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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
John Kerry, regular guy
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
 |  John Kerry and President Bush are working hard to lock in the swing votes needed for an Election Day win. |
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 VIDEO |
 CNN's Bill Schneider on the Big Three showdown states.
 CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Iraq and Pat Robertson's comments.
 CNN's Bruce Morton on scare tactics used by all the candidates.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Meet John Kerry, regular guy. Just a baseball watchin', beer drinkin', geese huntin', gun totin', stem cell research supportin' guy. That's who we'll see today in Ohio, the jackpot battleground of regular guys.
President Bush, meanwhile, is hunting for Catholic votes today in a trip to Pennsylvania, where he's expected to emphasize his opposition to gay marriage and meet with the archbishop of Philadelphia. He's making his 40th trip to the state today, which we should note is the same number of times he's traveled to Crawford, Texas, during his presidency. (He usually stays in Crawford longer, however, as Bush rarely overnights in the Keystone State.) (Showdown state Pennsylvania)
The candidates are covering the same ground these days, just in a different order. Bush was in Minnesota and Wisconsin yesterday; he goes to Pennsylvania today and Ohio tomorrow. Kerry was in Pennsylvania yesterday. From Ohio today, he goes onto Minnesota and Wisconsin. (CNN.com's Candidate Tracker)
So, we got a glimpse of Kerry as regular guy last night when reporters were brought into his hotel room in Boardman, Ohio, as the Red Sox opened up a lead that would take them to the World Series. Kerry, baseball cap and beer nearby, was asked inevitably if there were any metaphors to his campaign. "We're just playing ball here tonight, but I like it. I like what I'm seeing," he said. "This a big deal."
This morning, we'll see Kerry hunting geese on a supporter's private property outside Youngstown, part of his ongoing bid to reach that vast group of gun voters who abandoned Al Gore four years ago. But of course, not all gun-rights supporters are convinced. The National Rifle Association will greet Kerry in Youngstown today with a full-page ad in The Vindicator newspaper that reads, "If John Kerry thinks the Second Amendment is about photo ops, he's daffy." (Kerry targets Ohio geese, voters)
The NRA also unleashes TV spots in several battleground states (Ohio and Wisconsin included) claiming, "John Kerry wants you to think he supports the Second Amendment. But the cold hard facts don't lie. Over and over again, John Kerry has supported new taxes, new restrictions, even outright bans on millions of popular rifles and shotguns." One of the spots includes a 1993 comment Kerry made on CNN's "Late Edition": "I think you ought to tax all ammunition more, personally. I think you ought to tax guns." (Special report: Campaign ad buys)
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and chief lobbyist Chris Cox will hold a 10:30 a.m. ET press conference in Youngstown.
Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said last night that voters need to "get a better sense of John Kerry, the guy," so they'll be seeing him do the things he loves doing. Does that include windsurfing? "It's too cold this time of year," McCurry said, smiling. Not in Florida, it's not.
This afternoon in Columbus, Kerry will change back into a suit, we presume, and deliver another button-down speech on stem cell research, science and technology. He'll be introduced here by the late Christopher Reeve's widow, Dana. Camp Kerry said Dana Reeve approached the candidate about making what likely will be her only campaign appearance.
Talking to reporters, who never tire of offering their own political advice, McCurry was pressed last night on whether speeches are strategically wise at this point in the campaign. Shouldn't Kerry be doing rallies and motivating the base? McCurry said the press will be focused solely on polls next week, at which point Kerry will try to reach voters who are just tuning in. The campaign wants to make sure Kerry conveys his "vision" of what his presidency would look like, and it thinks these speeches are the way to achieve that, McCurry said.
(OK, Mike, you're the boss. And it may just be us, but the closing days of this race are starting to look a lot like the last week of the California recall campaign, where Arnold Schwarzenegger, sleeves rolled up, held brightly lit, rowdy rallies while Gray Davis wore dark suits and whispered to schoolchildren in dark auditoriums. Not for nothing, but Davis lost. Badly.)
Smaller spats
Meanwhile, both camps are downplaying mini-stirs that sprang to life yesterday, both of which are of particular interest to traditional conservatives: Bush vs. Pat Robertson and Teresa Heinz Kerry vs. Laura Bush. It's unclear, at this early hour, how much staying power either spat will have.
Bush-Cheney denied claims Robertson made Tuesday on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" that the president told him in early 2003, shortly before going to war in Iraq, that he foresaw no casualties. "I don't believe that happened. [Robertson] must have misunderstood or misheard it," senior campaign adviser Karen Hughes told Judy Woodruff on CNN's "Inside Politics." White House spokesman Scott McClellan was even more blunt. "Of course, the president never made such a comment," he said. Camp Kerry countered that Bush aides are essentially calling Robertson, a darling of religious conservatives, a liar.
Meanwhile, Kerry aides worked to quash the latest Teresa flap over her comments in a USA Today interview that Laura Bush has never held a "real job." Teresa Kerry released a statement yesterday saying she had forgotten about the first lady's 10-year stint as a schoolteacher and librarian. Bush-Cheney pounced, saying her apology suggests that Kerry doesn't think that being a mother is a "real job." Teresa yesterday tried calling Laura to apologize. But the first lady, whose aides say has taken no offense, was not available.
(We know this is yesterday's news. But we want to make sure you're caught up in case we're still talking about these two imbroglios today. Don't think that's possible? Hey, some people were still hashing through Mary Cheney yesterday, a full week later.)
In print
Also today, we're skimming the Rolling Stone interview with Kerry, conducted in Colorado before the second debate. (Kerry didn't drop an f-bomb this time, but interviewer/friend Jann Wenner did.) Here are a few nuggets:
Kerry said he would get rid of the color-coded, terror-alert system. "Americans, sadly, laugh at it. They don't know what to do," he said. "I'm going to find some more thoughtful way of alerting America."
He said he's "deeply concerned about the potential of another attack." Asked if it seemed the threat levels got raised at key moments during the campaign, Kerry said, "Yeah," but then added, "But you know what? I'm not going to question motives."
On the swift boat ads, Kerry said, "I was surprised that the media, even when they knew it was lies, continued to cover it and treat it as entertainment."
On questions about Republican criticism of his windsurfing, he said, "It shows how pathetic and diversionary they are." When Wenner asked if he said f--- it when people questioned him wearing the windsurfing outfits, Kerry responded, "You're damn right. I said, 'I'm going to be who I am.' I think people care about authenticity."
The senator's favorite album is "Abbey Road," and he thinks "The Deer Hunter" is the most powerful movie about Vietnam.
