Kerry faces battle for antiwar bloc's vote

The Boston Globe ^ | 4-23-04 | By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Senator John F. Kerry may have won the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he still faces a fight for the hearts and minds of the party's antiwar wing.

With violence surging in Iraq, voters who want a quick end to the US-led occupation are shaping up as a potentially critical constituency, and Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is making a direct pitch for their support in November.

Meanwhile, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, a vocal war critic, continues to campaign in the hope of exerting influence at the Democratic convention in July.

Leaders of progressive groups who are backing Kerry despite reservations about his Iraq stands say they doubt Nader will peel away significant support from Kerry in the fall election. They say their members know that the stakes are too high, that the race against President Bush will be close, and that votes for Nader even could be political suicide.

[snip]

[ken5050]

Kerry, and the dems nationally, face a reverse tipping point on this issue...if his poll numbers continue to drop, then the hard left wing of the Dem aprty will be more apt to either vote for Nader or stay home....Look..right now Kerry's latest position on Iraq is far closer to Bush than it is to Nader...

[Kenton]

Meanwhile, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, a vocal war critic, continues to campaign in the hope of exerting influence at the Democratic convention in July.

Kucinich must be ecstatic over this story. This is the first time I've even seem him mentioned in print since Edwards dropped out of the race.

As a Cleveland-area resident, I've always felt that Kucinich represented everything that was wrong with the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. It's nice to see that even the Democrats consider him to be too radical, too weird, and just too damn geeky to represent them. It gives me hope.... kind of...

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The name John Kerry stands for only one thing in my mind: rejection of American valor. I have no other association with that name.

If/as he rejects the irresponsible bugout position, that leaves nothing of him but the Cheshire Cat's grin. I just don't get it. I didn't see how any of the Democrat wannabes were presidential timber, with the slight (in Democratic primary terms) exception of Joe Lieberman. A "good" Democratic candidate always got my blood boiling; these guys in general and Kerry in particular aren't even up to that.

Rush Limbaugh obviously sees it the same way. Clinton was an uncertain trumpet as a president, but as a political leader he obviously was quite effective. You listen to Kerry and you just don't care.

[America's Resolve]

that the race against President Bush will be close,

I don't think its going to be all that close. I think it's the media talking out their butts again, just like in the last two elections.

I mean, "It's not my SUV, it's the family's."? Comeon!!!!

Who's gonna buy that drivel???