Step Up to the Plate!

ST CHARLES, MO -- August 27, 2004 <p> -- After a week of defending his running mate's Vietnam record in battleground states across the country, Senator John Edwards today attempted to move his on-the-road focus to the Census Bureau news of job and healthcare loss for over a million Americans in the last year and what President Bush has to say about it.

But, some members of the Town Hall held in St. Charles, Missouri were not quite ready to let the Swiftboat issue die. Their interest is subtle evidence the negative effects on the Kerry campaign continue to resonate from Ohio to Missouri and Colorado. Last night in Golden, Colorado a member in the audience bluntly told Seantor Edwards, "Negative attacks work, what are you going to do?" Today, the same feeling flowed through angry democracts here in Missouri.

"I am sick to death of watching all these negative commercials from the republicans, all they do is attack, attack, attack," said one attendee who introduced himself as Howard. "And I know that you all want to run a positive campaign. But I know that they do have so much that we could attack. They are abysmal. I talk to my friends and they say, 'Why don't we go after these guys, they have done so many bad things to hurt us.' Can't we just go after them once in a while?"

Edwards' response may not be what people like Howard want to hear.

"First of all when they say something about John Kerry that is false, and they have been doing that, we have seen in these most recent ads, we will make sure the American people know it is false and what the truth is. But the problem is that when you have politicians yelling at each other they don't hear the voice of the American people around the country and the problems that they face. We don't want to be dragged into the gutter with these guys."

Gutter or not, the perceived silence is starting to irk many voters in the audience, some of whom are still undecided. Granted, Edwards issued a challenge to Bush to stop the ads. That challenge was never acknowledged by the President. And, Edwards dutifully reminded voters around the country of Kerry's "moment of truth" and his decision to serve his country. However, that still doesn't seem to be enough for voters like Howard.