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I am one of those supporters that keep saying "Just you wait, as soon a Senator Kerry really starts campaigning things will change" "Hold on, Kerry will make his move when he is good and ready" "Any day now John Kerry is going to respond to those negative attacks and set the record straight" "John Kerry will not let bush define him he will fight with everything he has, he has been waiting his whole life for this."
Well, I am still waiting. Now April is almost over and bush has been successful in defining John Kerry.
From the Washington Post:
Bush Scores Points By Defining Kerry -
The senator from Massachusetts emerged from the primaries unscathed but still little known, a condition Bush's team set about to change with an aggressive plan to define the senator before he could define himself. A month later, more voters see Kerry as "too liberal," and a solid majority says he is someone who has changed his positions on issues for political reasons -- both charges leveled by the Bush campaign's daily attacks through ads and public statements.
From today's Kansas City Star
Despite bad Iraq news, Bush regains lead in polls -
Doubts about the war have grown and still could hurt Bush's chances for re-election. But two new independent polls this week found that the president has gained versus Kerry on every major issue, is preferred over Kerry to handle the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism, and would defeat the Massachusetts senator if the election were today.
By themselves, the polls are only snapshots of an ever-changing campaign. But they do reveal two major political forces at work this spring: Bush's ability to retain support at a time of war losses and his initial, ad-driven success at defining Kerry as an unworthy alternative.
From The New York Times
Bush goes on the attack -
Matthew Dowd, the president's chief campaign strategist, said the campaign had always planned to reduce the intensity of the advertising now, when strategists believed a six-week period of acute voter interest would close. But the Bush campaign said it was still planning to define Kerry for voters before they leave for their summer vacations.
Dowd said there was ample evidence that the advertising campaign had already gone a long way toward its goal of defining Kerry as a high-taxing liberal with weak stands on the issues, a matter of keen debate between the two sides.
He pointed to recent focus group testing by Democracy Corps, a Democratic group, which found that the perceptions of voters in Florida, Washington suburbs, Oregon and Ohio had indeed been shaped by Bush's advertisements.
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Redefining yourself is a LOT harder than initially defining yourself. The vast majority of voters did not know John Kerry. Now they are learning about him through bush ads. Is it too late for Kerry to start redefining himself to the public? When will he start? His campaign is still very ambiguous and enigmatic.
Where is the fire and passion I have seen in Kerry? Does he just turn it on occasionally? Is he tired again?
Campaign lines like "there was a right way and a wrong way and bush chose the wrong way" are not going to fire up and inspire an audience.
I know Senator Kerry has it in him but "just wait" "hold on" "It's early" "Eventually he'll start fighting" "there's no rush" is getting tired.
I know polls don't mean anything right now, but incredibly bush's numbers are growing and going up - a 10 point rise in the last week in two seperate polls.
The big question I have is - HAS JOHN KERRY STARTED CAMPAIGNING YET?
He sure doesn't seem like he is running for President of the United States. . . I barely see him or hear about him.
John Kerry had better get his act together - and soon . . .
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