US: Cleveland, Ohio was the first American city to get electricity, a historical footnote that gave Sen John Kerry an opportunity to turn a political metaphor when he introduced his running mate there yesterday as "a different kind of electricity called John Edwards," writes Conor O'Clery in Dayton, Ohio
It was a way of confirming to the crowd that he had chosen the North Carolina Senator as his vice-presidential candidate in order to recharge his campaign.
It has certainly done that, to judge from the enthusiastic reception the two millionaire Democrats got from crowds waving "Kerry-Edwards" placards in Cleveland and later in Dayton in south Ohio, the first stops in a four-day tour to launch their double act.
Ohio was chosen to start the tour because it could be the Florida of the 2004 campaign, the state that will decide the presidency. Dayton, where Kerry and Edwards got a huge reception, is "at the heart of the battleground county for the battleground" state, according to Montgomery County Democratic chairman Mr Dennis Lieberman.
No Republican in memory has made it to the White House without winning Ohio, which went narrowly to George W Bush after being abandoned by Al Gore in 2000, and this time the Democrats are determined not to make the same mistake.
With his rhetoric skills Senator Edwards's role yesterday was as warm-up act for an often aloof candidate. "We need a president who will lead the world, not bully it," said the 51-year-old senator as he introduced John Kerry as a man of "strength and vision".
Senator Kerry joked that the Democratic team outclassed the Bush-Cheney ticket. We've got better vision, better ideas, real plans," he said. "We've got a better sense of what's happening to America - and we've got better hair."
Indeed they have, and to emphasise their vitality and family values, the Kerry and Edwards families made a mass appearance - two couples plus seven of their combined eight children - at the Kerry family's suburban Pittsburgh estate before setting out for Cleveland.
The two, often chilly rivals in the primaries, held their wives' hands and laughed and chatted like lifelong friends as they walked across a field for the cameras, with their children in tow.
Mr Edwards never stopped grinning, and with his hand on the flaxen hair of his five-year-old son Jack, said - yet again - how honoured he was to serve his country.
The previous night the families had dined together for the first time since Mr Kerry invited Mr Edwards onto his ticket on Tuesday morning, and the Edwards children evidently made an impact of sorts. "Jack Edwards is taking over everything, he does a wild cannonball," said Senator Kerry, smiling gamely and quipping that he would make him campaign manager.
Republicans yesterday turned the inexperience and voting record of the boyish-looking Senator Edwards against him.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, President Bush dismissed Mr Edwards's credentials to be vice-president, curtly answering a question about the difference between Mr Edwards and Mr Dick Cheney with the retort: "Dick Cheney can be president. Next."
In Washington, House Speaker Mr Dennis Hastert said it was not a very balanced ticket. "Senator Kerry is the No 1 Liberal in the Senate and Senator Edwards is the No 4."
Still Mr Edwards's popularity extends beyond the Democratic Party. A CBS poll yesterday showed that 64 per cent of voters thought it was a good or excellent choice.
Yesterday the New York Daily Post corrected its erroneous exclusive cover story that Congressman Dick Gephardt was Kerry's pick. Mocking its headline from the day before, the Post read: "Kerry's choice: Dem picks Edwards as VP candidate (Really)." Underneath, it said "Not exclusive." The newspaper apologised to readers and said "Rest assured that generous helpings of crow were eaten here yesterday - and the leftovers will surely last a few more days."