Kerry on the rope line finds a big weapon in small talk

[JoFerret]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/03/politics/campaign/03KERR.html?ex=1081573200&en=b67258d9b09d2db0&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

BOSTON, April 2 — The other night in San Francisco, Senator John Kerry spoke for 24 minutes to some 2,000 people who had paid $1,000 apiece to hear him. Then, as the crowd dispersed and the band packed up, he spoke for 28 minutes more with the few dozen who had made their way to the front rows.

He nodded at their whispered advice. He invited them to visit his Web site. He signed their programs and accepted their gifts, held their hands and squeezed their shoulders, stretched his ample wingspan three rows deep to touch outstretched fingers and bent his 6-foot-4 frame in half to put his face in front of a man in a wheelchair.

"Hey, brother," he said to another man, who was wearing a V.F.W. cap. "Congratulations," he offered to a woman who had just become engaged. Urged by someone else to remember Latinos, he replied, "I hear what you're saying, and it's not going to be forgotten."

Mr. Kerry, the all-but-nominated Democratic presidential candidate, has been criticized throughout his career for an aloof, inaccessible style on the stump, and his stemwinders are a constant worry for supporters of his White House bid. Yet he is proving adept at the more intimate political ritual of the rope line: the inevitable postspeech meet-and-greet over a rope placed as a security measure to keep the crowd from the candidate. It is a daily dance that has become a central, even dominant element of his schedule. In fact, he sometimes spends more time in that kind of chitchat than in delivering substantive speeches.
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[David Dunham]

1. Nice article.

[DAGDA56]

2. I've seen this happen....

...the problem is, how do we let the masses in on what are otherwise intimate moments...agreed, Kerry is fantastic one-on-one...maybe he should concentrate on the most intimate of media...RADIO.

[codegreen]

3. agreed! i listen to Kerry and i think of FDR, fireside chats!

[JI7]

4. yes, do some local talk radio and take questions from callers

not just an interview by the host, but take questions from callers. go to a bunch of cities around the country and do that.

[realdeal22k]

5. Nice puff piece from the NYT

At least the NYT is still on our side. We need to send thanks to the remaining left-leaning media we have left in our camp.

I'm thanking them now...

[PROGRESSIVE1]

6. Yes the NYT does run some pro-Bush junk but they have....

stayed with us on the left. Remember, they opposed the illegal Iraq War while the "Whorington Post" supported it blindly.

[Cocoa]

8. nothing like their Bush puff pieces

ever read anything by Elizabeth Bumiller? :puke:

[Democat]

9. The NY Times is not totally friendly to the left, they kiss right wing ass

The NY Times were one of the papers doing their best to destroy Bill Clinton, promoting just about every fake right wing scandal.

Something tells me we'll be reading a post about the "Democrat Party" soon.

[Gloria]

7. There's never been any doubt in my mind that Kerry is very good

with smaller groups. I saw right at the beginning of the campaign. So now the NY Times finally decides to write about it....LOL. Likewise, he's good at TV interviews...and handled O'Reilly so well that O'Reilly even deferred to him. He had a very commanding presence that even O'Reilly didn't dare mess with.

His speechifying is not so hot. I hope they get more small group stuff for the media to air, because it gives a much better impression than his formal speeches.

[masshole]

10. When I met Kerry

It was at one of those "Home Expo" trade shows back when he was running for re-election against Bill Weld. I was working a booth for my company that was adjacent to a booth a local radio station used. Kerry was scheduled to speak on the afternoon radio guy's show live, but he was running a late, aggravating the impatient host.
Why was he late? Because he entered the building on the opposite side, and stopped to talk to every single person that wanted to talk to him. He was anything but aloof. He reminded me a little of Clinton in the sense that Clinton was labeled a "touchy" person, that he would put his arm around someone as he shook their hand, etc. Kerry did the same. He never seemed to just be able to walk by and wave hello, he had to engage the speaker personally.

[coltman]

12. sure can't wait till we meet him. n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Clinton had that kind of one-on-one skill, too,

[MidwestTransplant]

14. Clinton had that skill with a large group...

he could make them individually feel that he was talking to them. Edwards has it to by all accounts.

[orwell]

13. Oh Well

I posted something about Kerry running this type of campaign with his television commercials-positive, spin-free, one on one, a man explaining his views against a plain blue backdrop.

Of course, everyone who commented on the post thought it was ridiculous. They all want negative, negative, kill, fight...

Why even try... :eyes:

O