Kerry tries to 'feel the pain'

CORALVILLE, Iowa, Oct 5 (AFP) - A crowd watches, many eyes wet with tears, as John Kerry drapes his towering frame around a seven-year-old boy battling Type-1 diabetes.
Similar snapshots of the Democratic presidential nominee, in this case offering a hug in a town-hall meeting devoted to stem cell research Monday in New Hampshire, have popped up often in recent "town hall" events.
Kerry has been working to "feel the pain" of steelworkers, African American churchgoers and the sick, retooling an image once seen as aloof, ahead of a cliffhanger November 2 election.
The veteran Senator's bedside manner, which observers say has improved over months on the stump, will be put to the test in his second head-to-head debate with President George W. Bush Friday night in St. Louis, Missouri.
Kerry, who flew into battleground state Iowa late Monday night, rescued his campaign with a statesmanlike showing, in the first debate in a formal setting last week.
But the second "town-hall" style contest forces candidates to field questions from voters, and conventional wisdom has it that Bush has more of a common touch.
Forging an emotional connection with the public is more important for an American President than for a European prime minister, for instance.
He is not just a political leader and commander in chief but head of state, and sets the spiritual tone during moments of national crisis, as Bush did after the September 11 attacks.
But the back-slapping, hugging, flick a switch empathy essential for any candidate seemed not to come easy to Kerry.
He often seems in the shadow of former emoter in chief Bill Clinton -- who never left a room with a hand unshaken or a shoulder yet to be squeezed.
Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson, while not buying the idea that Kerry was once seen as aloof, said he had "grown" as a candidate during months on the campaign trail.
Part of Kerry's problem is physical: he is six feet five inches (1,95 metres) tall, grey haired, of aristocratic bearing, making it difficult to avoid appearing to look down on people.
But when strolling amongst a crowd, or listening to a touching story, his gestures seem slightly contrived, even when he leaves his lecturn to stroll around like the host of a daytime talk show.
But Kerry has the full array of bear hugs, back slaps and fist punches, and occasionally breaks into a run to embrace a friend waiting at the edge of a rally. He also wades into crowds to press the flesh at late-night airport rallies, as loud music pumps from speakers.
Part of Kerry's perceived problem might lay in the fact that he is of a generation, and from New England stock, far removed from today's touchy feely culture.
Unlike Bush, a born again Christian, Roman Catholic Kerry does not publicly discuss his faith.
Kerry's town-hall meetings are "a good way for people to ask him whatever is on their minds, for voters to get a sense of where he is," said Dobson.
Democrats dispute Bush's reputation as a 'good connector' and argue that the President's own town-hall events are vetted to ensure softball questions.
Kerry supporters in New Hampshire said he was more relaxed, roaming around the audience, and telling jokes, than he had been during the Democratic nominating race early in 2004.
"He seems very comfortable in a crowd now, he was moving around well, holding the microphone," said Beth Dixon, a registered Democrat from New Hampshire. "It may be something to do with the debate."
Kerry's upbringing, Ivy League education, two decades in the Senate, perhaps the most verbose body in the world, and marriage to ketchup heirress Teresa Heinz, have made him into everything many Americans in the heartland distrust.
Sometimes the comparison with Bush, who adopts a square-jawed Texas cowboy persona, despite being as blue-blooded as Kerry, is unflattering.
Kerry has fought back by appearing on daytime television talk shows and with late-night comedians, exposing himself to prized women and young voters, a technique pioneered by Clinton.
In one cringe-making moment, a female host complimented Kerry on how "handsome" he was.
Kerry has also started to poke fun at himself, telling supporters after the first debate : "I think you are thrilled to know that I can complete a sentence in 15 words or less."
He also tries to connect by being upfront about his background.
"I know I come from a background that is very privileged," Kerry said in Ohio to an audience which included single mums, blue collar labourers and out out-of-work steel workers, before invoking John F. Kennedy's mantra "to those to whom much is given, much is expected."