It’s Just the Ticket for North Carolina

The newly minted Democratic presidential ticket completed its first week together Saturday in Sen. John Edwards’ home state, where a crowd estimated at 20,000 waited in stifling heat and humidity to cheer the idea of a two-term presidency for Sen. John F. Kerry -- and perhaps a turn in the Oval Office for their favorite son.

The energy and enthusiasm that Edwards sparked among many Democrats since Kerry named him as his running mate Tuesday was evident in the late afternoon rally at North Carolina State University.

Kerry thanked the throng, packed tightly across a broad grassy quad, for producing a senator like Edwards. He asked: “Will you let me borrow John Edwards for at least four years?” The crowd responded with a chant: “Eight, eight, eight!”

“I said at least four years,” Kerry replied, smiling broadly. “What about 16?” he added, raising the possibility that he would serve two terms as president, followed by two Edwards terms.

That brought another roar.

As he introduced Kerry, Edwards reminded the crowd of the Massachusetts senator’s service as a decorated Navy lieutenant in Vietnam. Kerry’s campaign frequently spotlights his military record, an effort aimed at bolstering his credentials on national security issues.

“You need to spend just three minutes with the men who served with him in Vietnam, the men who put their lives in his hands,” Edwards said. “This is what they will tell you: They trust him. They believe in him. He is a man of strength, courage and determination. He would always put their lives ahead of his.”

In a reference to the Democratic charge that President Bush’s economic policies have favored the wealthy, Edwards added: “With John Kerry as president of the United States, no American will be left behind.”

Edwards had delivered the same message at a rally earlier in the week in Ohio, and tape of that speech will be used in the first ad of the general election season that features him. It will begin appearing in several states Monday.

In his speech, Kerry took note of Edwards’ upbringing in the small town of Robbins, N.C. He also called for a renewal of America’s can-do spirit -- a clear response to Republican claims that the Democrats are too pessimistic to lead.

“What if? That’s what happened over there at Kitty Hawk [N.C.]. They asked, ‘What if this old contraption could take off and fly and change the future of the world?’ ” Kerry said in a reference to the Wright brothers. “And John Kennedy asked, ‘What if we could go to the moon and put a man on the moon and bring him back to Earth and do it in 10 years or less?’ And a few years ago, people asked, ‘What if we could take all the information in the world ... and put it on a tiny chip the size of a fingernail?’ We did all those things. And there is so much to be done.”

Many people who had waited hours for the rally to start said they were buoyed by the prospect that the Democratic ticket could give Bush a serious fight in a state that has voted Republican in the last six presidential elections.

“This helps. This helps a lot,” said Bess Lewis, a freelance writer and Democratic Party volunteer.

Kerry, Edwards and their wives taped a joint interview for “60 Minutes” on Saturday night, to be broadcast this evening.