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Kerry comes out fighting despite loss
By Mike Allen
Washington
November 10, 2004
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Kerry-comes-out-fighting-despite-loss/2004/11/09/1099781389911.html?oneclick=true

Former US presidential challenger John Kerry plans to use his Senate seat and Democrat supporters to remain a major voice in American politics despite his election loss.

Friends and aides said he was assessing the feasibility of trying again for the presidency in 2008.

But in a glum post-mortem to the presidential campaign, Senator Kerry's senior advisers said he lost the election because he had failed to turn it into a referendum on the economy.

A pollster for Mr Kerry, Stanley Greenberg, said the campaign saw evidence that its position was slightly deteriorating among white rural voters 10 days before election day and that the erosion began "cascading from group to group".

Mr Greenberg said voters had been open to backing Senator Kerry but pulled back after he failed to persuade them to make their decision based on economic issues.

"Voters were very concerned about the economy," Mr Greenberg said, "but in the end, they did not respond to John Kerry on the economy. And after that, they voted their values. And that produced a cultural polarisation of the electorate."

Senator Kerry will attend a post-election lame-duck Senate session next week and aides said he was relishing the prospect of renewed combat with President George Bush, fighting such measures as Mr Bush's proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Senator Kerry has spent the better part of the past two years on the campaign trail, meaning his return to Capitol Hill will be something of a reintroduction to colleagues.

His plans contrast starkly with the approach taken by former vice-president Al Gore, who all but disappeared from the political scene after losing to Mr Bush in the disputed 2000 presidential election.

Senator Kerry fuelled talk about a 2008 bid at a Washington restaurant at the weekend. He provoked a thunderous reception by reminding about 400 campaign aides and volunteers that Ronald Reagan twice sought the Republican nomination for president before winning it in 1980.

(John Kerry) will not do what Al Gore did after the last election - he will not disappear."
Bob Shrum, adviser

"Sometimes God tests you," Senator Kerry told the crowd. "I'm a fighter, and I've come back before."

Bob Shrum, Kerry's chief campaign consultant, told reporters during a Democratic panel on Monday that Senator Kerry "will not do what Al Gore did after the last election - he will not disappear".

"He will be active and vocal," Mr Shrum said. Several Democrats expressed scepticism about Senator Kerry's plans, saying they believed the party needed a fresh face and must turn a corner.

One well-known Democratic operative who worked with the Kerry campaign said opposition to Mr Bush, not excitement about Senator Kerry, was behind the senator's fund-raising success. "If he thinks he's going to capitalise on that going forward, he's in for a surprise," said the operative, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Senator Kerry has mostly remained at his Boston home since election day and has spent some of that time preparing for his return to the Senate.
In the White House, chief of staff Andrew Card will remain in the job and is expected to play a key role in shaping Mr Bush's cabinet for a second term. Mr Bush has told aides he wants a smooth transition and officials said they expected that any major personnel changes would be made gradually, in order to ensure a measure of stability.

- Washington Post, New York Times, Reuters

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