John Kerry, John Edwards, wives, entourage, hangers-on, and the press visited Newburgh NY today:

Kerry fielded questions about foreign policy, presidential politics, abortion and the death penalty in a 12-minute interview at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant in this GOP-leaning Hudson Valley community.

After polishing off a bowl of chili and a Frosty, the newly minted nominee took Bush and his Republican allies head-on...

[...ironic coverage deleted...]

A brief report from the Poughkeepsie Journal is here, and the MidHudsonNews weighs in with their own brief mention. Neither apparently were granted the same access as the AP reporter.

My experience of Newburgh happened at night during my Blogging Across America tour. You might be able to guess the tenor of my post from its title: "Where can I buy crack in the mid-Hudson River Valley region of New York State?"

UPDATE: The more I think about John Kerry's choices, the more questions I have. Was that a small frosty, or one of the larger sizes? Because, both the chili and the small frosty are on Wendy's Value Menu. Was Mr. Megabucks so cheap he just picked a couple of items from the Value Menu? Why not one of their more expensive items, like a triple burger with cheese and bacon, or - if he wanted something slightly more healthy - a grilled chicken sandwich? Or - even better - a salad? Did he deliberately choose from the cheap slate in order to send a subconscious message that he would govern this great land with the same New England parsimony?

And, what did the Edwards' select?

What about Teresa? Was her delicate European palate offended by American fast-food? Did she take umbrage at the fact that Wendy's uses Serv-a-Portion generic ketchup instead of the gen-u-wine Heinz brand?

ANOTHER UPDATE: If you can correctly identify the line "How's that Frosty[TM] treating you, Cecil?" you're a moke who falls for blatant product placements.