Kerry's Senate record may be a liability.

[stickdog]

It's funny. Where are the hit pieces that we saw against Dean when he was in the lead?

When Dean was in the lead, we were treated to opposition attack information as if it were objective breaking news.

In contrast, the anti-Kerry articles coming out now are presented for what they are -- opposition research attacks.

Kerry is the Democrats' Bob Dole. And the media looks like it's going to wait until he has the nomination wrapped up before it lifts a finger to make that perfectly clear.

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01262004/nation_w/132740.asp

Kerry's rival Democrats point to a series of shifting stands on issues, like his qualified praise for the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress and his vote authorizing President Bush to use force in Iraq. They say these are at odds with his claim to be the "real deal" Democratic alternative to Bush, capable of "standing up for people and taking on powerful interests," as he says in his stump speech.

"When it was popular to be a Massachusetts liberal, his voting record was that," said Jay Carson, a Dean campaign spokesman. "When it was popular to be for the Iraq war, he was for it. Now it's popular to be against it, and he's against it. This is a voting record that is a big vulnerability against Republicans in the general election. He's all over the place on this stuff."

The Republicans seek to paint Kerry as voting in lock step with, or even to the left of, his fellow Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy, long a Republican target.

"Whether it's economic policy, national security policy or social issues, John Kerry is out of sync with most voters," the Republican national chairman, Ed Gillespie, said in a speech on Friday.