Friends Don't See Kerry Fading Away

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and JENNIFER PETER, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON - Like many presidential candidates before him, John Kerry must now decide what to do with the rest of his political life. While he relaxed at his Boston home on Friday, elsewhere friends, colleagues and presidential historians said they didn't see the Democrat fading into political obscurity like the last Massachusetts politician who ran and lost, Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Instead, they said he would probably take the road less traveled by recent senators who tried and failed to take the White House, and remain a strong voice in Congress on issues he cared about.


"He has a lot to say," Kerry's former chief of staff David Leiter said Friday. "Dukakis faded into the sun. I don't see that in Kerry."


Dukakis agreed. In a Senate that just lost Democratic leader Tom Daschle in a narrow South Dakota race, Kerry "could become a very strong voice for a strong opposition," said Dukakis.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/kerry_now_what

[alittlelark]

1. Screw that, we need his voice in regards to this FRAUDULANT election

And we need it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JI7]

2. that's something he always has been

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Good for him.

I, for one, will not allow present circumstances, and past, to erode my respect for the man. Note: I am not, however, succumbing to sycophancy. That said, this book has not been written completely, yet. Not at all.

[alevensalor]

4. I don't want him

in the Senate, I want him in the White House. Screw that, get out there and fight them, Mr. Kerry!

~A!

[MissMarple]

5. That's the Kerry we voted for. Good for you, John!

Here I stay, here I stand. :bounce:

[Nightwing]

6. Stand up and fight Senator Kerry!!

You promised us you would! You dishonor all of us that poured our sweat and hearts out to make you the next President if you back down now!!

Fight these crooks till hell freezes over!!

[n2mark]

11. And he will

be for all of us! Don't give up on him yet, He fought against the Viet Nam war and he fought corruption in the WH, let him do what he thinks is best right now.

We all want him to fight voter corruption, but like Gore he would probably lose. Let's return him to the senate where he can really fight without the legal fight without losing credibility. To be honest if he fought this election in the courts we would be the losers. Honestly he always fought for the truth, how about we give him the chance? I really believe he knows what he is doing to put Shrub and Rove over the coals.

You all said Gore took his fight to the Supreme Court, yet, Gore did not support the black people at the end -- he could have received the signatures, but at the end he refused also.

The difference my folks between Gore and Kerry is --- Gore had no place to go, Kerry can return to the Senate and fight. Don't tell me how brave Gore was because he requested a recount, he duped the people at the end too. Please remember MM movie 9/11.

Let Kerry return to the Senate, let him fight, and if he doesn't support us, then let's get the BBQ going. Let's just wait to see what he has up his sleeve.... just remember he got daddy bush, so maybe he will get sonny bush.

[DemBones DemBones]

7. If he can't stand for us for a few days,

what do I care about his future?

It's rumored that there is 45 million dollars left in his campaign war chest, earmarked for post-election legal battles, and Kerry gets to keep the money.

If that's true, I think he ought to send the money back to us. It was a sacrifice for many of us to give it and it was not given to enrich him personally.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. It's rumored that there is 45 million dollars left in his campaign?

Care to give a source.

[Rose Siding]

13. link

the totals are different, but...

WASHINGTON, November 1, 2004 — Sen. John F. Kerry may have a $24.8 million advantage over President George W. Bush in pursuing any recounts that result from Tuesday's election, according to the campaigns' most recent financial filings.

Under Federal Election Commission rules, both candidates are allowed to use remaining funds from their primary election committees to conduct recount activities, which in Kerry's case amounts to just under $45 million. That compares to just more than $16 million left over in the Bush/Cheney primary election committee's coffers.

Those funds, combined with the cash on hand each campaign reported for accounting and legal costs, give Kerry a total of $51.6 million that could possibly be used for potential recounts, according to the campaign's pre-General Election filings.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/bop2004/report.aspx?aid=418&sid=200

[n2mark]

14. No

but email him and ask him about this money. Don't ask me because I am not questioning at this point and am not directly involved in the process. My feeling is if you have questions -- go directly to the horses mouth. Stop complaining ask Kerry directly. If he doesn't respond ask again and then say you are taking this further whatever to the Fair Election Board. Your creating negative crap to DU is not solving your problem but only creates more negative feelings. Don't question here waiting for an answer, go to the real source and receive an answer. You have responsibility for your own information -- go get the truth in the correct places.

[Garbo 2004]

15. Here's one source:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/bop2004/report.aspx?aid=418&sid=200

Kerry Almost Doubles Bush's Recount Funds
Primary campaign funds give Kerry the edge

By Alex Knott

WASHINGTON, November 1, 2004 — Sen. John F. Kerry may have a $24.8 million advantage over President George W. Bush in pursuing any recounts that result from Tuesday's election, according to the campaigns' most recent financial filings.

Under Federal Election Commission rules, both candidates are allowed to use remaining funds from their primary election committees to conduct recount activities, which in Kerry's case amounts to just under $45 million. That compares to just more than $16 million left over in the Bush/Cheney primary election committee's coffers.

Those funds, combined with the cash on hand each campaign reported for accounting and legal costs, give Kerry a total of $51.6 million that could possibly be used for potential recounts, according to the campaign's pre-General Election filings. By contrast, the Bush campaign has $26.8 million. Bob Biersack, spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission, said "it's possible" that Kerry could use the leftover $45 million from his primary funds for recounts. "There should not be any problem with them using primary funds for a recount," Biersack told the Center for Public Integrity. "One of the clearly permissible uses would be a transfer to a party and the party could use that money for a recount."

The candidates' funds would not be the only source of cash available for recount efforts. Both political parties are allowed to participate, and as in 2000 the campaigns could establish separate fundraising committees...

[DemBones DemBones]

27. Sure, the source is

Michael Ruppert at fromthewilderness.com in his latest article, called "Snap Out of It" or something to that effect. He doesn't give the origin of the rumor.

As you can see from other replies, other sources say 28 million+ . I think that ANY leftover money should be returned to donors.

[bostonbabs]

20. It's rumored? Please...Kerry for money?

It's never been his MO.

[DemBones DemBones]

25. See the link above to public integrity site. nt

[rasberry]

9. Kerry seen as FIGHTER per Navy veteran

A friend from work served in the Navy with Kerry on USS Grinnell. He claims Kerry always fought for the rights of others and he is surprised by Kerry's early concession - before all votes were counted. Kerry said that the uncounted votes in Ohio could not outweigh the difference in already tabulated votes. Kerry cannot be that naive to think that Ohio's Blackwell would give him good numbers when they changed the number of provisionals from 250K to 140K. The number of outstanding absentee votes has never been publically stated. Kerry cannot be so naive as to believe some fraud (actually embezzlement) would not occur when it did occur in 2000 and 2002.

I want to believe he is fighting behind the scenes to capture all the fraud info and demand a recount before the electors vote. I want him to save us from the neo-con agenda.

[KDLarsen]

12. Keep in mind

.. that the campaign HQ's are usually told things that never makes the press (or that the press refuses to let out).

It wouldn't really surprise me if Kerry recieved the phone call from Bush, who told him that if he didn't conceede, Bush would do everything to make the democrats irrelevant.

[AndyTiedye]

19. He Has Been Doing That Anyway

> It wouldn't really surprise me if Kerry recieved the phone call from
> Bush, who told him that if he didn't conceede, Bush would do
> everything to make the democrats irrelevant.

Bushler has been doing that for four years now.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. How could ** made the Democrats any more irrelevant than

they made themselves over the past 4 years?

[Carolinian]

10. I love you Sen. Kerry.

I fought hard against you in the primaries but I came to love you during the general election. I believe you would have rivaled Lincoln as a President. America never got the chance to really know you. Please write a book.

[Rose Siding]

16. I really don't see how he could be very effective

Regardless of how capable he might be or where his heart is, any real challenge of the admin will be viewed as bitter partisanship. How does he get anything done with that around his neck?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. How effective were the Republicans after the '92 election?

Bob Dole led a filibuster that stopped a $6 billion dollar economic stimulus plan proposed by Clinton. In '94 the Repubs took over Congress.

[Straight Shooter]

28. I think we ought to get as bitter as quinine

I don't care if we're accused of partisanship. It's the Repubs who are the "party over country" group.

It isn't partisanship, it's patriotism. One way or the other, I want Kerry to go after bush's political career like it's a Vietcong in the jungle of the late 1960s.

[Monte Carlo]

17. Kerry has a national name, and he has no worries about running for prez.

Kerry had his chance, and there's very little chance that he'd get another shot at the Presidency.

Kerry still has his job as Senator. There is a power-vacuum in the Democratic Party - Kerry could help fill it in opposition to Pres. Bush.

[robbedvoter]

21. "the rest of HIS POLITICAL life. I am supposed to care because?

Am I his career manager? Does he care about my right to vote?

[Monte Carlo]

23. Well, for one, we need all the help we can get...

... and I'm fairly certain he cares about your right to vote. The situation is FUBAR.

[DemBones DemBones]

26. If he cared about our right to vote, why didn't he wait

until the votes were counted? He conceded with thousands of votes uncounted in several states. It would have been easy to say "I owe it to my supporters not to concede before the votes are counted."

[Malva Zebrina]

24. How very senatorial

somehow this annoys me. Business as usual. Who cares about Dukakis--sounds as if Kerry was running against Dukakis. No mention of Bush? and his fascism? The road less travelled as in Robert Frost traipsing through the New England woods? I suppose it was meant to boost Kerry's moral after the loss,and he probably needs it, but that is only a guess because he has gone off the map, but somehow I, me,one of we the people, feel left out.

[Skarbrowe]

29. You think we're depressed? I bet Kerry is still in a state of shock.

Kerry certainly didn't think with all of *'s failures and *'s total idiocy, that he(Kerry)would lose this election. Kerry was convinced before he took over in the primaries that he was going to win it all. There could have possibly been some high level push for him that we don't know about that gave him this confidence. But, you can't win an election when the opposition controls how the votes are counted. I'm sure this has totally blown Kerry's mind. He can't get out of the public eye for a long time like Gore did. He has to face the gloating repugs and the whole sickening administration every day for the rest of his time in the Senate. It will take quite awhile for him to steady himself and that is completely understandable. I know he will bounce back and do the good fight.

He would have made a good president. I wasn't for him in the beginning either. I have to admit to being ABB. There were many things about Kerry that made me nervous long before he won in the primaries. The debates brought me around and I had the great pic of Kerry and Edwards with their arms around each other smiling and waving with the crowds all around them on my desktop to greet me everyday when I sat down to my computer. I saw so much hope in that picture.

Yeah, I'm depressed. Kerry and Edwards must be devastated and <tinfoil hat> possibly frightened.

[mountainvue]

30. They're already comparing him to Dukakis?

Jesus. Something is so not right here.

[anamandujano]

31. "a very strong voice for a strong opposition"

Didn't Kerry just tell us to support Bush? That's not opposition.