On Politics / David Postman
20 things Sen. Kerry taught us

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1. John Kerry served in the Navy during Vietnam.

2. Congressman Jim McDermott thinks President Bush is a "deserter." He said so at a Kerry fund-raiser at the Tractor Tavern.

3. Kerry's national security speech at McCaw Hall felt like the way you'd want a presidential campaign to be. It was serious and in-depth.

4. Blasting Bachman Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" over the P.A. system — at the Opera House! — after a serious and in-depth speech on national security has a tendency to take away from the solemnity of classic rock.

5. Blasting BTO after a $1,000-per-head Westin fund-raiser worked better.

6. The Kerry campaign is hoping to do for "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" what the Clinton campaign did for "Don't Stop" — take a mediocre song from the low years of rock 'n' roll and play it so often it rings in your head like tinnitus. Should a guy critical of outsourcing make his campaign theme a song by a group of Canadians, b-b-b-baby?

7. Democrats love Christine Gregoire.

8. Some Democratic insiders, both the type who buy $1,000 fund-raising tickets and those of the multitude who get comped, don't think it helps Gregoire's gubernatorial campaign to have a judge reprimanding her attorneys for withholding documents.

9. Teresa Heinz Kerry can tell if a baby is breast-fed just by holding the child. .

10. Richard Holbrooke talks like a story in The New York Times.
 
11. John Kerry served in the Navy during Vietnam.

12. Kerry seriously undercounted when he said in the silence that followed his joke about the "American Idol" finale, "Half of you don't even know what that is."

13. When a joke falls flat, don't try to fill dead air by kissing up to your audience by telling them, "That's a good sign. That's encouraging. You are smart out here in the state of Washington."

14. Heinz Kerry thinks her husband would be "the best nursery-school teacher in the world."

15. Kerry must have gone to a really good grade school. In his Wednesday speech he said:

"Well, let me share a scientific fact with this president that most children in school learn very quickly. God only gave the United States 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. The Middle East has 65 percent, Saudi Arabia alone has 46 percent. We import 60 percent of our fuel oil from other countries and growing." The public schools I attended didn't offer Introduction to Comparative Worldwide Distribution of Petroleum Reserves until middle school.

16. Rush Limbaugh doesn't like Heinz Kerry's hair. "I'm sure there's a lot more he doesn't like. But he doesn't like my hair," she said.

17. Heinz Kerry loves Wild Ginger and raved about the Burma crab curry.

18. Heinz Kerry, in her exotic, accented, almost-whisper, can hold a huge crowd absolutely silent.

19. Kerry asked his wife what she wanted for their anniversary Wednesday and she said, "How about 27 electoral votes in Florida."

20. John Kerry served in the Navy in Vietnam.

David Postman is The Seattle Times chief political reporter. Email: onpolitics@seattletimes.com