Salon: Ready for his close-up (John Edwards)

[kskiska]

Will youth and beauty triumph over old age and treachery? John Edwards faces off against Dick Cheney.

By Tim Grieve

CLEVELAND -- Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate is John Edwards' raison d'être as a John Kerry's running mate, and no one knows that better that John Edwards himself. After wrapping up a rally in Erie, Penn., Friday evening, the enthusiastic and ever-present campaigner disappeared into debate preparations in Chautauqua, N.Y., emerging just long enough for a photo op among the pumpkins at a nearby roadside produce stand. Asked about debate preparations, Edwards said four words: "Goin' fine, workin' hard."

It's hard to argue with him. After a long, slow slide, the Kerry-Edwards ticket has finally regained the momentum, if not the upper hand, in the presidential campaign. John Kerry dominated George W. Bush in their first debate Thursday night, and the candidates' performances -- Kerry's calm and confident, Bush's stammering and scowling -- have instantly changed the face of the race. The latest New York Times/CBS and CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls have the race tied or nearly so among registered voters. The Washington Post/ABC poll has Bush up by five; Newsweek has Kerry up by two.

The vice-presidential debate was always going to be important; now it's only more so. The Republicans need to stop the bleeding; the Democrats have to hope that the Cheney-Edwards faceoff doesn't kill their momentum. Pretty John Edwards needs to show he's more than the Breck Boy; dour Dick Cheney needs to show that the Republicans offer more than annoyance and fear. For the moment, at least, Democrats think they've got the better of the deal: You know you're in trouble, Kerry advisor Joe Lockhart said Monday, when you've got to ask Dick Cheney to "cheer up" the voters.

Republicans are taking an "ignore the elephant in the room" approach. Karl Rove is still trying to salvage Bush's debate demeanor as "pensive." That deer-in-the-headlights look? It was Bush "pausing" for emphasis. Other Bush advisors are arguing that the debate really didn't make a difference. On a conference call with reporters Monday, Bush-Cheney strategist Matthew Dowd said he always expected the race to be closer than the pre-debate polls would have suggested. "This race trades in a very, very, very tight margin," Dowd said. As for Kerry's sudden upward movement, Dowd said: "We don't dance in the end zone, and we don't cry in our beer."

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/05/edwards/index.html