john kerry

check out these qualities attributed to john kerry in this new york time's article.

He pokes at the perimeter of the campaign bubble that envelops him, constantly trying to break out for a walk around the block, a restaurant dinner, the latest movie.

Landing one sunny day in St. Louis, Mr. Kerry wandered off the airstrip to stroll through a grass patch, leaving his security detail trying to keep him in sight while scores of staff members, supporters, police officers and journalists waited without explanation for an hour.

"Can we walk over there?" he had asked an aide earlier that day, heading for a fund-raiser after a series of radio interviews from a hotel. "I'd love to get outdoors and remember what it's like."

He is a diligent greeter, never speeding through a hotel kitchen without handshakes. He is chronically and unapologetically late — for campaign events, for meetings, even for church. And on Memorial Day, he showed up a half-hour into an hourlong parade in Portsmouth, Va., his only scheduled stop for the day.

He is careful to use people's names

Senator Kerry strums his Spanish classical guitar in a kind of musical meditation.

There is the John Kerry who starts his speeches with throat-clearing thank-you's that last 5, 8, even 10 or 12 minutes

He almost always works in a local line — a reference to the Bedford Angels, for example, at a high school commencement last Sunday — and frequently refers to something a previous speaker has said.

pretty good list, eh? i love that the author mentions using people's names, honoring the local culture, saying thank you, listening to others, and being outdoors. a great mental picture is the combination of chronically and unapologetically late following a stroll through a grass patch... makes me think of this story.