The Return Of John Kerry In 2008?
Oh, please, God, don’t let it be true…Don’t make me go through it again (I don’t have the disposable income for the amount of Red Bull required to sit through his speeches)…Oh, please, Lord, I’ll be a good boy, but as a former Political Science major don’t force me to watch a campaign as poorly run like that ever again. DO YOU HEAR ME??!!!
It’s almost as if Sen. John Kerry never stopped running for president. He still jets across the country, raising millions of dollars and rallying Democrats. He still stalks the TV news show circuit, scolding President Bush at every turn.His campaign Web site boasts of an online army of 3 million supporters.
The Massachusetts Democrat, defeated by Bush in 2004, insists it is far too early to talk about the 2008 race, but some analysts assume he has already positioning himself for another shot at the White House.
“Obviously, Kerry has all but said he wants another crack at the thing,” said Neal Thigpen, a political science professor at South Carolina’s Francis Marion University. “He’s going to make a second try.”
While most losing presidential nominees quickly fade into the political landscape, Kerry has worked hard at maintaining a high public profile.
“He’s continuing the fight he began in 2004,” said Kerry spokesman David Wade. “He wants to make it very clear he’s a fighter who is going to continue to fight for his agenda.”
The problems with Kerry running again are multifold:
(1) His campaign was one of the most poorly-run in recent memory — almost as hugely bungled as the campaign of Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’.
(2) He started out being charisma-challenged and got better but it was always hard to find people truly enthusiastic about John Kerry: he was more the anti-Bush candidate and if he had won it would have been due to his improved performance at the end of the campaign and for being a viable Bush alternative.
(3) He showed poor personal judgment in some of his staffing choices and a political Pollyanna streak by seemingly not being prepared to face an effort to discredit his military record when he tried to pitch his military service as an asset. If his folks were touting it so loudly, didn’t it enter into their heads that the GOPers would move heaven and earth (and talk-radio and blogs) to knock it down? Was the way that was handled an example of the kind of contingency planning we would have seen on foreign policy in the White House?
To many Americans (including Democrats and independents), John Kerry running again would be akin to being forced to watch uncut videos of all of Al Gore’s 2000 Presidential debate performances.
Question: Are either of these events included in the the torture bill recently passed by Congress?
The bottom line is that the only person who came back from the Presidential political dead in modern times was Richard Nixon in 1968. And HE did it by skillfully marketing himself as a “new Nixon.” Nixon went on “Laugh-In” and said the then-popular catchphrase “Sock it to me!” and went on talk shows and played the piano.
What’s new about Kerry this time? Not much, except perhaps he has used a roll of duct tape or two on his outspoken wife.
In 2008 the Democrats would have a better strategic advantage if they run a fresh face on the Presidential ticket — meaning, someone who hasn’t run in that spot before. Unless the news pattern has changed, it’s likely there will be more controversies breaking as more details come out about issues such as Plamegate and warrantless spying.
The Democrats can’t win with only Democratic activists. They’ll need independents and some Republicans. If the spying controversy not only grows but gets hotter the Democrats could peel off some Republican libertarians. Kerry is not just damaged goods but pretty much the same goods.
Still, the AP piece makes it sound like Kerry is poised to be a front-runner. However, this time, we predict, he’ll be a front-runner like the late Texas Governor John Connally was — a front-runner until actual votes are taken and a long-shot in arousing the passions from party activists of any segment of the party.
Borrowing a page from Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record)’s 2000 postelection playbook, Kerry has kept much of his presidential political organization intact. He has also used his fundraising prowess to aid Democrats across the country, collecting chits that could be called if he seeks the party’s White House nomination.“He believes in his heart and soul that he came just a whisker away from being president,” said Ronald Kaufman, a veteran GOP operative with Massachusetts roots.
Traveling extensively since his 2004 loss, Kerry generated nearly $5.3 million for dozens of Democratic candidates, state parties and charitable causes, according to aides. He gave more than $200,000 to help Washington state Democrats prevail in Christine Gregoire’s gubernatorial recount.
Kerry has expanded his campaign’s e-mail supporter list, a vital organizing tool if he runs again. He has bought TV and newspaper ads promoting pet issues such as children’s health care and his opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also reunited several members of his campaign policy team.
“No other past presidential candidate, with the exception of McCain, has done what Kerry has done in terms of converting his presidential campaign into a grass-roots political and legislative operation,” said Wade. “He’s dedicated to electing Democrats.”
That’s fine. But will Democrats (the party’s left wing and the DLC loyalists) really want to go with a re-tread in 2008…especially when the tread was proven defective in 2004?
UPDATE: On the other hand, there are those who defend John Kerry.
20 Responses to “The Return Of John Kerry In 2008?”
If this makes Kerry the strongest Democrat candidate, does this imply that the Democrats no longer think they can front a candidate with a serious chance to win the presidency? If so, that’s a pretty profound–and scary–self-assessment.
No, Scott, it doesn’t mean that at all. It means that Kerry has high name recognition right now, and he has delusions that Democrats actually want him to run again. He is nowhere near the strongest Dem candidate (Edwards is much stronger, especially after Katrina) and virtually no Democrat likes him.
His campaign Web site boasts of 3 million people who haven’t blocked his emails yet.
Joe, Pam at Pams’s House Blend agrees with you:
PHB
Joe,
You’ve reminded me of the one thing that I keep hearing about Hillary Clinton, especially from fearful Democrats: “She can never win.”
My response? “We did the ‘electable’ thing the last time and you know where that got us.”
Kerry is a non-starter simply because he is incapable of speaking from the heart. If our nominee cannot do that (and I believe, for example, that John Edwards can) then we’ll lose again.
P.S. Can Hillary speak from the heart? Jury’s still out.
Edwards? Yes.
Feingold? Yes.
Clark? Not so far.
Kerry? No.
Gore? Now, but not before.
Let me clarify: speaking from the heart isn’t everything, but it is a lot.
In other words, if you can, you might get elected.
If you can’t, you won’t.
Hillary Clinton has so much baggage TSA has six inspectors getting ready to look her over — but she hs NOT run for President before and lost. That’s the key point. Parties seldom give second chances. Think of all of the resources and how much is at stake for a party to give someone a second shot. If the person ran a sterling campaign, there was proven hanky panky in the vote count or a charge that came out that was proven to be false, and was the kind of a candidate where his loss made people weep and vow to do what it took to get him into the White House next time…fine. But Kerry didn’t inspre many people, except as an option to give Bush the boot. Big chunks of his campaign were hideous and will be lumped together with Michael Dukakis’ as examples of how NOT to run political campaigns. Do you think aspiring strategists will study and want to copy Bob Shrum’s Kerry campaign or Karl Rove’s Bush campaign? Set aside morals, scruples, etc….which one would a professional want to study and try to learn from? So Kerry has to give a better reason then “Hey, guys, I cam CLOSE! I’ve got the money! I’ve got the organization!” No matter what people say about Hillary she has not run for President before (although some will dispute THAT!)
Kerry’s problem was that he never gave the impression that he wanted to be president for any other reason except that he deserved it, and anyone who questioned his ambition got a taste of the famous Kerry condescension. He struck me as a clueless elitist. I don’t have a problem per se with “elitists,” but if one is such a character, one should demonstrate some competence.
Feingold has been mentioned on a few news shows as being ascendent in Democratic circles, but I wouldn’t count Edwards or Gore out. When Gore decided to dispose of the ranting gospel preacher personna, he delivered a handful of thoughtful, smart speeches earlier last year. And Edwards has escaped the taint of the Kerry disaster.
Personally, I’m hoping for Ed Muskie.
I’m really sick of the attacks and mockery of Kerry from all sides of the political spectrum. What is so terrible about the candidate who received the second highest vote total in American history and dealt W the narrowest victory of any war time president. Kerry was far from a disaster and can anyone please tell me which Dem would have fared better against Bush.
I would urge everyone to read this: In defense of John Kerry
I don’t know why the damn link doesn’t show up but it really was a good analysis about Kerry during the last election.
Laura, why don’t you email the link to us?
I can’t find where to e-mail this site.
Mym email address is hollyrob@earthlink.net &Joe’s is gandypro@gmail.com
Here is Laura’s link to an article in defense of John Kerry from the Emerging Democratic Majority weblog:
CLICK HERE
Relax, Joe. Just because some scribe for the AP decided to put one of those “it almost writes itself” stories together doesn’t mean you have to worry about Nuancy Boy getting the Democratic nomination in 2008. Check out Kerry’s stock at Tradesports, where folks have to bet with their wallet. He’s behind Gore, Richardson, Biden, Edwards, even Feinstein; forget about Hillary and Warner, the two front-runners.
The notion that Kerry ran an awful campaign has to bump up against reality at some point. He lost by about 2.5 percentage points, to an incumbent president in wartime, with a good economy. Yes, I can point to dozens of mistakes he made (especially not apologizing for his Senate Foreign Relations testimony in 1971), but somehow he overcame this incompetence to come within a whisker of pulling off a huge upset.
That’s because there were a lot of folks who wanted to cast an anti-Bush vote. Anybody who’s a political pro or political scientist will tell you they ain’t gonna wanna clone that campaign in the future…
Bashing John Kerry is proof of the very reason the Democrats have been losing….because they are weak and love infighting and repeating Rove lines. It amazes me. Rove loves to see this.
The TRUTH is this: John Kerry was and STILL IS an excellent candidate. In fact, I consider him the very best from ANY party. He brings to the table unquestioned integrity, which the Clintons lack. You won’t have to worry about scandals involving interns or corruption with Kerry.
More important, is his domestic and foreign policies. Kerry has laid out a clear exit strategy for Iraq. He has an excellent plan to secure the loose nuclear materials in the Soviet Union which Bush ignores and which is the real lethal threat to the world. He has an EXCELLENT and detailed energy policy which would eliminates our long term dependency on foreign oil. He is protective of the environment.
Kerry also has a strong domestic agenda, which focuses on getting EVERY American insured. He has excellent fiscal policies which create new jobs in America. He OPPOSED the CAFTA agreement which encourages US corporations to outsource. He stands up for civil rights ALL of the time, not only when it’s fashionable like others. Meanwhile Hillary Lieberman sucks up to the GOP.
How quickly you forgot Kerry’s inspirational convention speech. How Kerry flattened Bush in the debates which Gore was unable to do! How Bush shivered in fear when they shook hands prior to the first debate. How Bush was in tears at 5pm on November 2nd. Trust me, Bush feared Kerry and the GOP fears another Kerry run. He came within a hair against a wartime incumbent.
Consider this next time you wanna bash a great American. It is YOU who refuse to fight. Kerry brushed himself off and has been fighting 24 hrs a day every day for YOU and every other American since…unlike Al Gore who disappeared for four years. He’s got guts! While you complain and repeat Rove lines, John Kerry is helping democrats win in 2006 and then in 2008. America needs his leadership more than ever!!!!!!!! He will have my unwavering support in 2008 and you should support him too if you want a better America!
How quickly you forgot Kerry’s inspirational convention speech
You mean the one where he talked about how he learned on the river that when taking enemy fire you, you turn the boat into that fire and take it on? So when the swift boat boys went after him, did he? No. Has he still released all his medical records, that he said he would on national TV? Only to a limited number of people friendly to him. Is this the integrity you speak of? For the first time in my life I didn’t vote for FOR some one. Bush was my anti-Kerry vote, and a reluctant one at that. And I know many people who voted with the same reluctance. Most of us would have prefered to have not voted at all, but I do remember Kerry in the seventies.
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TITLE: Kerry 2008?
BLOG NAME: The Glittering Eye
My blog-friend Joe Gandelman is worried that John Kerry will run for the presidency again in 2008:
Oh, please, God, don’t let it be true…Don’t make me go through it again (I don’t have the disposable income for the amount of R…
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TITLE: The Return Of John Kerry In 2008?
BLOG NAME: Booker Rising
The Moderate Voice, a moderate-liberal blog, hopes not: “(1) His campaign was one of the most poorly run in recent memory — almost as hugely bungled as the campaign of Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’. (2) He started out being charisma …