Missouri Voters Favor None Of the Above

[kskiska]

Neither Bush Nor Kerry Impresses Focus Groups

Sunday, May 2, 2004; Page A01

ST. LOUIS -- In the opening stages of the presidential campaign in this habitual battleground state, the news for President Bush is far from encouraging. For his Democratic challenger, John F. Kerry, it's even worse.

The escalating death toll in Iraq has elevated concerns about the U.S. commitment there, with voters unsettled by their fear that Bush has no plan for success and frustrated by their conviction that there may be no alternative but to stay the course.

At home, a sense of anxiety remains over the strength of the economic recovery, the loss of manufacturing jobs and the export of American jobs to overseas. "I was not scared five years ago," said Judy Bierman, 50, a homemaker who learned recently that a 50-year-old friend was about to be laid off. "Now it's scary; it's scary all the time."

The apprehensions over war and the economy represent clear obstacles in the president's path to reelection and an opening for Kerry. But the Massachusetts senator has problems of his own. At this point, he is barely part of the political conversation, particularly among the relatively small percentage of voters who have not picked sides.

Many voters know little about Kerry or what he would do to fix the economy or Iraq. There are signs that the Bush campaign's effort to paint Kerry as a man of few firm convictions has begun to stick. First impressions of Kerry are not particularly positive: He is seen as "boring" and "aloof," a somewhat frosty New Englander with an affected air.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59729-2004May1.html

[bemildred]

1. Another WaPo smear. nt

[demgrrrll]

2. Yes Mr. Balz wrote that wonderful story about Gore and the canoe

and all of the water that was "lost" for the photo op.
Big lie. Check out the Howler archives for more of his fine work.