Gingerly, Kerry plumbs politics of guyhood
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio --Bleary-eyed from watching the Red Sox past midnight and getting up before dawn to go goose hunting, John F. Kerry emerged from his armored sport-utility vehicle near midday yesterday, pumping his fist and pointing to his Sox cap -- which was in his hand, not on his head.
As the Democratic presidential nominee closes out his campaign for the White House, the baseball gods have presented some political analysts with a compelling story-line: Kerry's hometown team is competing for the World Series at the same time the Massachusetts senator is attempting to score his own underdog victory in the race for the White House.
''It's a great metaphor," said William Schneider, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and former instructor at Boston College. ''All Americans always root for the underdog. I'm not sure Kerry is one because the polls are so close right now, but he's been running behind, and he represents the outsider trying to beat the establishment."
At the same time, as exemplified by carrying instead of wearing his cap, Kerry and his aides are wrestling with how to take advantage of the confluence of events, and limit the risk in doing so.
A Red Sox defeat would align Kerry with a loser, while his appearance at the World Series could trigger a chorus of boos within the ballpark, as happened in August when he threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park. That is something the campaign wants to avoid next week during a slate of rallies to build momentum before Election Day, which falls two days after a Game 7 in the Series would be played, if it is necessary -- and not delayed by rain.
''I'm sure he's thinking about it; whether we're thinking about it is another question," Mike McCurry, one of Kerry's senior advisers, said Wednesday when asked whether Kerry will attend any games. ''It's hard to figure out how we could work that in."
The majority perspective, based on conversations with Kerry aides and political analysts, is that the sports story is generally good for the political campaign.
The Red Sox, which have a national following and sentimental support after not winning a World Series for 86 years, could have millions of non-Bay Staters rooting for them when the World Series kicks off at Fenway on Saturday night. That, in turn, would attract positive attention to Kerry, whose Massachusetts roots have been an object of derision by President Bush and his campaign. Already Kerry's crowds are dotted with Red Sox caps, even in places as distant as Arizona and New Mexico.
''It's historic. It's stunning, gutsy. Unbelievably gutsy team with a whole lot of heart," Kerry said of the Red Sox after their comeback victory this week against their archrival, the New York Yankees. ''They played with heart. It was beautiful to watch."
The team's success also occurs as Kerry's staff is admittedly trying to flesh out the image McCurry termed ''John Kerry, the guy." While Kerry's three debates against Bush have given the public a sense of him as a potential political leader, the campaign is trying present the Joe Sixpack side of a politician often seen as a Boston Brahmin.
For months Kerry's image has been an object of debate in political circles, as he has windsurfed off his Nantucket vacation home, snowboarded near his Ketchum, Idaho, retreat, and exercised on the $5,000 racing bicycle he totes along on his charter plane. Such high-end leisure is more emblematic of the jet set than the Blockbuster crowd, but the senator has refused to abandon it. He told Rolling Stone in a cover story this week that he has ignored aides who have given him that advice.
''You're damn right," he told the magazine's publisher, Jann S. Wenner. ''I said, 'I'm going to be who I am.' I think people care about authenticity."
That said, Kerry is engaging in tasks that, if not artificial, are not part of his usual routine.
On Wednesday night, the staff allowed photographers into Kerry's hotel room to take pictures of him watching the Sox-Yankees game. A bucket of Budweiser beer was on the coffee table in front of him. Bottles of Sam Adams lager were in a nearby kitchenette.
Yesterday morning, Kerry went hunting on a farm outside Boardman, Ohio. Dressed in camouflage and toting a Mossberg pump-action 12-gauge shotgun, the senator, three other men, and a dog disappeared in a cornfield, leaving behind more than 30 reporters, photographers, and staff members. About two hours and 28 shots later, the group emerged, carrying with it four dead Canada geese. While Kerry said he shot one, he did not carry it, telling reporters, ''I was too lazy."
The photographs showed Kerry hunting and toting a gun, yet not with his prey, which potentially could offend some voters.
Kerry is attuned to the perils of going overboard, especially when it comes to the Red Sox -- though he is a long-suffering fan.
He was in Shea Stadium in New York in 1986, when the Mets' Mookie Wilson hit a grounder through the legs of Bill Buckner, depriving the Red Sox of a possible World Series championship. Last year, Kerry and several colleagues shouted at a television off the Senate floor and watched in exasperation as the Sox lost to the Yankees in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
Yet he declined a reporter's suggestion he attend a Sox-Yankees game this week.
''Keep your eyes on the prize," he said with a smile. ''They do that; I'll do this."
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. 