Back to the Front

摘要

It was pitch dark and zero degrees outside, and the driver had dimmed the fluorescent lights in Sen. John Kerry's "Real Deal Express" for the long ride across New Hampshire from Claremont back to Manchester. The campaign day had been a good one, as, indeed, they all had been since Iowa, where months of dogged work―patiently answering hour upon hour of questions from voters in town halls, learning to speak in the crisp cadences of the campaign trail, not in Senatese―had paid off in a come-from-behind victory. But the gloom in the bus reflected Kerry's mood, which was subdued, almost grim, as he jabbed at the soggy remnants of a salad and contemplated what could be a grueling, lengthy contest for the Democratic nomination. A year ago the pundits had christened him the front runner; instead, Howard Dean had blogged his way into the role. Then, in Iowa, Dean had collapsed, and added to his woes with a primal scream of a concession speech. Now, post Iowa, Kerry had roared to the lead in the New Hampshire tracking polls, but the results were by. nor means set. Dr. Dean, performing emergency surgery on his campaign, calmed his delivery and advertised his unassuming wife in an effort to show that he was a regular fellow; Sen. John Edwards, a trial lawyer, addressed the jury of voters in his earnest, po' boy style. Anything could happen, Kerry said; he had to work―harder. "I don't believe in numbers," he said. In Vietnam, many years ago, he had learned to live with the fact that an invisible sharpshooter on a riverbank could kill him in an instant. "I learned to tough it out," he said.