Posted on 08/31/2004 3:47:16 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
NANTUCKET, Mass. (Aug. 31) - Hours after George W. Bush is to accept the Republican Party's nomination for re-election in New York on Thursday night, Democrat John Kerry plans to respond at Ground Zero of the presidential campaign - Ohio.
Kerry is kicking off the general election in the battleground state that Bush won in the last race, as has every other Republican who's ever been elected president. Kerry plans a rally in Springfield, Ohio, just before midnight Thursday evening with his running mate John Edwards and their wives. Then the Democratic nominee plans a two-day bus tour to the Ohio cities of Newark, Akron and Steubenville.
Kerry is dispatching his three partners to Midwest battlegrounds that Democrat Al Gore won narrowly in 2000 - Teresa Heinz Kerry to Iowa, John Edwards to Wisconsin and Elizabeth Edwards to Michigan.
The tours come after Kerry kept a low profile at his family's Nantucket home during most of the Republican National Convention, with one notable exception. Kerry plans interrupt his getaway Wednesday to speak to the American Legion in Nashville, Tenn.
The Kerrys and Edwardses also had bus tours coming out of the Democratic National Convention five weeks ago, and the trip resulted in positive coverage in the local newspapers and television that reach swing voters.
The four states at the start of the upcoming trip have a combined 54 electoral votes and are among the most frequently visited by the presidential campaigns. The biggest target of the four has been Ohio, which has 20 electoral votes and has been visited 13 times by Kerry so far this year.
Although Bush won the state by four percentage points in 2000, he is vulnerable because the state has lost more than 200,000 jobs since he took office.
Kerry-Edwards campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said the message to voters in the general election kickoff will be that there is a fundamental choice in November - ''four more years of policies that benefit the few and catastrophic successes that blame the military for administration miscalculations, or the Kerry-Edwards plan to build an economy that strengthens and expands the middle class.''
Kerry's campaign plans to return to significant advertising in the coming days after a monthlong break. Kerry was mostly dark during August, except for a few small ad buys in six states to respond to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads that criticized his military record. Kerry was saving his money to pay for the ads that will fuel his final two-month push. However, the Democratic National Committee's independent expenditure office, which can't legally coordinate with Kerry, filled in for him in August, spending some $37 million on ads promoting him and criticizing Bush.
Kerry will spend Sunday at his family home in Pennsylvania, then return to the campaign trail on Labor Day for a series of ''front porch'' visits. Once again, Kerry, Edwards and their wives will spread out to different swing states, this time in front of homes talking to neighborhood voters.
Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson said a high-profile representative of the Kerry campaign will hold one of the visits in every battleground state to promote his agenda. The campaign will pass out copies of the Kerry-Edwards book, ''Our Plan for America,'' which also goes on sale next week to the public for $12.95.
08-31-04 1011EDT
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Kerry's internal numbers are so bad, he's desperate and time's running out. If he sits on his hands during the republican convention and the Swifties keep showing those ads, he's dead as a doornail.
Giuliani and Schwarzenegger should be dispatched to show up in Ohio at the same time. Something like that needs to happen.
That was Al Gore, NOT Dole, that pulled the all-nighter.
Then there should be thousands. I mean he bussed them in when the dems needed folks ... you know how that turned out.
We won.
"Has to get Bush off the next day's front page. So it has to come within the same news cycle. It is an excuse to give the media a chance to not record the Bush speech and accompanying bounce."
I wonder if this is why Kerry arrived in Nashville tonight and did his little speech(after the President left)?
" But nobody will be watching at 1 AM. It is newspaper thinking in a cable and internet age."
John Kerry: Always fighting the last war.
He is toast.
I can't imagine anyone caring what he is going to do after Thursday night. I want to see what kind of reception he is going to get tomorrow at the American Legion.
Kerry is such a DORK, his wife an IDIOT and the Edwards' duo Hillary & Bill clones.
Kerry has NEVER campaigned in a NATIONAL election. It has always been in MA. It's different out here in flyover country.
ROFLOL!
Yes, we Southerners welcome these freaks. If they only knew what a ground game President Bush has going on in flyover country they would just GIVE UP and go home. In fact, I don't think they understand the support the President has in EVERY state. SILENT MAJORITY. LANDSLIDE. 4 MILLION Christian Conservatives (Barry Lynn, the intimidation didn't work). Blacks. Hispanics. Veterans. etc., etc., etc.
They are in for a BIG SURPRISE.
"Kerry would probably get a better response addressing the French Foreign Legion."
Especially since some people that I know have been emailing the American Legion all the things Kerry has said about them and other veterans after Vietnam and every time one of them opens his/her mouth.
You know, if Bush gets ANY bounce, Kerry will go nuclear next week.
Well, get ready for nuclear.
Once Kerry does that he is going to be even bigger toast.
He is not a likable person and attacking President Bush is not going to go over very well. Plus, President Bush won't have to attack Kerry because too many people are willing to do it for the President (including me!).
Well, since it's only been day TWO of the Republican convention, and already John Screw-civility-Kerry is going to campaign on Wednesday, it doen't seem as if he's keeping a very low profile. And for a guy who criticizes and begrudges our hardworking President for even a single day of rest, or even a 7-minute response to a terror-attack - that John F'ing Kerry certainly seems to do a lot of WINDSURFING!@@
Dole did a few also at the end of the campaign. Did like 72 straight hours or something, wanted to show he was not too old as well as try to close the numbers. I remember staying up super super late on a school night cause C-Span was carrying them live.
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