Kerry set to move on '04 run

The Boston Globe ^ | 11/10/2002 | Glen Johnson

[cloud8]

Kerry set to move on '04 run

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 11/10/2002

NASHUA - Senator John F. Kerry will file a statement of candidacy for the presidency this month, according to a top aide, the first official step toward a campaign the senator believes can be won largely in northern states with an aggressive defense of Democratic ideals.

The Massachusetts Democrat is expected to offer a detailed prescription for restoring the economy, including restructuring the president's tax cut toward the middle class, a major component of his campaign.

On Friday, Kerry met with an array of Democratic leaders in the first presidential primary state and blamed his party's poor showing in the midterm elections on its failure to offer a clear, positive vision for the country. He also credited President Bush's success in focusing the nation on the national security risks posed by Iraq.

Kerry told the Globe in an interview that Iraq poses a threat with potential weapons of mass destruction, but none greater than it has posed for years and not one that had to be addressed with a congressional debate in the two months before an election.

Click here for the rest of the article.

[cloud8]

This guy's initials are actually JFK, which Boston talkmeister Howie Carr says stands for "Just for Kerry." We call him Senator Heinz, after his ketchup heiress wife Teresa, whose fortune he is using to bankroll his political career. He was re-elected Tue. with 81% running against an unknown Libertarian. You'll be hearing more from Sen. Heinz, I can assure you.

[billorites]

John Kerry is a male bimbo.

[laconic]

Kerry has five distinct advantages: 1) he has a very rich wife, with an estimated net worth of $500 million; 2) for what cross-ethnic appeal is left in a state that just elected a Mormon governor, his father was Green Irish and his mother was old-line Massachusetts WASP; 3) he's articulate; 4) he's a decorated war veteran, even with his subsequent antiwar activities; and 5) he has "Kennedy hair". I suspect there's a lot more depth to John Kerry than the vacuous boob from North Carolina, John Edwards (not the intelligent one who communicates with the dead on TV).

[mhking]

So he becomes the first distinguished victim competitor, eh?

[denydenydeny]

There's a winning strategy--concede half the country to start. This allows Bush to concentrate on those 2000 states that went for Gore by small margins: Iowa, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington, and to snipe away in California. I look forward to it.

[cgbg]

So we probably have Kerry, Dodd and Lieberman just from New England alone.

Then we have Gephardt, Gore (?), Biden (?), Kerry Nebraska (?), Hillary (?), Barnes (oops--torched last week-bwahaha), Edwards (?).

So somewhere from 4 to 9. More?

What a circus....

[Dog]

So Kerry's wife is going to let him spend some of John Heinz's money??

[Boston Tea Party]

Gosh, are you as excited as I am at this news?

BTW -- it is worth noting that although Kerry had no Republican opponent last Tuesday, he only got 80% of the vote in Massachusetts. The other 20% went to a totally obscure Libertarian. As one writer (in the American Prowler) put it, the 20% decided to vote for anyone other than "that b@$tard". I was one of the 20% ;-)

[Tacis]

Well, this will give all the regular media someone against whom to measure Bush's performance. The NYT will print an endless series of articles pointing out how Kerry would have done and, therefore, how Bush probably should have done it. Of course, the regular media will NEVER print anything negative about a dem candidate for president so, as always, we'll have to rely on this site, cable and talk radio for the truth.

Does it accomplish anything to simply not buy anything that Heinz makes? Seems a little early and he isn't a serious contender, just one with a very wealthy wife who thinks she'd make a splendid first lady.

[SamAdams76]

GOP stategist Ron Kaufman was quoted as saying the other day, "God can't be so good as to give us another Massachusetts Democrat to run against." Kaufman was involved in the Bush Sr. campaign to defeat Massachusetts Democrat Mike Dukakis in the 1988 campaign.

In other words, the Bush camp is saying "Bring it on!"

Kerry is going to be a much more formidable candidate than Mike Dukakis, in my opinion. He is out of the gate a bit early though and he may peak too soon.

[Boston Tea Party]

Was't Kerry the Dukakoid's Lt. Governor?

[Semper Paratus]

Kerry is going to be a much more formidable candidate than Mike Dukakis, in my opinion.

You have to admit that's not saying much, however off all the potential candidates he is the most savy.
That won't help his electoral demographics, what southern state will he carry?

[browardchad]

Kerry told the Globe in an interview that Iraq poses a threat with potential weapons of mass destruction, but none greater than it has posed for years and not one that had to be addressed with a congressional debate in the two months before an election.

That's good. Keep telling the American people that 9/11 was just a fluke, there's no state sponsorship of terrorism, and there's no urgency involved. Keep up the same head-in-the-sand mentality that got us to 9/11. That's the ticket.

[ctonious]

John Kerry is a male bimbo.

And a gigolo as well.

[SBprone]

I think his war record is a wash. He's told some lies about what he really did to get those decorations and his lies, not his deeds, make him look like less than a hero.

Had he told the truth about who he killed and why, he would be seen as an honorable combat veteran.

[OldFriend]

Hilarious.....he's for KYOTO and letting the UN decided US foreign policy. Sounds like his rhetoric was written by Albore's speech writers. GO KERRY GO........lol

[CasearianDaoist]

He really should have just kept his trap shut. That whinny piece in the NYT Sunday magazine a year ago was sickening. GWB will have been a seasoned CinC by then (shoot, he is one now.) How are we to feel about a SEAL that is ambivalent about his and is brother SEALS sevice?

[SamAdams76]

Yes, but for a short time. If my memory is correct, he was elected as Lt. Governor in 1982 but then won his senate seat in 1984.

[Jorge]

For some reason I just can't see this guy winning the Presidency...for one thing he isn't very appealing before the camera..he's homely and has a dull personality.