Sweet....
Already shakin' things up a bit, out of the gate:
Edwards Turns to Non-Tradtional Campaign Model
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 28, 2006; 6:38 PMDES MOINES -- John Edwards violated all the old rules when he announced his candidacy for the White House on Thursday. No theme music, no balloons, no adoring family at his side, no stage filled with enthusiastic supporters. No stage at all.
He looked anything but "presidential," wearing blue jeans and an open-collar shirt, rather than suit and tie. He had no prepared text, speaking instead from a practiced set of talking points but with no guaranteed applause lines and few perfect sound-bites.
Most egregiously, he took questions from reporters.
I'll finish this post in a few minutes, but I want to get Eric's initial reaction first.
EBW: I missed the candidate-reporter exchanges, and only viewed the previous day's clip. I was happy to see the candidate relating to the campaign as something unadorned, and no more mystic than just one in a series of hammer and push brooms at Habitat for Humanity venues, or fielding a Little League team. Of course, we're inclined to think of politics as work that some candidates can do if they simply work at the job and are gracious to the clue fairy when she calls.
That is a really empowering meta-message. Its work and you can do it. You really can do it, if not for me, than any time you choose to start a carpentering.