Posted on 03/20/2005 1:54:29 PM PST by Cableguy
It seemed as if the campaign had never ended. There was John Kerry standing on a chair in a blue neighborhood of Atlanta, in the Democrat-friendly tavern Manuel's, speaking to 100 folks, many of them wearing Kerry-Edwards T shirts. The Massachusetts Senator insisted that he wasn't "one to lick wounds," but then he did: he noted that Bush had won with the smallest percentage margin ever for an incumbent and complained that the Republican team had six years to develop its electoral strategy while his had only eight months. And although he claimed that "my focus is not four years from now," he made sure his audience knew just how viable a candidate he had been--and could be again. "We actually won in the battleground states," Kerry said, adding that his loss in Ohio was so close that if "half the people ... at an Ohio State football game" had voted differently, he would be in the Oval Office now.
Kerry's words and moves suggest that he thinks Nov. 2, 2004, was merely a detour on his road to the White House. He has been holding private dinners with potential fund raisers and policy advisers, signaling he might run again and blaming his political strategists for many of the mistakes his campaign made last year, such as not responding swiftly to ads attacking his Vietnam service. He has set up a political-action committee to finance his travels around the country, which will include stops in 20 cities over the next two months to give speeches and headline fund raisers for other Democrats. And he is constantly e-mailing his list of more than 3 million supporters to promote causes he championed as a candidate, like expanding health insurance to all children and preventing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Kerry plans to write a book on his views on national security.
Besides stumping and writing, Kerry is hoping to curry favor within the party by donating some of the $14 million left over from his campaign fund. He offered a vote of confidence to former rival Howard Dean, giving the national party $1 million when Dean took over as chairman. He donated $250,000 to the recount effort of Christine Gregoire, who eventually won a very close Governor's race in Washington. Venturing into local politics, he will probably endorse Antonio Villaraigosa in a runoff election for mayor in L.A., choosing a loyal supporter over incumbent James Hahn. "He gets to travel and gets to pick up IOUs," says former party chairman Steve Grossman, a Boston fund raiser who served as Dean's campaign chairman.
Kerry is also embracing the Senate with new fervor. Derided as an absentee Senator by Bush and other critics in 2004, Kerry seems almost everywhere on Capitol Hill these days, introducing bills to expand health care to all children, enlarge the military by 40,000 troops and rewrite election laws to allow any citizen to register to vote on Election Day. "I'm in a position to be more effective on these issues," he says. But some of his powerful colleagues disagree. In a meeting with labor leaders, Kerry questioned whether Democrats had a coherent message opposing Bush's Social Security plan, annoying Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who told Kerry not to lecture him on strategy, considering his failures in the presidential campaign. And some Democrats on Capitol Hill privately scoff at the idea that Kerry--never particularly popular in the Senate--can expect a leadership role just because he won 59 million votes last year. "In terms of having a louder voice in the Senate," says a Senate Democratic staff member, "I seriously doubt that."
In addition, Kerry faces an also-ran problem. "It's been a long time since the Democratic Party gave somebody a second chance," says Grossman. "That's a big challenge to overcome." But it might not be the biggest. Kerry may find that there is little he or any other contender can do to get his party's nomination if Hillary Clinton decides to run. The New York Senator holds a commanding lead in every poll of Democratic voters, and some major party fund raisers are saying they expect her to have a huge financial advantage over her opponents. "She'll crush them all," says a lobbyist who plans to raise funds for 2008 candidates.
But Kerry, for now, doesn't seem daunted. Discussing his health-care bill at a town-hall meeting in Atlanta, he offered advice on how to get it passed that seemed a nod toward his future. "We had a very, very close race," he said. "I've learned in politics that you don't stop. You've got to keep going."
Well, I kind of favor Corsi!! Wonder if he moved to MA yet. He is planning to just for the purpose to take Kerry out of his Senate seat!
Great to see Senator Kerry back in campaign mode.
I guess the Traitor can't add, there aren't enough fags and criminals in the country to vote him in.
Whoever in the US Senate that gave Hanoi Kerry
a Top Secret Clearance HAS seen all his military records.
The FBI, since 9/11, does non military clearances.
His most recent one who have been when he ran against President Bush.
NO ONE gets a Top Secret Clearance WITHOUT agreeing to have all your records released.
Does the DC crowd think "We the People" are stupid?
I don't have this...but there a nudie photo like it.
Wow. Goldie Hawn has a daughter? Kate Hudson?
Well, yeah. I can see a resemblance. :^)
Out of all the Kerry photo-ops that were posted on FR, I missed seeing that one!
lol.
[added to my collection]
Yes! Kate Hudson is Goldie Hawn's daughter!
A Dandy Don fan.
Richard Nixon seems to give people hope, but IMHO his case is different from Kerry. Nixon had been elected V.P. twice and only lost to Kennedy in one of the closest elections ever. Plus he was a tireless worker in campaigning for Pubbies, making connections and collecting IOU's. Finally, Nixon was generally favorably viewed as a mainstream conservative from the West, unlike Kerry who is viewed as definitely liberal and from the Northeast, out of the mainstream.
I would be surprised if the Dims nominate Kerry again, even if Hillary doesn't run.
Prime Choice was the one!
Nixon benefited in 1968 from the turmoil in the Democratic Party, but was he helped or hurt by George Wallace's candidacy? A lot of the 1968 Wallace vote went to Nixon in 1972.
Nixon was closer to the middle of the road than Kerry is, and came from a state with almost 10% of the national population (vs. 3% for Massachusetts). He didn't have to worry about Mamie Eisenhower gunning for him when he ran in 1968. Has Kerry forgotten Vince Foster's fate?
So I take it that he will simply ignore the job he was sent to do. Let's see, he has been away from his job for the better part of a year and a half yet he still has his job. Where else but elected office can you get away with this?
LOL!
Well, Nixon was hurt in 1968 when Wallace won the Deep South to the AIP ticket.
By 1972 Wallace had returned to the Democratic Party, as was the case with the vast majority of Democrat Senators and Governors.
My argument is what helped Nixon with his "southern strategy" in 1972 is the split in the Democrat Party that evolved from around 1967 to 1972, not over civil rights, but over Vietnam and the War on Poverty. By the McGovern nomination it was clear that the liberals had won over the conservatives, which began the realignment of conservative and eventually even moderate Democrats to the Republican party. The "neocons" and "Reagan Democrats" rallied to the Republicans.
The Democrats have never come to terms with the fact that the anti-war liberals split the party around 1970 and have been a minority in national elections ever since.
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