No. 1 qualification: Ability to beat Bush!

[wyldwolf]

As Sen. John Kerry moves toward the front of the Democratic pack, one line in his stump speech invariably draws the loudest cheers.

"If George W. Bush wants to make national security the central issue in this campaign, I have three words for him,'' Kerry says, often bringing the crowd to its feet. "Bring it on!''

Nothing stirs passion in a Democratic crowd like the prospect of throwing President Bush out of office. As the seven Democratic candidates for president refine their messages and engage in a frantic scramble for votes in this frigid state, the one issue that moves crowds more than any other is the matter of who can beat Bush.

The issue comes up at every town hall meeting, house party, radio interview or hand-shaking session. Voters ask serious questions about war, taxes, health care and education, yet are mostly unable to identify significant differences among the candidates on policy matters. Sen. John Edwards' "message of hope,'' former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's "you have the power'' and retired Gen. Wesley Clark's "higher standard of leadership'' themes quickly run together in a state saturated with political advertisements.

Yet almost everyone has an opinion on the best way to win back the White House. And after losing the presidency in a bitterly contested election four years ago, and having endured a decade without a majority in Congress, Democrats have developed an urgent sense of pragmatism that leads many to ask first: "Who can win?''

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/22/MNGQF4F7HJ1.DTL

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. One thing we can do right here

is to plan strategies to counter any lies/spin from Bush on whoever is the eventual candidate. I think Dean's loss in Iowa surprised them so they haven't come out with their attacks on Kerry and Edwards (perhaps they have; I haven't read all the recent threads yet), but, rest assured, they will. I have already seen some attacks presented by freepers on other open political discussion boards that tell lies about Clark, Kerry, and Dean.

The thing we need to do is to report these attacks and then find facts that refute them. factcheck.org is a great place to find out the truth-they find out what is really going on and then not only give facts but cite sources.

Whenever an attack is made on any of our candidates, we must employ the truth to counter it. We must come out hitting back hard, telling friends, writing letters to the editor, and refuting freepers who flood political boards with such garbage.

[patricia92243]

2. All candidates will pummeled by the pubs-Dean is only on that has ..

realy HAD to fight back. If any of the others look like "front runners, all their weeknesses, secrets and anything that can be blown up into a big deal will happen..Then can THAT CANDIDATE stand up to it.