Posted on 03/20/2005 6:29:03 AM PST by bitt
Some backers won't count him out. Others don't want a "shopworn" candidate.
WASHINGTON - John Kerry had come so close; on election night, before the dream died, his chief strategist had even said, "Let me be the first to call you Mr. President." Yet there he was on Inauguration Day, a mere spectator wearing a wan smile in the cold wind.
And when President Bush took the oath of office, Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa seated beside Kerry, placed his gloved right hand on the vanquished candidate's spine. He rubbed up and down, repeatedly. And as Bush intoned, "... so help me God," Harkin finished with a pair of gentle pats.
Those gestures spoke volumes about Kerry's sense of loss. And Kerry would not have the luxury of recuperating in private. He couldn't grow a beard and vanish, as Al Gore did; he couldn't go to Hawaii and teach college, as Mike Dukakis finally did. No, Kerry had to go back to his day job - becoming the first losing presidential candidate to return to the Senate since George McGovern in 1973.
But unlike McGovern, who stayed low-profile after a landslide defeat, John Kerry is already working hard on a resurrection. In a rudderless, leaderless Democratic Party, he is determined to fill the vacuum.
And don't be shocked if he launches another presidential candidacy in 2008, despite the fact that no U.S. senator has ever run, lost, and won a subsequent nomination. History notwithstanding, however, it may not be easy for Kerry to simply walk away, not after winning 59 million votes - although there are plenty of Democrats who wish that he would.
There he was Thursday, for example, in a Washington hotel, with that familiar ramrod posture, and the familiar portentous voice projecting...
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
In the words of Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina party chairman, "Hey, what if Napoleon had had B-52s? Then we'd all be speaking French.....
Kerry ping
let me know if you want on or off.
Failed presidential candidates are like toilet paper--they're not reusable.
Well, Nixon came back.
It sounds a little gay to me.
That's not the best example.
No, boob, if 60,000 Ohoians switched their votes you would have still lost!
When Hillary has had enough of Sen. Kerry, expect a new call for him to sign Form-180!! hehe
What?? No Barf Alert??
At least Kerry has a spine, unlike the con artist who served two terms but never won a majority of the votes.
Glee describes perfectly what I feel when I think of that snake losing.
If 4600 voters in New Hampshire had switched to Bush, Ohio wouldn't have mattered.
Dukakis/Mondale in 08!
The voters of Iowa should send Tom Harkin back where he came from next election. Then he and Kerry can lovey dovey each other until their hearts are content.
They should be giving him the outright, "Don't come back, ever" reminder.
I honestly think what has happened to the dems is they got sick of having to lie constantly about what they stood for and now are showing their true colors and the country is not gonna stand for such pure anti-american socialistic idiocy on every issue.
>>he is determined to fill the vacuum
Kerry: (to use a slogan Electrolux once did)
he REALLY sucks! :)
"No, Kerry had to go back to his day job - becoming the first (But not the last, Hillary!) losing presidential candidate to return to the Senate since George McGovern in 1973."
That's better.
Yes. We DO have work ahead of us, that's for sure. Kerry came waaaay too close for comfort for me. And to think of Teh-Ra-Zah as our First Lady? E-Gads! *SHIVER*
I'll do my part.
http://www.50states.com/2000/
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