As you may remember, I wrote a couple of weeks ago about John Kerry's windsurfing and how it might help him win the state in November. The crux of my position was this:

While non-Oregonians and even some Eastern Oregonians (who are redder than Mississippi) might balk at the significance of this promised event, I don't think most residents of the state will take it lightly. True, it takes more than a nice photo-op to win over swing voters (though bicycling in one of the nation's most bike-friendly cities does look good); nevertheless, the if Kerry is able to ride the coattails of yesterday's hugely successful event (especially in the eyes of the local media) with a windsurfing event that also draws a good deal of media coverage, his image in the area will doubtless be improved.

Although Kerry did not end up windsurfing at the Columbia River Gorge after all because of a dearth of wind, it looks like he nonetheless garnered the positive media coverage he had hoped for when he first planned the event. Today's edition of The Oregonian features a below the fold, front page article on publisher/windsurfer/Oregonian John Chao and his relationship with Senator Kerry over the past six years.

Chao, the editor of American Windsurfer magazine since 1993, found himself in an interesting situation when "a staff member showed him a subscription request from a 'T. Heinz,' noting it was a gift for her husband, Sen. John Kerry."

In 1997, Chao wrote to Heinz, saying he'd like to do a story on them and their interest in windsurfing. Within a week, Kerry's press secretary called to say the senator was interested.

"Then I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is over my head,' " Chao says, and he offered up a Washington Post reporter who had written a freelance piece for the magazine. But Kerry didn't want a Washington Post reporter. He wanted Chao, and penciled in a half-hour interview in his Nantucket office.

"As soon as I met him, it was a whole different story," Chao says. "There was just this connection. We just decided to blow off the interview and go windsurfing."

That led to a yearlong, on-again, off-again windsurfing odyssey in which Chao and Kerry tried out the winds and waves at Hood River, Aruba, Maui and other sailing Meccas.

[...]

Chao wrote a long piece for his magazine on the year he spent with Kerry, putting the senator on the cover.

The article, with its intimate and dynamic photos of Kerry, not just windsurfing but relaxing with his family and working the halls of Congress, offered a rarely seen side of the senator.

"It showed the opposite of what the press was saying -- that he was stiff, aloof," Chao says. Its publication was followed by a number of articles and TV news stories on Kerry's windsurfing and other athletic endeavors.

Articles like this one, though not containing glowing praise of John Kerry's policies or political skills, nonetheless enhance the Senator's campaign in swing states immeasurably. In fact, one could argue that human interest stories like this one affect the election more profoundly than any political ad. One need only hearken back to then-Governor Bill Clinton's near-soulful sax performance on the Arsenio Hall program some 12 years ago to see the importance of image.

Also important to John Kerry's campaign strategy is his decision to campaign in rural areas and small towns not seen by previous Democratic nominees. In Oregon, for example, Kerry became the first Democrat to visit Medford since John F. Kennedy, and his 8,000 screaming fans made quite a splash in the local news.

Kerry also used this tactic in visiting the gorge city of Hood River, as mentioned in the article. Although Hood River is a liberal town (albeit in a conservative county), the fact that Kerry even bothered to show up in the city with a population of less than 6,000 shows a dedication to the state that meant a lot to Oregonians of all political persuasions.

But [Chao's] influence was undeniable when about 300 residents of the traditionally Republican county waited along the river two weeks ago for a chance to see Kerry windsurf and shake his hand.

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, a Hood River Republican, hadn't heard of Chao but was impressed that he brought Kerry to town.

"It's tremendous for the gorge," Walden says. "It helps us economically and certainly draws attention to our state." Sometimes you have to separate your politics from your civic boosterism, he says.

"I hope Kerry continues to come back -- as a U.S. senator," he hastens to add.

If even staunch conservative Greg Walden (author of the "Healthy Forests Initiative") was impressed by this politically shrewd move, I think it goes without saying that Kerry scored big with his trip to Oregon. As Tim Hibbitts, one of Oregon's top non-partisan political analysts, said in another article, "If we had a vote today in Oregon, Kerry would win comfortably."