Oh be still my beating heart!
It almost as rich as Gore conferring with Ed Asner and Meathead Reiner for political strategy.
The 2000 election was close because people didn't know George W. that well. Now they know him, know him well, and give him the highest approval ratings of any POTUS at this time in his term. The 'Rats have no positive agenda so all they can do is attack, attack, attack. It will make them all feel better but there is a fundamental fact that smears only work when the electorate doesn't know the man being smeared. Ultimately, people won't vote for negativity--they vote FOR something or someone.
Kerry will be afraid to mouth too much about HIS centrist plans, because they will be so at odds with his past record. Just look at what's happened to him in the last two weeks:
1. Kerry voted for the Iraq war resolution--but he really didn't want George W. to use it to go to war.
2. Kerry voted against the 1991 Desert Storm War resolution, but he was really for it--he just wanted Bush 41 to wait a little longer for more national consensus to build.
3. Kerry's first act as POTUS would be to add 40,000 troops to the military because we're spread too thin. But this is against the backdrop of voting against our military and our intelligence most of the time. Kerry just voted against the 87-billion continuing funding for the Iraq war.
The key for Pres. Bush and Karl Rove is not to counter-attack, but to let Kerry self-destruct with his own words and his own flip-flops.