January 30, 2004
RIPE? HE'S WINDFALL:
Already, GOP framing a Kerry fight: The long-serving Massachusetts senator could be an especially ripe target for Bush. (Linda Feldmann, 1/30/04, CS Monitor)
So far, Sen. John Kerry has won only a fraction of the 2,162 delegates he needs to take the Democratic presidential nomination, but Republicans have already placed him in their sights as the party's most likely opponent in November. The label is already set: He is a Kennedy-Dukakis liberal from Massachusetts.And unlike the seven Democratic candidates, who have burned through millions of dollars battling each other, the Bush reelection team is sitting on a growing mountain of campaign cash, ready to be deployed against President Bush's opponent in the form of ads, direct mail, and other methods. [...]
One veteran political operative, who has amassed a 700-page file on Kerry, cites the senator's votes against major weapons systems in the 1980s and '90s as a point of vulnerability. Kerry also voted against larger intelligence budgets, he says, "which doesn't look good post-9/11." He says Kerry could also face problems over his ties to the telecommunications industry and to various Washington-based lobbying groups. Kerry, with his populist campaign message, bills himself as a champion in the fight against special interests.
Part of the challenge Kerry would face, analysts say, is how to put his entire record in perspective. It would be easy for the Republicans to take Kerry statements and votes out of context, and paint a picture of him that Democrats would find unfair. The Democrats' challenge would be to counter that effectively. By some measures - such as the ranking system of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) - Kerry is among the most liberal members of the Senate. Over the course of his Senate career, Kerry gets a 92 percent rating from the ADA, while Edward Kennedy (D), the senior senator from Massachusetts, has a 90 percent career rating.
How is the fact that he's more liberal than Ted Kennedy over such a long timeframe dependent on context? Posted by Orrin Judd at January 30, 2004 07:53 AM
The context is, he's not even an honest liberal. He likes to waffle and try to have it both ways on issues, at least in speech. But the votes will betray him.
It must be great to be so "electable!"
Posted by: kevin whited at January 30, 2004 09:15 AMDean did GWB a big favor by forcing Kerry to vote against the occupation appropriation in order to prove his anti-war credentials.
Posted by: Chris B at January 30, 2004 09:51 AMSo, Kerry is little better than Dean. This changes nothing. The election is still Bush's to lose. Only Bush, or some major event, can convince a majority to elect a democrat. If the election were held today, Bush wins in a walk. Even Hillary loses a head-to-head contest today.
It's nice to see, though, as November looms closer and closer, that the above remains true. It's also nice to see that the front runner for the left is so vulnerable. Only about 40% will vote for anybody but Bush. There is no third party candidate. Yet. The campaign has not even begun, though.
Posted by: Michael Gersh at January 30, 2004 07:55 PM