Edwards A Natural Campaigner

Wows Them In Seattle

''You know it must be an amazing thing to live a life where, when you're asked multiple times whether you've questioned anything you've done, whether you've made any mistakes . . . you can't think of a single thing," he said. The 1,000-plus crowd began chortling loudly. Edwards's voice rose.

''Well I have a suggestion for the president. If he's struggling with that question, give me a call," he said. ''I'll give him an answer."

The partisan crowd erupted. During this standard, ho-hum fund-raising lunch for Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, the audience would give Edwards five standing ovations.

The bruising primary season now a distant memory, the transformation of John Edwards from fresh new face to consummate national player appears complete. Few in the party can match his oratory skills, tireless glad-handing, and automaton-like ability to turn on the charm.

Edwards's fate rests in the hands of Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, now casting about for a running mate in his quest for the presidency.

Of more than a dozen people in attendance interviewed, none said an ill word about Edwards. And almost all wanted him on the ticket.

A March poll by Case Western Reserve University indicated 20 percent of those interviewed thought Edwards would be the strongest vice-presidential pick, followed by 12 percent for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and 11 percent for Senator John S. McCain, Republican of Arizona.

Oddly enough, though the South appears to be beyond Edwards's sphere of influence, the Midwest may not be. Several political specialists say Edwards could help Kerry win over socially conservative, but economically liberal, working-class voters in the Rust Belt.

''Because he's from the South and has that drawl, it carries the expectation that he will be more moderate. This helps in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other industrial states," said Theodore S. Arrington, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. ''And work, as a moral issue, is the theme he does best of all. And that works well in those states, too."