Stories go with pictures. During the campaign, John Kerry did in fact reach out to the regular person. I myself saw him in the "Field of Dreams" and actually show up in one of the pictures near him. (lol) Indeed, I remember the star baseball quality our dear John had when he surely was the MVP! I also remember the cheers and the shouts of "You go, Senator Kerry" that made me chuckle. I also would like to thank the secret service who directed me and my daughter to a small parking lot when we arrived, but then refused to let us leave until 2 hours after John Kerry had left!
And so, I'm asking that everyone share their stories or newspaper clippings here, so we remember the things he did that were not fully appreciated or known by the general public.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/aug04/248581.asp Kerry sips a beer, foams over job losses
Small-town stops follow Beloit talk
By CRAIG GILBERT
cgilbert@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 3, 2004
Monroe - On a trip that paid due homage to two local symbols - beer and cheese - John Kerry's cross-country caravan rolled through southern Wisconsin on Tuesday, with the Democrat promising to mend what he called the state's "hard-hit" economy and telling voters, "We're going to put money in your pocket."
After a town hall meeting in Beloit, Kerry made five unannounced stops en route to Iowa, from a sleepy street corner in Gratiot (pop. 252) to a brewery and a combination cheese store and bar in Monroe.
Some of those communities had last seen a presidential candidate 44 years ago, when John Kennedy campaigned across the state's rural southwest corner.
The last of Kerry's Wisconsin stops was tiny Cuba City, where President Bush's bus caravan passed through in May without halting, to the disappointment of some residents.
In an apparent display of one-upmanship, the Kerry campaign came to a complete stop in Cuba City, the self-styled "city of presidents." Its main street is adorned with shields and silhouettes honoring all 43 occupants of the White House.
Tuesday was the fifth day of Kerry's two-week, coast-to-coast march, and hotly contested Wisconsin was the eighth of 18 battleground states on the itinerary.
At his main event, the Massachusetts senator spent 20 minutes talking and 40 minutes answering questions before a crowd of 1,700 supporters in Beloit. Speaking before him were U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, both Wisconsin Democrats.
'We can do better'
Kerry's big themes were the economy, the deficit and health care. He said his plans to provide health care coverage, increase college aid and boost manufacturing would improve the fortunes of middle-class families.
"The gap between haves and have-nots is getting wider. Not in my America," Kerry said.
With its net job losses under Bush, but a recent job rebound more robust than that of many other states, Wisconsin offers ammunition to both sides in the economic debate.
This is how Kerry described the state's condition at his town hall meeting in Beloit's Edwards Pavilion:
"Wisconsin has been hard-hit, like a lot of states in the Midwest and the rest of America. Your unemployment rate is up about 31 percent since 2001. It's not outrageous in its overall numbers, but it's meaningful to the people who have suffered. You've lost 72,000 manufacturing jobs, and you've lost jobs - net negative job loss in this state. Look, I'm not here to bad-mouth, but I tell you we can do better."
Kerry aides said later that he was referring to the increase in manufacturing unemployment in the Beloit area, which has had some of the highest jobless numbers in the state.
The region lost 13% of its manufacturing jobs from the beginning of 2001 to June of this year. The state has lost about 69,000 manufacturing jobs since January 2001.
But more recently, it has begun to regain some jobs. Among the 18 or 19 most-contested states in this election, Wisconsin is the most reliant on manufacturing. And during 2004, it has added more manufacturing jobs (13,100) than any other contested state, and added them at a higher rate.
"Kerry will talk down America's growing economy during his visit to Wisconsin," Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement for the Bush campaign.
Ryan said Kerry's plan to roll back Bush's tax cuts in the case of high-income Americans would burden small businesses and "derail the economic recovery that has created nearly 59,000 Wisconsin jobs this year."
Kerry assailed Bush's record on budget deficits and said that "as president, I'm not going to be responsible for piling debt on our children's heads."
Kerry began his day in Milwaukee with a bike ride, leaving from the Hilton escorted by two Secret Service bikers, two Secret Service SUVs, police on motorcycles and police cars.
Beer and cheese
After the Beloit event, Kerry's day was filled with the kind of Wisconsin backdrops one would expect from a presidential visit. In fact, Kerry did one thing for the cameras that you won't see his opponent do: He drank beer, and Bush stopped drinking years ago.
On a visit to the Joseph Huber Brewing Co. in Monroe, Kerry sipped a richly hued Berghoff Famous Red Ale, and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, sampled a lighter Solstice Wit Bier.
Moments earlier, the two stopped at Baumgartner's bar and cheese store in Monroe, a visit prompted by Teresa Heinz Kerry's enthusiasm for what she called "stinky cheese." She ordered a Limburger sandwich with raw onions and mustard on rye, and a pound of Limburger to go.
In the bar, Kerry chatted with patrons, signs overhead proclaiming, "Limburger, Don't Eat It With Your Nose." Maps of Switzerland and Wisconsin decorated another wall.
"I heard you were here, and I run right down," Peggy Miller of Monroe told Kerry.
Talking to a reporter, Miller recalled Kennedy's 1960 visit. "I was there, serving doughnuts and coffee," she said.
After Monroe (Green County), Kerry made unannounced stops in Gratiot, Shullsburg and Benton (Lafayette County) and Cuba City (Grant County), before speaking at a rally that drew thousands in Dubuque, Iowa.
Attention to region
Like Monroe, Shullsburg had its last personal taste of presidential campaign pomp in 1960, when Kennedy spoke at a theater.
Green, Lafayette and Grant counties voted for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, part of a Democratic tilt in southwestern Wisconsin that Republicans believe contributed to Bush's narrow defeat statewide.
As a result of that - and the proximity of swing states Iowa and Minnesota - both sides have given extraordinary attention to Wisconsin's sparsely populated southwestern corner. This was Kerry's second bus ride through Grant County in a month, with both trips taking him to Dubuque.
In Cuba City, Joe Goeman urged Kerry to come back "when he is president" to sign a shield for the city's presidential display.
"Don't forget," Goeman said.
Kerry told him, "It may be the party of the donkey, but I have a memory like an elephant."