Over the weekend, I was channel surfing and I came upon Dennis Leary (not to be confused with his fellow acerbic comic Dennis Miller!) wearing a Boston Bruins jersey on an ice rink and talking politics. Then I noticed that the channel I had on was C-SPAN. Then I noticed that there were Kerry signs throughout the arena.
It turns out this was a Kerry campaign event in New Hampshire. He had gotten a number of former Bruins to play a hockey exhibition, including Cam Neely, Ray Bourque, Bob Sweeney, and Ken Hodge (there were two Ken Hodges, Sr. and Jr.; I'm only familiar with the elder). There were also a few players wearing other jerseys, such as Harvard.
They showed the introductions and the last player to skate on the ice was none other than Kerry himself, clad in a blue University of New Hampshire sweater! They then showed highlights of the game, focusing on when Kerry had the puck. Kerry's teammates were obviously going out of their way to set him up with good shots and finally he got a goal. He really skated nicely, and there were was reference to the fact that he had done some skate-arounds with the Bruins in the past.
Area firefighters' groups also appeared to be a big part of this event. In fact, Leary's opening remarks touched upon how Bush had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the firefighters at Ground Zero in the days after 9-11 and then had proceeded to do nothing to help them get more resources.
Today on ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" morning show, which seems to be geared toward a "hip" young audience, they did a nice interview segment on the Kerry hockey event, featuring the aforementioned Bob Sweeney, a firefighters' official, and a political consultant.
If Kerry becomes the nominee, I think he should do similar events in hockey-crazy swing states such as Wisconsin and Minnesota (he probably wouldn't have the same ties to players in those states as he did with his home-state Bruins, but maybe some of the Bruins could put in a good word for him).
Before I get any replies saying that I'm assuming the voters of Wisconsin and Minnesota are shallow in that they would vote for someone just because he can lace up some hockey skates, let me just say that I think a hockey event would provide only a slight, marginal boost. However, a small boost could be important in a close race.
As discussed on Cold Pizza, playing hockey makes Kerry look vigorous, active, and energetic, potentially countering any concerns voters may have about his condition after his bout with prostate cancer.