
It also allows him to emphasize his humble Carolina mill-town roots.
On Monday, Edwards removed his suit coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves and held forth for about half an hour.
"You go to where voters live and listen to them about what's going on in people's lives," said campaign spokesman Mark Kornblau, who said the technique works well for both Kerry and Edwards. He said Kerry used it first, and that it will be a regular feature of the general election campaign.
"Generally, it's an outgrowth of their desire to continue their conversation with the American people," he said.
Reed Dickens, a Bush campaign spokesman, dismissed Edwards' event as "the fourth most liberal member of the Senate trying to soften the image of the first most liberal senator."
The Bush campaign also distributed a statement from the Republican mayor of Charlotte, N.C., Pat McCrory, denouncing Edwards's front-porch campaigning in a state that offers 15 electoral votes.
"North Carolina has seen a lot of John Edwards on television over the past few weeks but we have barely seen him at all in our state over the past few years," McCrory said. "It is apparent he has little in common with the values of our state."
Questions from the neighborhood allowed Edwards to discuss some of his favorite subjects, including education, the loss of U.S. jobs overseas and the swelling federal deficit.
"I don't want to over promise because President Bush has put us in a ditch. But what we've got to do about it is to work our way out of it. It will take some time," he said on the deficit question.
No one asked, but Edwards also defended himself against fresh claims by Vice President Dick Cheney that the Democrats' opposition to legislation limiting jury awards for medical malpractice contributes to rising health care costs.
Edwards, who earned millions as a personal injury attorney before becoming a senator, said Cheney was "dead wrong."
Edwards said he and Kerry have a plan to keep cases out of the legal system that don't belong, and to decrease the cost of health care by reducing malpractice costs for doctors.
"Senator Kerry and I are going to stand with families and kids as we always have ... instead of being on the side of insurance companies and big drug companies, which is unfortunately where they (Bush and Cheney) are," he said.
Edwards also netted $1 million at a luncheon, bringing to $4.2 million the amount he has collected since he began campaigning alone last Wednesday. Kerry began his "Front Porch Tour" last week in the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne, Pa., while Edwards started in a middle-class New Orleans neighborhood.
Cagey is this the actual AP headline?
They must have realised that Kerry is better when he keeps his mouth shut! ;-)
Yup! That's the headline on the link :-)
It is!!
Edwards would chase his own ambulance.
And this plan is...?
Seems to be. I can't afford the $100 dollar headline changing fine so I stay away from that kind of stuff.
DemocRATS tend to do on their front porch what others do in their bedrooms.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1131&slug=Front%20Porch%20Politics
Yeah....
Front porch events?
I am laughing so hard I can hardly type! These boys are brilliant! I guess next we will see Kerry and Edwards sitting on the "spit and whittle bench" outside a barbershop somewhere in the rural south.
Come to think of it, that might be a good thing. I grew up in a small southern town, and most of what I learned that is worth knowing came from listening to those old-timers on that bench.
What a great description. :=)
Fox just showed Edwards on this tour....he was standing on an actual front porch.....hilarious.
That's just sick. Who'd rebuild a transmission on the front porch? All that dirt blowing into the bearings...(shudder). /foxworthy
LOL.....Damn, that's good friend. Being a son of the south you just got to take that to a good joke. Let me try!
Billy Bob comes by Bubba's house after Bubba's accident (fell down dead drunk on the floor, down there at the Foxxy Box tavern and mashed in his face). Billy Bob says to Bubba, "how you doin' ole Bubba"? Bubba replies, "I got me a goooood Lawwyer, and I'm gonna own that place, so HE says"! "Well, who's ya lawwyer"? Asks Billy Bob. Ole Bubba proudly pronounces, "Roy Gene Butts, from up in Lubbock". "Is ole Roy Gene any goood"?, asks Billy Bob. Bubba leans over and looks Billy Bob straight in the eye and says, "He's so damn good that he can chase his own ambulance"!
I like it!
"He's so damn good that he can chase his own ambulance"!
Al Gore, Carthage, Tn.; went over there, couldn't find the barber shop, little diner had closed, Al bought $1+M house in Belle Meade, left mama Pauline at the old place, gives a few speeches (teaches) at local colleges and mostly stays off the porch, Dems don't want anything to do with him right now, Bush still on schedule to sweep Tn.
Good job!
Good. Now maybe he'll shut up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.