WHO IS KERRY EDWARDS?:

Dems ask: Where's Edwards? (Carla Marinucci, Zachary Coile, September 16, 2004, SF Chronicle)

Vice President Dick Cheney -- the usually stern GOP bulldog candidate -- was in good humor this week, ribbing his Democratic counterpart's low-key style and profile on the campaign trail.

"I'm mindful that I now have an opponent,'' he told supporters at an Arkansas cotton warehouse Tuesday. When the crowd giggled, Cheney mugged, "No, I really do.''

The laugh line is no laughing matter to many Democrats...

Here's another good test of the professionalism of the Kerry campaign. The biggest mistake--of many--that they made with the Senator was to assume that America knew who he was. A junior Senator from the NorthEast with no legislative achievements to his credit and no competition for his party's nomination, he finished the campaign season with higher support than name recognition. This gave the Bush camp the opportunity to define him in their terms.

Mr. Edwards has, if possible, even less of a public identity. For him to go on the attack now, without having first established a positive image, would be disastrous. Unfortunately, the campaign doesn't have the time or money to spend on convincing voters that there's a there there. They need to just accept that they whiffed the vp pick.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 16, 2004 2:18 PM