So, has Kerry run a good campaign or not?

[coloradodem2005]

Many here did not seem to have any real complaints until this week. I wonder if there is a sense of being fair weather here. I know that I am that way too, but I have always been a doubting Thomas.

[dennis4868]

1. Seems to me....

that he is running the same campaign as Dukakis...allow the opposition to define you and do not defend yourself when you are attacked by your opponent and the so-called liberal media. I am amazed that Kerry is still neck and neck with Bush in the polls when your opponent lies about you, twist your words, and the media is supporting your opponent....amazing!

[Droopy]

14. Well Kerry can't do anything about the media

And as far as the Republicans lying and twisting words, they've always done that. I haven't been following the news too much, lately, but what Kerry really needs to do as far as these attacks go is just keep telling the truth. I think most people admire honesty. Maybe he should take one speech and address the allegations if he hasn't already. He shouldn't try to use the same tactics that BushCo is using.

[dennis4868]

21. "they've always done that"

yes repubs have always done that. But it is different now. These days Bush and Cheney can say the craziest and most dishonest thing about Kerry and the media picks up on it and runs with it...it goes through a 24 hour news cycle and is talked about non-stop....it then sinks into people heads that what Bush and Cheney have said is true....it must be because the media said so. Back in 1992 the repubs could not get away with this....there was no FOX and CNN was objective. Now Kerry not only has to deal with the lying bastards on the right but the so-called liberal media as well....he is up against so much....just like Al Gore was....it's tough running for prez being a dem these days. If you are a repub you basically get a pass on everything.

[Droopy]

27. I see.

Yes it's unfair, but like I said there's nothing Kerry can do about the media. It sucks that they aren't being objective, but if Kerry starts harping on that you know it's only going to get worse. Kerry should remain cool and talk about what he's going to do to make this a better country. He's a very talented orator when he sets his mind to it. My sister, a Bush voter last time around, saw his speech at the convention and called me up and talked for about a half hour about how great Kerry is. She'll be voting for him. So you see he is reaching people.

[radiclib]

41. Kerry is unwilling to tell the truth about the most important issue

I don't believe for a second that Kerry would have voted for the IWR knowing what is now known. That would make him the nation's biggest warmonger. So why can't he answer HELL NO? Because Bushco would counter with "He wants Saddam back in power!" Granted, it's an infantile tactic on the part of the Repugs, but it will ultimately succeed in forcing Kerry to back off his answer and prove himself to be a "flip flopper". The only way to fight these assholes is to stand up and tell the truth consistently and clearly, and Kerry has demonstrated that he is unwilling to do that, and it makes me sick. And I'm getting damn tired of holding my nose every time I go to the polls.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. Do results matter? Is it about winning on November 2?

Or is it all about how the media spins the latest soundbite?

Gotta pick your criteria, first.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. He's winning.

He's attracting huge crowds. The money has rolled in. There is a huge machine in place.

Now, get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do and we need you to be rested and fresh as a daisy. ;-)

[dennis4868]

10. I remember in 1996....

Bob Dole was getting HUGE crowds and the Big Dog kicked his but on election day....cannot use the crowds as an indicator how things are going...

[Melodybe]

30. Dole's crowds NEVER got as big as these Kerry crowds.

Maybe 20,000 and I am being generous, but still we DO need to stay on our toes.

[Gloria]

25. The "huge machine" has not lifted a finger in refuting very bad

press here in Southern New Mexico regarding base closings (BRAC)
Kerry did a phone interview, the local Gannett paper delivered an editorial not only about BRAC, but repeating all the current GOP attacks
and then Bush showed up.

Not one word in rebuttal. My friend and I worked our butts off researching and preparing a rebuttal....but backed off since we had reason to believe that that the campaign would take the info and use it.

It's Friday and nothing....This all started Tuesday.

This is how you lose the election. This is the district that had the few hundred found votes that gave NM to Gore...and no one is getting off their butts to fight back.

[JohnKleeb]

4. I think he's doing better than a lot of people give him credit for

Can you tell me why a yankee progressive is making in roads in the south? He's doing something right.

[dennis4868]

11. "He's doing something right"

yeah...his opponent is too stupid to be president...

[JohnKleeb]

17. well duh

but Gore wasnt posting the kind of numbers down here in the south that Kerry has been, now was he?

[dennis4868]

23. that is because....

when Gore ran against TO STUPID TO BE PRESIDENT, Bush did not have a presidential record that Gore could attack....Bush had not started an illegal war yet and ruined the economy....Kerry has an advantage over Gore because people in the south can easily see what a miserable failure Bush is...they could not do that back in 2000.

[JohnKleeb]

24. Still

The fact that its possible for Kerry to win Virginia is amazing, you realize that we last went democratic for LBJ and that was a close one. No, actually many people in the south like Bush as a person alot, its ad to say but its true, yes but Bush did have a record and a bad one as governor of Texas, sorry but I think its pretty pathetic that Gore, a moderate southerner did as bad as he did down here and Kerry a more liberal new englander may get the same kind of southern support Clinton got.

[Sloppyfourths]

5. I think since the convention he has run a bad campaign.

But campaign's have a ebb and flow to them so, we'll see.

[Downtown Hound]

6. YES!

Consider where Bush was last year. He was supposedly invincible. No way would the Dems have a shot at the White House this year, they all said.

Well, Kerry leads in every poll except Gallup, which is a Bush shill machine. Gallup polls are crap, don't pay any attention to them, even when they show Kerry ahead. He is way ahead in the electoral vote, he is drawing enormous crowds, and he's going to win. We shouldn't relax but we need not worry so much. Kerry is winning this campaign!

[coloradodem2005]

8. Last year was a terrible year. Wasn't it?

The year before was also shitty.

[Melodybe]

12. Yes last year sucked major ass, and 2002 was the worst.

It is kind of a toss up, all four years are so horribly bad.

[coloradodem2005]

18. You mean between 2001-2004?

2001 was a decent year for me until 9/11. I was not happy about Bush but I didn't think that it was a bad year until 9/11.

2002 sucked like nobody's business.

2003 sucked even harder.

2004 is looking better, but it is still a ways from being good.

[Downtown Hound]

16. Last year was actually good for me personally

but it sucked for the rest of the world. Yeah, it drove me crazy with all of the Bush worship going on, but it's coming to an end. Here's what you need to know. In 2000, Bush led Gore in almost every national poll right up until the election. And guess what, Gore actually got more votes, and would have won the electoral vote if dimwit hadn't stolen it.

Bush is now polling lower in all cases than he did in 2000. There are very few people who voted for Gore that are switching to Bush this time around. There are however, a lot of former Bush folks that'll be going Kerry this time. All Kerry has to do is keep all the Gore states and pick up either one major Bush state (Florida or Ohio) or several smaller states (West Virginia, New Hampshire, Nevada, Missouri). Will he do it? I'm almost certain he will.

[coloradodem2005]

20. Last year was irredeemably bad for me.

As it was for the world.

[Downtown Hound]

22. Sorry to hear that

Hopefully, 2005 will be a time of bright new beginnings!

[Melodybe]

7. If we have a fair election Kerry will win by a landslide.

You should call a few congressmen and express you concerns about BBV, it always makes me feel better.

Capital Switch Board:
[phone]

Kerry hit it out of the park with his acceptance speech, every dem I know that saw it was blown away. Even a few of my friends who are not remotely politically active spent the time to watch his speech, said that they even teared up during his speech.

Kerry is bringing in tens of thousands of people at every campaign stop. People are fainting and swooning at the mere sight of him. We are doing better than I ever imagined, all we have to worry about is another stolen election. If you had told me a year ago that people would be fainting out of joy for John Kerry, I would have laughed my ass off.

Funny how things change, I can't even say that I wouldn't faint for the man. I have never fainted before, but it could happen.

Kerry is running an exceptional campaign and the knowledge that he is sitting on Iran-Contra makes me very happy. Zogby says that Kerry is a strong finisher, Kerry hasn't even unfastened his halster yet, and the best the repugs can do is make up swift boat lies. If they had anything on Kerry they would have unleashed it by now, they got nothing but lies and the media.

If dems can keep it together we can walk away with it.

[glarius]

9. He seems to have overcome the "stiff, boring, unapproachable" label!

Have you noticed CNN is not harping on Kerry being "stiff and boring and unapproachable and Patrician (whatever that means)" anymore?....With all the pictures they've shown of him at gatherings, it has been so apparent that he is at ease and connecting very well with the people, that I guess they realize they can not keep on labeling him that way!....Ha ha ha....I think it's funny!

[Melodybe]

13. You are right I hadn't noticed that, only the late night hosts still say

that, and they are always a bit behind the times with those kinds of jokes.

Nice catch!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

19. We've gotta keep that alive - Bush is gonna cream Kerry in the debates

because Kerry is so stiff.

[WindRavenX]

38. The format of the debates is bad

IF the format of the debates was NOT that POS "one minute response", Kerry would slaughter W. However, if the current format is used, W will be able to dodge virtually every single question handed to him by doing what he does best: repeat words, define phrases, and attribute it, somehow, to the question asked. It looks great. Kerry, because he is long winded (I love listening to him, but I must acknowledge that I have a very long attention span :) ), will look slow compared to W even though Kerry can whip W on the issues like nobody's business.
W won the 2000 debates with low expectations. Although I want to tell people that Kerry will whip W, I am keeping it on the downlow so not to have too high of expectations for the debates.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

40. Where are you getting your information about the format?

http://www.debates.org/pages/news_040617.html

[OneBlueSky]

15. again, as long as BushCo is setting the agenda . . .

and defining Kerry for the voters, any lead Kerry might have is by no means secure . . . Kerry needs to be the one setting the agenda, and he needs to be going after Bush and telling the truth about this administration . . . if he can't (or won't) do that, I doubt that he'll still be ahead in the polls when it counts . . .

[madrchsod]

26. no

but it is better than bush`s ...at least one can get to see Kerry without signing a loyalty oath

[rocktivity]

28. If you go by the polls he is, but he's being too nice to the Bush camp

and that will certainly catch up with him.

Kerry's making a statement that the liberal-hostile media easily spun to his supporting the Iraq invasion undermines the lack of WMDs. His being photographed in a powder blue jumpsuit undermines Bush's "Mission Accomplished" flyboy stunt. The purpose of the smear-boater campaign was clearly to distract from Bush's AWOL problems. And when Cheney mocked Kerry's speaking of "sensitive" warfare, his rapid response team didn't seem to notice that Bush had said the exact same thing. Way to nail down those undecideds!

I know Kerry wants to accentuate the positive and let Bush wallow in his own sleaze, but that's no reason to keep silent when he attacks--especially when all he has to say is what I just did:

"Would I have supported the war if I knew then what I knew now? That's a red herring--that's not the point. The point is, what DID Bush know then--and how much did fabricate to get what he wanted?"

"This an embarassingly obvious attempt to patch over the holes in Mr. Bush's own miltary record."

"If I'm too 'sensitive' to be a good commander-in-chief, then I guess Mr. Bush is, too!"

"The suit I wore when I toured NASA was regulation. It's worn for safety reasons, not political ones."

See? He can hit Bush back without "stooping to his level." All he has to do is stick to the facts!

:headbang:
rocknation

[ensemble]

39. Iraq war...

"Would I have supported the war if I knew then what I knew now? That's a red herring--that's not the point. The point is, what DID Bush know then--and how much did fabricate to get what he wanted?"


Yeah this one is especially troubling to me. Kerry appears to be anti-war to dispatch Dean, but now says he would have attacked Iraq too.

The majority of Dems think attacking Iraq was not justified... His position makes him look inconsistent and, in the end, not much different than Bush. I think the Kerry campaign is fishing for the centrist vote, but the danger here is that people on the left become disheartened.

Anyway, either you avoid the question or you take the position of most of your base. I think they are making a mistake here.

[kclown]

29. Kerry has a pattern for this

He starts slowly and finishes strong.  He has won 4 Senate
campaigns against what initially looked like strong opponents.

He is keeping his powder dry.  In October we will hear
"Where are the WMD's?"  "Let us count the
lies".  "We will be greeted with flowers". And
my favorite, "Iraq is a country that can largely finance
its own reconstruction."'

Bush will lose not because he is a liar but because he cannot
tell the difference between truth and lies.  

Kerry knows when the election will be decided, and it is not
now.  Patience, comrades.

[JohnKleeb]

31. thank you, this is quite true

Take the primaries for instance, slow start but amazing finish. His race against William Weld was a hard fought yet deceisively won battle.

[Melodybe]

32. Right on, Kclown, Oh don't forget about Iran-Contra.

:evilgrin:

[JohnKleeb]

33. you really seem to like that heh

Not saying its not great, its great that Kerry is the guy who exposed Iran-Contra.

[Chomskyite]

34. Lacking in the aggressive moves necessary to pull ahead

When you read about the great Democratic campaigns, there are always instances when the candidate makes a series of bold, risky moves and as a result pulls ahead.

Kerry has shown an absolute aversion to making these moves, even when the opportunity presented itself.

[WilliamPitt]

35. Brilliant campaign

If any of you fucking geniuses can figure out a way around this...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3222-2004May30_3.html


...plus the native media bias, I'm all ears.

[Democat]

36. How about taking a vacation while the attacks come at you from all over?

Maybe that will help? :(

[WilliamPitt]

37. Everyone needs rest

and the real shit don't start until after the RNC. The party is September and October. Always has been.