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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
'What is news if you have great pictures?'
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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VIDEO |
 CNN's John Mercurio on Kerry's speech to come.
 John Edwards says Kerry will bring optimism to Americans.
 The Rev. Al Sharpton's rousing speech.
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| MAKING THEIR CASE |  Day Four: Thursday
• Theme: "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World"
• 4 p.m. ET: Session opens
• 7-9:45 p.m. ET: Speakers include Madeleine Albright, Joe Biden, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, Nancy Pelosi and Carole King performing "You've Got a Friend"
• 9:45 p.m. ET: Family members of John Kerry speak -- Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry, Chris and Andre Heinz
• 10 p.m. ET: Veterans of Kerry's crew in Vietnam speak, followed by Sen. Max Cleland's introduction of Kerry
• 10:30 p.m. ET: John Kerry delivers his address in acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination
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BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- We get our first glimpse this morning of the nine-minute biopic they'll formally unveil before John Kerry speaks tonight, yet another scripted image that Camp Kerry doles out to news-starved networks looking for love.
If yesterday's Harbor-palooza was any indication, we'll lap it up and beg for more. Indeed, since that dewy morning this month when Kerry and Edwards strode across the Fox Chapel estate to announce their new ticket, adorable families in tow, Cahill/Cutter has played us media types masterfully.
"What is news if you have great pictures?" message maven Stephanie Cutter quipped yesterday in an e-mail reply to the Grind's congrats on the trifecta cable coverage of Kerry's hometown arrival.
"It may not be a good day for you press guys, but it's a great day for America," another Kerry wag offered, almost seriously.
With that in mind, we're betting that Kerry's 10 p.m. ET acceptance speech tonight at the FleetCenter focuses heavily on personal connections and avoids big news or new themes. Just a hunch.
Called "A Remarkable Promise," the film spans Kerry's entire life, from his birth at an army hospital in Colorado to his service in Vietnam to his Senate career. Per a Kerry news release, it also features family, friends and folks talking about the "courage" he has shown as a soldier and a veteran, the "fights" he has waged for "middle-class values" and the "faith" in family he has exhibited as a father and husband.
Kerry, who recently complained that he's tired of the word "presumptive," must have rejoiced at 11:37 p.m. ET last night, when Ohio's John Glenn formally provided the delegates Kerry needs to erase that word from his moniker.
The roll call went smoothly, as Kerry aides had expected. (Except perhaps for Nevada, which cast its 32 votes for John Fitzgerald Kerry as opposed to John Forbes Kerry.)
When he arrives to speak tonight, aides say, Kerry will approach the podium's center stage by walking on the convention floor. He will enter stage right.
Walking through the portal by the California and Nevada delegations. For his part, the presump .... er, the nominee didn't show his face at the FleetCenter last night. He remained in Louisburg Square visited by friends and well-wishers like Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean and Rob Reiner. Aides say it was nothing formal or organized ... just friends dropping by.
Kerry was expected to do a run-through at the FleetCenter at 10 a.m. ET, but that plan was all but scrapped early this morning.
Republicans respond, Teresa makes friends
Last night's most fiery speech came from (no surprise here) Al Sharpton. Did Sharpton blow through the speech vetting process? We don't know for sure, but CNN's Candy Crowley notes that the TelePrompTer operator lost Sharpton a few minutes into his performance and never caught back up.
Republicans (no surprise here, either) are seizing on Sharpton's speech this morning, targeting his claim that Clarence Thomas would never have gone to college if George Bush had been president when he was in school.
But the real GOP boogeyman this week remains Michael Moore, who the RNC's Jim Dyke yesterday compared to former KKK grand wizard David Duke. "What if we had David Duke sitting in the skybox with 41 and Barbara Bush?" he asked.
"We'd never hear the end of it, but that's basically the same as what happened" on Monday when Moore sat with Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter in Carter's skybox, Dyke said.
Meanwhile, Day Four of Kerry's "extreme makeover" begins in GOP quarters. RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie holds a 10:30 a.m. press conference, where he'll be joined by Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. Bill Weld, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy and Texas Sen. John Cornyn.
Also today, Republicrat Zell Miller will host a 3 p.m. conference call, joined by Ohio state Rep. Derrick Seaver, Democrats for Bush Charter Member Brian Lunde and other members of the Democrats for Bush leadership team.
The week has been good for Kerry's coffers. Camp Kerry told us last night around 11:45 p.m. ET that they raised $2.9 million yesterday on the Internet. They planned to surpass $3 million by sundown out west.
The Boston Grind wouldn't be complete today without some sort of tribute to Teresa, whose convention speech is drawing thumbs-down reviews but who made plenty of friends at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transexual Caucus yesterday.
Telling the story of a man who at a fund-raiser told her "I'd like you to be my mother", she told the group, "If nothing else, you will have a mom in the White House who loves you." As the crowd gave her a standing ovation, she said "You can call me Mama T anytime." as she finished the speech, the group chanted "Mama T."
Celebs for Kerry
And finally this morning, some highlights from the week's hottest party, thrown by the Creative Coalition and the Recording Industry of America, which the Grind somehow finagled itself into last night. (Don't ask how).
Celebs-a-plenty walked the red/orange carpet well before Edwards' speech began -- including Billy Baldwin, Alyssa Milano, Ellen Burstyn and Wendie Malick.
They mingled with more than a few senators, governors and beautiful people in the VIP quarters of Louis Boston, while the unwashed masses slothed about in a tented patio, noshing on lime cotton candy and Maker's Mark whiskey.
While the Red Hot Chili Peppers lit up the house, more than a few die-hards gathered in the backroom of the patio, straining to hear the VP nominee's speech on a flat-screen TV.
"Only one in every four people under 35 voted in the last election and Gore still won," actor Jason Bateman (remember him?) told CNN's Jason Morrell. "So if we get more young people to vote, we can get the landslide we deserve and we could really reap the benefits of what John Kerry stands for."
"I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and I think this is the most important election in my lifetime," said Baldwin, wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt.
Kerry may be the nominee, but all the rich-and-famous were still buzzing about Barack Obama, who Jerry Stiller said "related to the people from his heart." Actor Alan Cumming said Obama was "absolutely amazing, an incredible speaker and a real visionary."
Burstyn said she thought Obama was "just incredible. I look forward to seeing his career unfold."
