Kerry’s Campaign Contradicts Critics - Joe Conason, NYO, SJC, BAD

[TacticalPeek]

Kerry’s Campaign Contradicts Critics

by Joe Conason


Among the political press corps—a well-heeled herd as
susceptible to fashion as any high-school clique—the reigning
trend is to declare John Kerry’s candidacy
moribund. From cranky left to triumphal
right, commentators compete to insult the
Massachusetts Senator. The consensus
ranges from "He’s struggling" to "He
stinks," and legions of mostly unnamed but very important
Democrats are said to be "freaked out," "grumbling," "fearful"
and swooning en masse from "buyer’s remorse."

In The Village Voice, Democrats are urged to dump Mr. Kerry, with scarcely an
acknowledgment that he quite recently secured the party’s nomination with landslide
victories in nearly every primary and caucus. (That may not be terribly democratic
advice, but then who cares what the actual voters think?) In The Wall Street
Journal, Democrats are portrayed as glumly "stuck with Mr. Kerry" while verging
on "quiet panic."

To read those downbeat descriptions is to assume that George W. Bush is poised to
win by a landslide. The innocent reader would hardly imagine that Mr. Kerry
actually leads Mr. Bush in the latest polls of likely voters.

snip

So Mr. Bush’s numbers continue their dizzying descent, despite Karl Rove’s
expenditure since March of an estimated $60 million on national television
advertising. If that sounds like a lot of money, even for a Republican, it is. Sixty
million dollars is more than any Presidential candidate has ever spent on TV
commercials—during an entire campaign. Early analysis of the results may not have
encouraged Mr. Rove, since they suggested that in the so-called "purple" states
where the race is most competitive, the President’s numbers dropped after his ad
blitz.


more
http://www.observer.com/pages/conason.asp

[glitch]

1. "The worst campaign indeed, except for all the others."

Another good one from Conason. Thanks for posting!

[DrBB]

2. When your opponent is eagerly hanging himself

...your best course is to stand aside and let him. I think all this pseudo-panic is pseudo news. Kerry isn't offering them a lot to work with, because his best strategy at this point is to let the Chimp dig his own grave, so they make stuff up.

Kerry's a good closer. He did very nicely against Weld--a VERY popular governor here in Mass--and in that campaign, too, he started slow and ended strong. I don't think real voters are looking too hard at Kerry yet. There looking at Bush. And Bush ain't doing so well.