KRT CampusLess than 24 hours after the New Hampshire primary ended in a resounding victory for John Kerry, many of the Democratic presidential candidates have turned their attention to a new prize: Missouri and its 88 delegates.
Kerry, John Edwards and Al Sharpton all made stops in St. Louis on Wednesday, with most of the other candidates expected to visit the Show Me State before next Tuesday’s primary. Among those is Howard Dean, who will appear at the Missouri History Museum around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.
The Missouri primary is one of seven primaries and two caucuses being held next Tuesday and has the most delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention of any of the Feb. 3 contests. Initially, the Missouri race was widely ignored because most analysts expected Dick Gephardt to win his home state. Gephardt’s withdrawal from the race after his fourth place finish in the Iowa caucuses has made the contest much more wide open.
The front-runner
In a quick one-liner, Kerry, fresh off his second upset victory in two weeks, summarized the mantra of all the Democratic candidates while also showing his ability to connect with the voters of Missouri: “This is the Show Me State, and we’re here to show George Bush the door!” As with most of his speech, delivered on Wednesday at Forest Park Community College, this declaration was met with a roar from the capacity crowd.
Standing before an oversized American flag, Kerry reiterated the familiar themes of his candidacy. He spoke about the need for affordable prescription drugs, blasted President Bush for changing clean air and water standards, and pledged to reform the No Child Left Behind Act.
Kerry spoke extensively about the steps he would take during the first 100 days of his administration, promising to ask the United Nations for help in Iraq and to issue an executive order barring government employees from working as lobbyists for five years after they leave the public sector.
David Eisenberg, a Washington University senior, said that Kerry’s speech on Wednesday had its intended effect, as he went from “leaning towards Kerry” to “definitely Kerry.”
“I thought he had a real presence about him, and he was a very good speaker. I felt like he could beat Bush,” said Eisenberg.
For Pam Bookbinder, a sophomore, seeing Kerry in person had the opposite effect.
“He was not as charismatic as I thought he would be. He sounded very scripted and uptight, and it sounded like the same speech he gives everywhere,” said Bookbinder, who plans to vote for Howard Dean on Tuesday. “Kerry just didn’t hit it for me.”
Bookbinder and senior Danny Kohn were both nonplussed by the announcement at Wednesday’s rally that former Senators Jean Carnahan and Thomas Eagleton were endorsing Kerry.
“It’s exciting that everyone’s coming to Missouri now that Congressman Gephardt has dropped out, and it seems like Kerry is doing the best job to get the Missouri politicians to come behind him,” said Kohn. “But to me, endorsements don’t seem to mean much, especially when you consider how many Dean got and where he is now.”
The Southerner
An hour after his scheduled arrival time on Wednesday night, Edwards stepped from a black SUV onto Delmar to greet the large crowd waiting to hear him speak at Blueberry Hill. Members of Edwards’ campaign staff estimated that in addition to the 300 people crowded in the downstairs Duck Room, 500 waited upstairs, with another 1,000 on the street. Edwards briefly addressed the crowd on Delmar using the microphone from a nearby police van before heading downstairs. His speech was broadcast throughout Blueberry Hill and onto the street.
Missouri Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, who endorsed Edwards after Gephardt dropped out of the race, introduced the presidential candidate. Edwards took the stage to cheers, which grew louder when he expressed his admiration for Gephardt, whom he called “one of the finest human beings I have ever known.”
“There are two Americas,” Edwards began. “People who can afford health care and those who can’t.” The dichotomy between the haves and the have-nots became the theme for Edward’s speech, in which he also juxtaposed “two economies”-the economy of those who are financially secure and that of those who are not-and “two governments” -one made up of political insiders working for interest groups, and the other made up of “anything left.”
Edwards moved on to discuss his memories of growing up in Georgia with “whites only” signs, speaking of his sixth grade teacher, who refused to teach in an integrated school, explaining that this impacted his view of civil rights. “This is not an African-American issue,” Edwards noted, “This is an American issue.”
Throughout his speech Edwards spoke of the political pundits on TV and mentioned the strategy involved in picking a candidate who has the potential to beat President Bush. One of the strengths of his campaign, Edwards claimed, is that he can beat Bush everywhere, even in the Republican-dominated South. “The South is not George Bush’s backyard-it is my backyard, and I will beat Bush in my backyard,” he asserted, jokingly attributing his ability to win Southern votes to his North Carolina accent.
Junior Katie Koecheler, who was unable to get into Blue Hill due to the 21-and-up age restriction imposed at night, listened to Edwards from the street. “Well, he’s done really well in the past two weeks, and if he continues to do well in the coming primaries, especially those in the South, I think he has the potential to win the nomination,” she said.
The Reverend
Sharpton also appeared in St. Louis on Wednesday, beginning his day at the University of Missouri at St. Louis and ending it at the Gateway Classic Center. Sharpton was in St. Louis back in August to protest the MetroLink’s tenth anniversary. Sharpton claimed at the time that Metro, which operates MetroLink, had not hired enough minority contractors to work on the MetroLink extensions.
additional reporting by Justin Choi