The American Spectator

’s convention speech. /p>

At rally in Lawrence, Kansas, Edwards told the audience: “There is no red state, there is no blue state — there is only one United States of America and we’re going to serve this entire country.”

Edwards’ appearance in Lawrence resulted after the train he and Sen. John Kerry were on sped past a scheduled stop in the town a day earlier. The Kerry campaign was criticized mercilessly in the local press for passing up a throng of supporters waiting to greet the Democratic ticket at the train stop, so advance staffers organized a quickie pep rally.

So what happened to “Two Americas”?

“There is a segment of the campaign, and it’s growing by the day, that doesn’t think that speech is working very well,” says a Kerry adviser. “In fact, we’d like it ditched. The problem is Edwards loves it. Kerry loves it. And the media really buys into it and promotes it for us. We just don’t think the voters buy it.”

Edwards, according to the source, liked Obama’s speech and has been using the line in smaller venues, where he doesn’t believe the national press will pick up his appearances.

p> COMMAND CONFIDENCE br> According to a Kerry campaign source, senior campaign advisers tasked two Washington-based campaign staffers to vet the recently published Unfit for Command . /p>

“The purpose was to compare what that book had with what we had on file from Senator Kerry,” says the campaign source, who said that the research project developed more than 75 instances where Kerry’s recollections, previous remarks, or writings conflicted with the book’s reporting.

“We took some of the most glaring examples, like the Christmas in Cambodia story, and presented them to senior staff, and we assume that those things were put in front of Senator Kerry,” says the source. “We haven’t heard a word about it. All we were told is that it was being taken care of.”