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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
His campaign's in disarray, his message is muddled, and the media has narrowed its focus to Wesley Clark vs. Howard Dean. But backers insist the combat veteran is ready for a long battle.
Sep 19, 2003 | When John Kerry lost his voice at two crucial moments early in the Democratic presidential primary race -- during the first Democratic debate in South Carolina in May and again at the AFL-CIO candidates forum in August -- it was hard not to see his hoarseness as a metaphor for his troubled campaign. Howard Dean had seized the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire and was making headlines as the grass-roots favorite who could harness the outrage of the party's base and ride it to the nomination. Kerry was having a hard time projecting his complex message above the pro-Dean din.
Now, a month after his last bout with voicelessness, Kerry supporters are insisting their candidate has found himself and is coming on strong with a new amped-up appeal. A new TV spot declares that the man who fought in Vietnam and then led antiwar protests can bring the same "courage" to providing "affordable healthcare, rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy, really investing in our kids." With Kerry accused of being programmed and passionless, the spot begins with film footage of arguably his most memorable political moment, as a recently returned veteran asking the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam?"
But Kerry's new message is in danger of being drowned out by the excitement surrounding retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who announced his candidacy Wednesday, as well as static from his own troubled campaign, whose talented but top-heavy staff is squabbling over whether to bash Dean or take a more statesmanlike approach.
Clark's candidacy is bad news for all the Democratic contenders, but especially for Kerry, who can no longer say he is the only candidate with the credibility on national security that comes from military service. The interest in Clark, which ranges from New York Rep. Charles Rangel to influential labor leader Gerald McEntee (who had earlier hinted that he supported Kerry) to members of former President Bill Clinton's inner circle (and perhaps the former president himself), suggests that Democrats want to run a more compelling version of the war hero Kerry for president -- or balance a nominee other than Kerry with a vice presidential candidate who has experience defending the nation. Maybe most important, Clark's dramatic entry into the race increasingly has the media treating the nomination battle as a two-man contest between Clark and Dean, with other candidates, including Kerry, mere also-rans.
Meanwhile, Kerry communications director Chris Lehane resigned Monday, and his departure attracted attention to disarray within Kerry's campaign. Current and former Kerry associates describe different fault lines -- Senate staffers vs. campaign staffers; newer Washington-based staffers and consultants vs. older Boston friends; liberal populists vs. "New Democrat" centrists; and even, sometimes, the candidate and his wife, the outspoken Teresa Heinz Kerry (both Kerrys, for instance, have publicly lamented not running TV ads sooner, in order to head off Dean), against Kerry's staff.
More staff changes are expected soon, but time is running out on efforts to reorganize the campaign. Kerry has few remaining chances to get his message across and attract the undivided attention of the Democratic activists who dominate early party caucuses and primaries. He didn't stand out in recent Democratic debates in Baltimore and Albuquerque, N.M., where the news was Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman's attacks on Dean. And he was less well-received than Dean, former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in a joint appearance at a conference of the largest AFL-CIO union, the 1.5 million-member Service Employees International Union.
Kerry got a small bounce after he relaunched his campaign early this month with a formal announcement of his candidacy and a four-state tour, taking the lead in two separate national polls conducted by Time/CNN and Fox News. He continues to attract endorsements from leading Democrats, including California Sen. Diane Feinstein, who announced her support Tuesday.
But the Massachusetts senator still trails the former Vermont governor 38 percent to 26 percent in a Boston Globe poll of New Hampshire Democrats, whose early primary is likely to leave the losing New Englander injured or eliminated from the race for the presidential nomination. And lately Kerry has been attracting new and not always positive attention for his campaign's recent barrage of e-mail to journalists attacking Dean for his statements about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his reversal of his support for free trade agreements, and his unsurprising rejection of an invitation from Kerry to debate one-on-one.
"We've noticed for months, but the media is only catching up recently, that Howard Dean has taken different positions about different issues at different times," said the Kerry campaign's press secretary, Robert Gibbs. "It's fair game."
Kerry's campaign wasn't expected to go like this, especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when he seemed to be the strongest candidate the Democrats could field against President Bush. A Vietnam veteran who had earned a Bronze Star and three Silver Stars, a former county prosecutor, and a four-term senator with a liberal voting record and expertise on foreign policy, national defense, and combating terrorism and drug trafficking, Kerry seemed the sort of tough-minded progressive who could rally Democrats in the primaries and reach out to swing voters in the general election.
Moreover, Kerry had the reputation as a skilled infighter who came from behind to win Democratic primaries for lieutenant governor in 1982 and U.S. senator in 1984. He kept his Senate seat against the popular Republican Gov. William Weld in 1996, with the two former prosecutors debating eight times. Many Democratic activists eagerly awaited the devastating counterpunch that the war hero Kerry would deliver against Republicans with no combat experience, including Bush and Vice President Cheney, if they ever dared to question his patriotism.
So why hasn't Kerry caught fire? He has suffered from his muted, muddled message, confused by a campaign that airs its disagreements in public, and his own patrician reserve. Many observers think his manner has only become more subdued after his recovery from prostate cancer earlier this year, although he insists he feels fine and made a full recovery.
At a time of war and recession, core Democrats' twin passions are peace and populism. But Kerry is no longer seen as a peace activist, and he never was a populist.
