He really does appear to be a very weak candidate. My suspicion is that is not an accident.
Don't forget, McAuliffe knocked himself out "front-loading" the primaries schedule to get a Dem candidate as early in the year as possible. Kerry is the result.
So, what's he supposed to do between now and November? Argue with President Bush? Of course, this does leave him hanging out there as a target for a longer period than ever before in presidential election history. Plenty of time for the Clintoon Cabal to give him a good working over...leaning on people and leaking behind the scenes, of course.
What with that braying, whiny voice of his, plus his arrogance, the disgrace of the Winter Soldier interlude, his whiplash-inducing policy reversals, tendency to speak out of both sides of his mouth at once, and disgraceful voting record in the Senate, my prediction is that most folks will be sick of him in no time.
And then, when Clintoon factotems like Chris Lehane and Harold Ickes get done with him, he'll be a twitching corpse bleeding on the floor -- and Hitlery will step over the body in her haste to get to her "coronation"....
Kerry would have to be certifiably nutz to put her on the ticket with him: She would upstage and undermine him at every turn. But then, I really do believe she wants the Veep slot, and right now! (Which means she's probably going to get it, by hook or by crook.)
"People just love me, and I can raise a ton of money," saith the Goddess: In the end, it may all come down to money. The size of Bush's campaign war chest is giving the Dims fits. Bush will have the luxury of leaving the vilification of his opponent to folks inside the Dim party and spend his ample cash running a clean, idea-driven and policy focused campaign.
Well, that's my speculation, for whatever it's worth. Who knows if it's true at this point? We'll just have to wait and see how this charming little intramural struggle plays out....