kate
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Location: Upstate, New York
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 Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:02 pm Post subject: Democrats have misgivings as Kerry tests waters for '08 |
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Philly.com
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Democrats have misgivings as Kerry tests waters for '08
Sun, Mar. 20, 2005
Some backers won't count him out. Others don't want a "shopworn" candidate.
By Dick Polman Inquirer Political Analyst
can post snips only~~empahsis added
| Quote: | | And Kerry would not have the luxury of recuperating in private. He couldn't grow a beard and vanish, as Al Gore did; he couldn't go to Hawaii and teach college, as Mike Dukakis finally did. No, Kerry had to go back to his day job - becoming the first losing presidential candidate to return to the Senate since George McGovern in 1973. |
| Quote: | But few seem giddy about the possibility of Kerry II. In the words of strategist David Axelrod, who worked for Kerry running mate John Edwards, "The odds of him getting the nomination again are very dubious. This is an unforgiving business."
"The thought of him running again is depressing," party operative Eric Hauser said. "Most people I know want new faces, not a shopworn candidate."
Kenneth Baer, former senior speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore, said, "A lot of us bit our tongues during the campaign last year. We didn't want to be critical. But he blew it. He ran a horrible campaign. And he shouldn't think that the people at his rallies were fervently for him. They just hated Bush...
"I can see why he might want to do it again. You run nationwide, you become a celebrity, and it's hard to come off that kind of high. But we use up our personalities faster than ever. Once you've become a joke on Saturday Night Live - Gore is 'the liar,' and Howard Dean is 'the lunatic screamer,' and now Kerry is 'the flip-flopper' - it's tough to overcome that."
For Kerry, indignities abound. He trails Hillary Rodham Clinton in every 2008 survey. The other day, he was assailed by Clinton aide Ann Lewis for running "an inconsistent campaign." Indeed, in focus groups conducted this winter by Democratic strategists, he was still seen as indecisive; one participant said, "He's the guy that holds up the line at McDonald's."
And he's been dogged by bloggers who want him to authorize the release of all his military records, to clear up questions raised in 2004. He told NBC on Jan. 30 that he would sign military form SF-180 to do so, but he hasn't yet. Most of the heat has come from conservatives, but Democratic blogger Mickey Kaus also is on the case, urging party brethren to "remove this increasingly pathetic figure from our national stage." (The word in Washington is that Kerry will sign the form soon.) |
| Quote: | But the remark that most galls his party critics is his contention that he'd be president today if only 60,000 Ohioans had switched votes - as he put it the other day, "half the people in a football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on a Saturday."
In the words of Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina party chairman, "Hey, what if Napoleon had had B-52s? Then we'd all be speaking French.
"Point is, I'm sick and tired of what-ifs. He lost because he couldn't connect with NASCAR-watching, gun-toting, churchgoing moderates and conservatives. We don't want a windsurfing Massachusetts liberal next time. |
The Dems are getting restless, seems like they'd prefer kerry to stand down ,sooner, rather than later 
wonder if kerry reads what his party brethren are saying 'bout him..
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