If it seemed like overkill, it was a way to neutralize the only area in which Cheney has an advantage over his Democratic rival. Edwards noted that he has served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, but his defense resume can't match Cheney's, at least on paper. When Edwards tried to talk tough on terrorists -- "You cannot run, you cannot hide, we will destroy you" -- it came off just as forced as it does when Bush talks about smokin' 'em out of their holes.

For most of the speech, however, Edwards stuck to what he does best, even if what he does best is what everyone in America has already heard from him before. "I have heard some discussions and debates about where and in front of what audiences we should talk about race, equality and civil rights," Edwards said in a line taken straight from his primary stump speech. "I have an answer to that question -- everywhere.

"This is not an African-American issue, not a Latino issue, not an Asian-American issue. This is an American issue. It's about who we are, what our values are, what kind of country we want to live in."

Georgia Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights leader who marched on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr., said that Edwards has the potential to match Bill Clinton's appeal to African-American voters. "I'll tell you one thing," Lewis said Wednesday evening, "African-American voters in the South like candidates who can feel, who can touch, who are not afraid to come to a church, pick up the hymnbook and sing the songs. That's what made Bill Clinton so effective with African-American voters. In a real sense, he became one of us. I think John Edwards has the potential to become one of us."

Moreover, Lewis said, Edwards can teach Kerry how to reach out and relate better to African-Americans. While Lewis said it would be "almost impossible" for Bush to fare better among black voters than he did in 2000 -- when he got just 8 percent of the black vote -- Democrats need African-Americans to turn out in large numbers. Edwards will help with that, Lewis said. "He's a man of hope, a man with a great deal of vigor, and he's going to help John Kerry bring us back to being a nation at peace with itself."

Edwards could also help Kerry win in Middle-American swing states like Ohio and Missouri. "Edwards went down to Springfield this past year -- a strongly Republican area -- and drew huge crowds," said former Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan, the wife of former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, who beat John Ashcroft out of a U.S. Senate seat even though he was dead at the time. Remarking that his pull in Springfield was "very telling," Carnahan predicted that Edwards will do "great things for our ticket."

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