CLEVELAND -- The two former presidential primary rivals, Sens. John F. Kerry and John Edwards, faced one another again on the campaign trail yesterday afternoon. But this time, the competition and sniping was behind them, as they joined arms in a victory salute to a crowd of some 10,000 to 12,000 supporters gathered in a Cleveland park overlooking Lake Erie.

Darrel Sapp, Post-Gazette

Sen. John F. Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, are joined by their families at Teresa Heinz Kerry's Fox Chapel home yesterday for photographers. From left: Emma Claire Edwards, 6, Elizabeth Edwards, Cate Edwards, Sen. Edwards, Sen. Kerry, Chris Heinz and Teresa Heinz Kerry. Click photo for larger image. MORE COVERAGE: Bush campaign is well-prepared, quickly launching Edwards attacks How Moon airport worker scored a 'scoop' on Edwards' selection Campaign photojournal More election coverage, with updated Associated Press headlines

The first rally of the presumptive Democratic nominee with his newly chosen running mate was a feat of campaign choreography. After flying into Pittsburgh separately Tuesday, the two families came together publicly underneath a banner promising "A New Team for America."

The Cleveland crowd's attention was focused on the 51-year-old Edwards, newly deferential to, and lavish in his praise for, the man who defeated him in his own quest for the Oval Office.

In his first public remarks as a vice presidential candidate, Edwards included strands from his old stump speech. He reminded the crowd of his humble start in a North Carolina mill town and his empathy with the troubles of the middle and lower classes. The sunny optimism that catapulted him so far during the primary season was still there, but there was a new message tailored to express what he believed Kerry could deliver to Americans.

"Between now and November," Edwards said, in what was likely to become a new Kerry campaign theme, "the American people are going to reject the tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past; they are going to embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible.

"That's what John Kerry means for this country. When he is president, tomorrow will once again be better than today."

Then came the 60-year-old Kerry -- clearly in Edwards' shadow, at least for this day -- who tried to promote the correctness of his choice even more aggressively than he had Tuesday in Pittsburgh. "We think this is a dream ticket," the Massachusetts senator told the crowd. "We've got better vision. We've got better ideas. We've got real plans. We've got a better sense of what's happening to America.

"And," Kerry joked, "we've got better hair. And I'll tell you, that goes a long way."

Behind this new team was the Edwards-Heinz-Kerry brood -- a telegenic bunch that was clearly a major distraction for the crowd.

Philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry spoke next, stressing her understanding of the Ohio region's problems, then introducing the North Carolina senator's wife, Elizabeth Edwards -- like him, an attorney -- as a warm and accomplished woman.

Older daughters Vanessa, 27, and Alexandra Kerry, 30, and Catharine Edwards, 22, stood quietly behind their fathers, while the fidgeting 6-year-old Emma Claire Edwards twirled behind the podium.

But what contributed most to the made-for-television images were the Heinz boys, Christopher, 31, and Andre, 34, entertaining 4-year-old Jack Edwards -- swinging him by his arms and hoisting him to their shoulders to survey the crowd.

Susan M. Jones, a 62-year-old Democrat from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was one of many voters who said she thought those kinds of images of Edwards and his family were going to be a stark contrast to those of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on the campaign trail.

"Just look at the contrast," Jones said. "This country is very interested in celebrity, and Edwards provides that; Cheney doesn't. You watch him dive into the crowd and you think, 'He's going to listen to us,' and I sure as hell don't feel that way about Cheney."

Some said Edwards' presence softened Kerry.

"They're down-home people; they look like the people next door," said Maude A. Anthony, a 59-year-old registered nurse from Cleveland Heights. "They don't look rich or famous ... even though they are."

Few voters in this heavily Democratic crowd seemed concerned about Edward's vulnerabilities -- particularly regarding the first-term North Carolina senator's relative inexperience in government or in foreign policy matters. At the moment, the more pertinent question seemed to be whether his polished oratorical skills and his ability to connect with the crowd might be the greater liability to Kerry when they share a stage.

"I think Edwards would pretty much outshine anyone," said Anthony. "I can see that being an issue. He's got that magnetism and charisma."

The visit to Cleveland in this narrowly divided state marked the beginning of a four-day push by the Kerry-Edwards campaign to use the national attention from the vice presidential pick to make inroads in swing states such as Florida, New Mexico and West Virginia, which Kerry will visit over the next few days.

They began in Ohio -- a state that has bounced back and forth between Democrats and Republicans over the past decade. Democrat Bill Clinton won the state in 1992 and 1996, but in 2000, Republican Bush triumphed over then-Vice President Al Gore by 4 percentage points.

In her introduction of Kerry and Edwards, Cleveland Mayor Jane L. Campbell described the state and her city as "ground zero" in the race for the White House. The campaign has already spent $7 million in the state, and new Kerry-Edwards ads released yesterday were already running in Ohio.

Bush has visited the state numerous times in the past year, and Cheney was in Ohio last weekend, hammering away at Kerry's credentials and highlighting the drop in unemployment over the last year. Ohio has lost nearly 90,000 jobs since January 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the unemployment rate fell from 6.3 percent in July 2003 to 5.6 percent in May.

U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, a six-term congressman who represents Ohio's 13th District, southwest of Cleveland, said he thought that Kerry had a good chance of carrying his state even before the Edwards choice, but the North Carolinian's background would be particularly important in swaying undecided Ohio voters.

"Edwards speaks from the heart so very well -- his values, his faith, his upbringing, and I think that reaches people better than Bush, Cheney or Kerry had in the past," Brown said. "It speaks directly to small-town Ohio, to middle, to rural Ohio, and it speaks to the anxieties that Ohio workers feel."

Kerry and Edwards tried to speak to some of those voters in their remarks yesterday, as they attributed the region's heavy job losses to the Bush administration.

But Bush campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said the Bush-Cheney team was confident about its prospects for taking Ohio again in 2004. He would not specify how much money the campaign had spent in the state, but said it has 35,000 Ohio volunteers and 13 paid staff members.

"The economic recovery has been slower to take hold [in the state], but the economy in Ohio is going in the right direction," Madden said. "And it's going in the right direction because of the president's policies, by achieving tax relief across the board and making it possible for small businesses to expand and invest."

After a stop in Dayton, Ohio, Kerry and Edwards ended their day yesterday with a Florida rally. They will campaign in Fort Lauderdale today and then fly to Manhattan tonight for a fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall.