WSJ: Campaign Is Becoming A Character Study

[question everything]

Bush, Kerry Partisans Try to Use Candidates' Personalities to Shape
How Voters View Issues

By JACOB M. SCHLESINGER and GREG HITT
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 13, 2004; Page A4


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Yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell, himself a Vietnam combat veteran, was dragged into the Vietnam-era controversy, repeating on talk shows his disdain for policies that allowed well-connected young men like President Bush to avoid the draft. "That system was disturbing to me," he said on ABC's "This Week," though he made a point of saying both his boss and Mr. Kerry had "served honorably" and were "discharged honorably."

The character tilt to the campaign so far has helped Mr. Bush and could continue to give him an edge if it remains the dominant theme through the fall. Republicans have been more persistent with personal attacks against Mr. Kerry than Democrats have been against Mr. Bush... Democrats also risk taking the focus off the economy, health care, and Iraq, where polls show voters still have serious concerns about Mr. Bush's record. A character debate "is clearly much more effective for Bush because it takes him away from the issues," says Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, which analyzes public opinion. "Kerry has to talk about how bad conditions are."

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With terrorism and pocketbook concerns looming large in 2004, both campaigns are trying to tie character questions to the larger issues. For six months, the Bush campaign has cast Mr. Kerry as a "flip-flopper," in a bid to portray him as someone insufficiently resolved to combat terrorism... The Democrats are playing catch-up in the character spat. The Democratic National Committee's internal slogan of "Fortunate Son" is a bid to show Mr. Bush as person who grew up in privilege -- which allowed him to avoid the Vietnam War and shirk National Guard duties -- and who continues to favor the elite.

"It's not enough to say that the Bush presidency is a failure, that he has made a series of disastrous choices on the economy, on health care, on foreign policy," said Joe Lockhart, one of several former Clinton aides hired recently by the Kerry campaign to hone its message. "You have to get to the why, and that gets you to character," Mr. Lockhart added. "When it comes to George Bush, the special interests always get taken care of first, and the middle class is left with the crumbs."

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URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109503379554715908,00.html

Write to Jacob M. Schlesinger at [e-mail] and Greg Hitt at [e-mail]