Facing the biggest day of voting in this year’s primary season on Tuesday, Democrats have largely settled on their message for the 2004 presidential election. Now they must settle on the messenger.Democrats have narrowed their choices to two candidates Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and John Kerry of Massachusetts who share similar approaches to major issues, including marriage for same-sex couples, health care, taxes, and the war in Iraq.
But the two have very different life stories and ways of selling the Democratic agenda. And how voters perceive those differences may decide who wins.
To Elizabeth Brus, 22, a student who attended an Edwards rally this week at Columbia University in New York, the big contrast between the two is in their personalities. “Maybe it shouldn’t be so important,” Brus said, “but it is.”
New York is one of 10 states that vote Tuesday, along with California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Combined, they’ll award 1,151 delegates, half the 2,162 needed to secure the nomination.
Kerry leads in all states voting Tuesday where public polling has been conducted. A big win would confirm his status as the presumptive nominee. He has already won 18 of 20 contests.
Edwards, who has won one primary, in his native South Carolina, is hoping for victories in Georgia, Minnesota, Maryland and Ohio, and strong finishes in California and New York. He said that would allow him to continue until March 9, when he would try to sweep a string of Southern primaries, in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Whichever candidate wins, voters in the District of Columbia and the 19 states that already have voted have framed the Democratic Party’s approach on major issues. They rejected or marginalized candidates who wanted to repeal all the tax cuts enacted since 2001; who urged government takeover of health care; who wanted nationwide approval of same-sex marriage, or who either consistently supported or opposed the Iraq war.
By comparison:
Edwards and Kerry oppose marriage for gay and lesbian couples and say states should have the right to allow or ban it.
Both want to expand health care for the uninsured but would leave the existing network of private insurance in place.
Both want to raise taxes for those who make more than $200,000 a year by repealing the tax reductions that benefit them, while retaining tax cuts for lower and middle income people.
Both voted to authorize war in Iraq, but both now say President Bush waged the war in a dangerous way.
Edwards and Kerry do differ slightly on trade. Kerry voted for the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Edwards, who wasn’t in the Senate at the time, says he opposed it. Both want to add labor and environmental protections to future trade pacts, and neither would cancel NAFTA, as rival Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich has urged.
The major difference, however, is in their biographies and styles.
Kerry, 60, is a veteran of 35 years in public life, from his days as a decorated naval officer in Vietnam through 19 years in the Senate. His experience enables him to speak easily about national issues, particularly foreign and military affairs, while also providing a voting record for rivals to criticize.
Born to wealth and privilege and schooled in Senate debate, Kerry can appear aloof, and is prone to long, jargon-filled answers that seem to be aimed more at Washington insiders than everyday Americans.
Edwards, 50, was elected to the Senate in 1998. Short on experience in national affairs, he tells voters he’s free from the taint of a D.C. culture of special interests, but he also seldom tries to match Kerry in detailed discussions of foreign or military affairs.
In his speeches, Edwards employs the plain talk and upbeat persona that helped make him a successful trial lawyer. He comes from humble roots in South Carolina, the personal attribute he advertises most.