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Get Four
|  | JANUARY 27, 2004
By Richard S. Dunham Telling Tidbits from New Hampshire Edwards on voter bluntness, two Kennedys unite behind Kerry, Clark's rookie mistakes, and Dean's funny bone It's a line that always gets an appreciative laugh. "The people of New Hampshire are very blunt," North Carolina Senator John Edwards says at every campaign stop in the Granite State. "They will tell you what's on their minds." Flinty New Englanders love it. But I wonder if New Hampshire voters would be amused if they knew that the candidate used the same line in Iowa. "The people of Iowa are very blunt," he said, invariably to audience chuckles. We'll soon see if South Carolina voters are very blunt. *************************** The Kennedy family feud is over. Papa Teddy Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts and son Patrick had lined up in opposing Presidential camps: Ted was for fellow Bay Stater John Kerry, and the Rhode Island congressman supported his fellow House member, Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri. But after Gephardt's withdrawal from the race on Jan. 20, the younger Kennedy switched to Kerry. Patrick was rewarded with a speaking spot at a Kerry rally in Nashua on Jan. 25. What did father think of son's performance? "All right," Ted said. "Not bad." *************************** The candidates made no huge gaffes in New Hampshire, but they did spout some wince-inducing rhetoric, mostly from the flailing campaign of retired General Wesley Clark. On Jan. 26, he declared, "I paid my way through college." He must have forgotten that West Point cadets don't pay tuition. He also insisted that he was the only candidate in the field who grew up in poverty. Well, Clark did come from humble surroundings, but so did Edwards, the son of a mill worker, and gadfly Representative Dennis Kucinich. Clark, a first-time candidate, repeatedly has shown rhetorical weakness under pressure. At a Jan. 24 Democratic Party fund-raiser, the general shocked the big givers by declaring, "We Democrats have got to take out that President." Oh dear. Who so many rookie mistakes? As Clark noted at a Jan. 24 pancake breakfast in Auburn, "I'm not a professional politician. I've never practiced doing this stuff." That's for sure. *************************** Written off by pundits after his "I have a scream" moment in Iowa, Howard Dean has rebounded in the final days of the New Hampshire contest by displaying a sense of humor. He has appeared on David Letterman's late-night show as well as on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on cable's Comedy Central poking fun at himself. He also tried the self-deprecating shtick on the campaign trail. "Thank you for the applause. It makes me so happy I could just scream," he quietly told a Nashua crowd on Jan. 26. The audience roared its approval. "We'll scream for you," yelled one man. "We're angry, we're angry," yelled another. Retorted the subdued Dean: "This campaign is about hope, not anger." Later, the happy, happy candidate broke into a big smile when his audience joined him in listing the countries that guarantee their citizens health care. "All right, you wise guys," he told the voters, "some of you have heard the speech before. What's the next line?" The roaring response: "Costa Rica." The candidate was most amused. "Who says you can't have fun and run for President?" he asked. What a difference a week can make in politics.  Dunham is chief political correspondent for BusinessWeek Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
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