Here's a good read on Barack Obama's speaking style.
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Though tonight is all about the Rs (sorry -- Florida doesn't count for the Ds), here's a good read on Barack Obama's speaking style.

Bloomberg's Indira Lakshmanan (a former Globe colleague) quotes a few people who should know (and not just me), including the model presidential speechwriter, Ted Sorensen (an Obama supporter whose former aide is on the Illinois senator's speechwriting team).

"I was almost moved to tears by the power and the breadth of Obama's message,'' said Ted Sorensen, 79, the former speechwriter for Kennedy and an Obama supporter. ``His speaking style and what he stood for reminded me of JFK, of national interests uncluttered by the interests of race, religion or even political party."

Ted wasn't the only former White House ghost Indira corraled:

"Stylistically, I rank him quite high -- I like his Biblical cadence, parallel structure, alliteration, repetition, involving the crowd as participants," said Curt Smith, a former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush, now a senior English lecturer at the University of Rochester.

Still, not everyone is convinced his mastery of style and emotion are matched by substance.

Obama's speeches are "extremely pleasing and moving," said Ted Widmer, a historian at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, who was a speechwriter for President Clinton and now supports Hillary Clinton. "But I'm not sure I've heard a truly arresting thought."

So while you're waiting for Florida to finish off Rudy G...

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