HERMON – Running a bit late for his plane’s departure Thursday morning, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards had to forgo a breakfast of home fries and pancakes for a quick round of handshakes and introductions.

Edwards’ unannounced appearance at the Dysart’s truck stop had patrons wide-eyed as soon as his police-escorted motorcade of sport utilities, minivans and a bus full of reporters pulled up outside the Hermon eatery.

While there were perhaps no more than 25 potential voters in the room, pundits say such retail politicking remains a valuable part of modern campaigns, a signal that candidates are unwilling to rely on staged rallies and 30-second television commercials.

“It’s a way for him to see what … average people have to say,” said University of Maine political scientist Amy Fried. “These are not people who have shown up to a rally, people who have some agenda. These are regular folks.”

In Maine’s northern congressional district, hotly contested by Democratic nominee John Kerry and President Bush, rural issues – most notably jobs – are foremost on voters’ minds, polls show. Although Edwards is now a multimillionaire trial lawyer living in Raleigh, N.C., he said in a separate interview with reporters later Thursday that his upbringing in the rural South put him in a position to better grasp the issues important to Maine’s population.

“It’s part of who I am,” said Edwards, the son of a millworker from Robbins, N.C., a town of 1,195 people. “I think a lot of rural voters will see that I understand their way of life and what matters to them.”

In the brief interview, Edwards outlined the Democratic ticket’s jobs plan, which includes removing tax incentives for companies that move jobs overseas and adding them for those who create jobs in the United States.

Edwards’ Thursday stop in Hermon came on the heels of a Wednesday rally at the University of Maine in Orono, where about 6,800 people gathered on the mall to hear the North Carolina senator speak.

While the Dysart’s crowd was significantly smaller and more politically diverse, Edwards’ unscheduled appearance was the talk of the restaurant for hours afterward – although not everyone was ready to back the Kerry-Edwards ticket after the brief visit.

“People were excited about him coming, but I don’t think he necessarily changed minds based on what some people were saying,” said cashier Shawna McCue.

Walt Whitcomb, a dairy farmer from Waldo County and spokesman for the Bush campaign on rural issues, said in a telephone interview after the event that he won’t dispute Edwards’ rural credentials. But Whitcomb, who did not attend the Dysart’s event, said he has seen nothing from the Kerry-Edwards ticket to suggest they have an advantage on the jobs issue.

“Certainly any president has to accept responsibility for the economy, but I don’t see any magic bullet being offered as an alternative,” said Whitcomb, who as a small-business owner said he favored Bush’s tax policies. “It all depends on who creates the greatest incentive for job creation.”

During the visit, Ralph Gillespie took a photograph of his wife, Linda, with Edwards. The Gillespies are from St. Clairsville, Ohio, and were traveling through Maine in a motor home after a trip to Canada.

“I said ‘good luck,'” Linda Gillespie said.

In the only planned part of the Thursday visit, Edwards also thanked Maine Army National Guardsman Eric Stanley of Bangor, who served in Kuwait and Iraq. Stanley and two other members of the Guard had been invited to Dysart’s and were there when Edwards arrived.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.