PRESIDENTIAL RACE Dems make 2 stops in Ohio

The candidates campaigned in Dayton and Cleveland.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
DAYTON -- Sens. John F. Kerry and John Edwards set out on the presidential campaign trail Wednesday, casting themselves as a pair of can-do optimists who would stand up for Americans facing a middle-class economic squeeze.
Picking up where Edwards' own White House bid left off, an exuberant Kerry embraced the smiling demeanor and some of the populist rhetoric of his running mate, as the two men and their families traveled across three battleground states.
"This is a dream ticket," Kerry boasted in Dayton, where thousands of people packed along the banks of the Miami River to see the new Democratic team. "We've got better ideas, a better vision for our country, a better sense of what's happening to average people in America and how difficult life is, a better sense of the real priorities of our nation."
"And," he added jokingly, "we've got better hair" -- a reference to the ribbing both candidates have fielded for their luxuriant coiffures.
The two men's campaign swing, which continues today with stops in Florida and New York City, is part of a minutely orchestrated effort to maximize publicity for Kerry in advance of the Democratic National Convention at the end of the month. Their emphasis on kitchen-table economics also spotlighted what has emerged as the Democrats' central theme.
Part of Wednesday's effort included an attempt to refute Republican charges that Edwards, who is completing a six-year term in the Senate, lacks the heft and experience to serve as vice president.
No hard feelings
Any residual tensions from the two men's competition during the Democratic primaries seemed to have evaporated. From the moment they stepped before a bank of more than 50 cameras Wednesday morning, emerging from the elegant Pittsburgh-area estate of Kerry's wife, Teresa, Kerry and Edwards looked like a couple on a blind date that had gone unexpectedly well.
"I could not be more proud of the pick I have made," the Massachusetts senator told reporters, implicitly addressing Republican criticism of Edwards by declaring him "ready to help lead America."
On a day given over to far more style than substance, the two men threw their arms around each other and waved to crowds in Cleveland, Dayton and St. Petersburg, Fla., sharing the same beaming expression. Their wives heaped compliments on one another, and Kerry's grown children fussed over Edwards' 6-year-old daughter, Emma Claire, and 4-year-old son, Jack.
Money issues
In their remarks, the two focused broadly on economic themes, with Kerry and Edwards trading riffs on the difficulties they said many Americans face trying to make ends meet, despite a growing economy.
Edwards spoke to those anxieties more forcefully than any other candidate in the Democratic primaries, with his mantra about two Americas divided by class, race and economic opportunity. On Wednesday, he joined Kerry in giving voice to those concerns.
"You can't save any money," Edwards said at a stop in Cleveland. "It takes every dime you make just to pay your bills. So if something goes wrong, if somebody gets laid off, you have a child who gets sick, you go right off the cliff. John Kerry understands this. He has spent the last year and a half in real America, listening to the problems that people face."
As their prescription, the two offered the solution that Kerry has proposed for months: rolling back the tax cuts benefiting Americans making more than $200,000 a year and using the revenues to expand the availability of college, health care and other programs.