The newly minted Democratic presidential ticket has wasted no time taking the campaign fight to the Republican administration's home turf.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette The Kerry campaign had plenty of signs ready for yesterday morning's rally in Market Square when Sen. John F. Kerry's announced Sen. John Edwards as his running mate. Click photo for larger image. Related articles North Carolinian named at rally in Market Square; Democrats begin 4-day swing today Analysis: Edwards adds a populist voice that also appeals to moderates Kerry hopes to capitalize on Edwards' rags-to-riches life, charm, rising star See today's Photo Journal for more coverage

Many of the red, white and blue "Kerry-Edwards -- A Stronger America" signs distributed in Market Square yesterday, it turns out, were printed in Tyler, Texas, deep in the heart of George W. Bush country.

The signs were the handiwork of Designer Graphics, which does business about 200 miles north of the Bush ranch in Crawford.

At least that's what the Graphic Communications International Union tag on the signs indicate. No one at Designer Graphics was answering questions yesterday.

The signs -- a few of which turned up in Pittsburgh with Kerry-Edwards on one side, and Kerry-Graham on the other -- were part of a successful effort to keep the running mate selection a secret until Kerry himself made the announcement at the 9 a.m. rally.

NBC's "Today Show" broke the news at 7:30 a.m., but that did not diminish widespread admiration at how well the Kerry campaign had kept the choice under wraps.

"I was as surprised as you were," said Art DeCoursey, Kerry campaign coordinator for Western Pennsylvania. A Massachusetts native who has known Kerry all his life, DeCoursey said he detected not a hint of who would get the nod while at the Kerry barbecue in Fox Chapel on Monday.

While declining to say who he thought Kerry would pick, DeCoursey did admit that "if I was a betting man, I would have lost."

The secret to keeping the secret, said a Kerry campaign aide yesterday, was making sure "very few people were involved in the process."

Speaking on the condition she not be identified, the staffer said boxes containing the Kerry-Edwards signs had been in the custody of two national campaign workers since Sunday. Those workers were staying in separate Pittsburgh-area hotels, she said, far away from reporters and television crews.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette In addition to placards and signs, there also were buttons featuring Sen. John F. Kerry, his wife and one that paired him with another JFK -- John F. Kennedy. Click photo for larger image.

Signs with other possible Kerry choices -- she didn't know how many -- also were made. But there were no duplicates of the large Kerry-Edwards banners unfurled at yesterday's rally.

Then there was lettering on the Kerry campaign jet, being held at a US Airways hangar under tight security. For that task, a graphic design artist was flown in "from another state" to attach the Edwards decal, which was then masked.

The Kerry staffer didn't know if the graphic artist signed a confidentiality agreement, but noted, "I can tell you that person did not get close to any of the traveling press."

Besides hoping to maintain an element of surprise, she added, Kerry wanted to give the other vice presidential hopefuls the courtesy of hearing his decision directly from him. "These are colleagues he likes and admires."

Now that the secret's out, though, the political bumper sticker and T-shirt industry is revving its engines for the four-month rush to Election Day.

Sharon Young of Kansas City, Mo., who sells such merchandise on her PoliticalShop.com Web site, had a blue Kerry-Edwards '04 button for sale within two hours of hearing the announcement. By 4 p.m., she estimated she'd sold about 100 buttons at $5 each, or three for $12.

Young said she and her two employees had made three Kerry-Edwards designs in anticipation of Kerry's announcement, so getting one on the Web site was not much trouble. But, interestingly, she'd decided against similar preparatory work on a Kerry-Gephardt button, even though Dick Gephardt is her state's U.S. representative.

"We love Gephardt," she said with a laugh, "but we thought Kerry-Edwards makes such perfect sense. They just seem very complementary of each other."