LET THE LOVEFEST BEGIN

Watching Kerry and Edwards mug for the cameras and flash their millionaire smiles has been a breath of fresh air.

"Thank goodness Edwards is in this race," I intoned at work recently. "This campaign needed someone with a pulse."

Maureen Dowd's take on the photo ops was classic Candace Bushnell:

Her detachment seems all the more appealing now that John Kerry can't stop patting and grabbing his new pup, John Edwards. Mr. Edwards awkwardly reciprocates, sliding his arm around the big guy's torso. ...

Ordinarily, the John-John ticket might seem a bit off-putting — a little too glib, a little too ingratiating, a little too forced, a little too expedient, a little too eager to please. But when the competition is two oilmen who don't seem to want to please anybody but Halliburton and the Saudis — ask Pat Leahy, Old Europe and the 9/11 panel — overeagerness is a relief.

It's hilarious that the Republicans are trying to paint their ticket as the more optimistic one.

Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush radiate negativity, even as Mr. Edwards and his photogenic blond kids glow for the cameras. Dick Cheney glowers for the camera, a Dr. No with a dark vision that has resulted in a gigantic global mess. (When he was stopped by applause at a campaign stop in Altoona, Pa., on Sunday, he asked, "You guys want to hear this speech or not?")

Indeed, few things irritate like the Bush-Cheney sneer.