Got a question for those who originally supported Kerry in the primaries

[PlanetBev]

When the "experts" wrote him off, how were you able to keep your chops up? Were you surprised when he pulled it off in the end?

[sandnsea]

1. Ah, the dark days

I don't know what to tell you. It's just that when you know he fought to end the war of your generation, was at the first Earth Day, the first to tackle Acid Rain, created one of the first sexual assault units in the country, one of the first to stand up for GLBT rights, fought for Agent Orange and other Vietnam Vet benefits; well, you just can't turn your back on the guy. He fought for us, we have to fight for him. That's how the Kerryites I knew got through it. We also had alot of good words coming out of Iowa a month or so before the caucus, so that helped too.

[cindyw]

2. Thanks for the reminder of what the KFF was all about.

n/t

[sandnsea]

16. Jim Rassmann, Monday

FINALLY we got him in Florence, so he will finally be an official KFF, T-Shirt and all! :)

[cindyw]

24. Have you been getting the shirts to people in the campaign?

That is so cool.

[sandnsea]

27. Just that one

Got it a loooong time ago, Sandra handles the KFF shirts. Don't know what she's doing with them.

[npincus]

4. why doesn't he speask of his record?

I didn'tknow any of this. He should fill the gaps in his biography and talk aboout what he's championed and relate it to the kind of president he wants to be.

Why hasn't Kerry been telling more about his fights for us?

[sandnsea]

14. Honestly, I have no freakin' clue

Drives me nuts too. Just don't know what to say.

[cheshire]

23. check out http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?..

[JI7]

3. we loved him and loved supporting him

we just loved him and loved supporting him. the worst that could happen is he would lose, and that was going to happen anyways if we just gave up because of the polls and "experts". so why not just keep working hard and see what happens on election day. and he did the same thing from what many of us who paid attention saw. he kept on going out there and campaigning.he had a cold as we were getting closer to elections but he did not quit, he worked overtime and he was doing really well with the people, he was connecting with them.

the major news would not report on him but we got info from small sources and from people on the ground who would write things on up on his website and other places online.

so people would keep us updated and we saw things on cspan and there was a good feeling we were getting before election day. even though the polls were not showing it at the time, there was a sense of positive change many of us were feeling. so on the day of the iowa caucuses i wasn't too surprised he did well but it was really something to actually see the true results.

[vickie]

8. Wow. This sounds eerily familiar to what is happening now...

[Meshuga]

5. I thought it was unbelievable when...

He pulled Iowa.

I thought it was over until in January I was told not to worry about the polls (like you guys should not care much now) because the Kerry campaign knew something we didn't know and he went on to win the Iowa caucus.

In December I thought it was over but I had hopes Kerry would pull off another great finish and he did.

In my opinion Kerry is better off now (as far as position in the polls) then he was just before the primaries and that's why I'm not freaking out again.

It would be nice to see Kerry in front in the polls right now but there is still a lot of time to turn this around. Comparing to December this is nothing.

Don't let the media's wishful thinking let you down. Kerry is going to win this. :-)

[MaineDem]

6. It was tough....

especially here at DU.

It was the fault of the polls. They all had him down before one single vote had been cast. I remember posting here at DU that we had to wait until the first voters spoke with their ballots. People weren't paying attention and the polls weren't accurate. Iowa proved that! The win in Iowa was one of the best political nights I've experienced.

I don't put a whole lot of stock in the polls because of the media. They didn't cover Kerry well pre-Iowa and they're not doing it again now.

A good majority of people don't start paying attention to the Presidential race until Labor Day. Now we'll see what happens. But the press still has a hand in it and that worries me a bit.

[JohnKleeb]

26. I felt really bad

I'll be honest here, I wasnt a fan of the two popular candiates here on the boards, I didnt like being told that we should just give up and coronate a candiate, I hated that. I wasnt an early Kerry supporter but I have the greatest respect for them, tough people, left for dead, laughed at, you're tough sobs, and I guess thats why I was so happy when Kerry won in Iowa, I knew who he was and what he was about, and I said if hes our nominee, so be it, he was my number 2 early on and in retrospect I may have made him number 1.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. A lifetime of service promised deep legs

and he's definitely got 'em. Stay the course and go for broke, we've got a true leader in Kerry.

[Uzybone]

9. I was very suprised when he won in Iowa...

considering the "polls". Im wiser now, and I dont put stock in any damn poll.

[seaglass]

10. For me it was easy, Kerry was always my first choice but to

know that if he didn't make it there were other good candidates that I could get behind made it easier to absorb all the naysaying. I wasn't surprised when he won Iowa though, the polls toward the end showed that there was a 3 way tie so I knew he still had a chance.

It's different now because there is no other choice but I don't really care much about the polls this far out so I'm not worrying.

[displacedtexan]

11. In June of 2003, I made a chart of Dem candidates...

I was really surprised when JK topped every single issue (international policy, crime prevention, the environment, the economy, national security, etc.)!

I signed on with the campaign in August, 2003 and sensed all along that JK would win Iowa handily. The campaign is much more cutthroat than most can imagine... which is absolutely necessary when you're trying to defeat BushCo.

There really is a game plan; however, the timing of responses and events is not obvious to the general public. For example, by forfeiting August, JK is now viewed as the underdog. That's all I can say at this point.

[bigtree]

12. Dean's lead was premature

Most Americans were preoccupied with the holidays. Right after New Years the race shifted, not so much from what the principles were doing differently, but because more voters were tuning in. Most voters don't know Kerry yet, and many won't bother to pour through the news like we do here until weeks before the election. What we have now are the committed (some, including myself, should be committed) and the party faithful registering their opinion and shaping the political landscape. It's hard to fathom, but this race is just beginning. Trust me.

[blm]

13. I knew the media was doing the GOP's dirty work for them. The polls lied.

The Bushies knew that many in the intel community were lining up behind Kerry, and they couldn't afford for him to win, so they had their Georgie Girls in the press downplay any of the positive Kerry news. When Kerry was endorsed by the Firefighters last Sept. and no covereage played on ANY news network, I knew they were trying to stop Kerry deliberately.

You just redouble your efforts to tell the real story and carry on.

[Arugula Latte]

18. But then why do you think the media whores slaughtered Dean?

The scream was really a non-story - good for airing once on the night it happened. But the media used it to bludgeon Dean.

I'm just curious about what you think -- I'm not trying to be contrary. :hi:

[Julien Sorel]

21. Dean lost Iowa.

He lost it because the other campaigns did a better job on the ground there. The scream came afterwards, and granted, it hurts his future in national politics, but losing Iowa is what killed him in this race, just as pulling out of Iowa killed the Clark campaign.

[sandnsea]

29. The scream wasn't the problem

He lost before that. But it was a story, not quite what they made it out, but I knew he was totally sunk the second I saw it. Not just the scream, the whole speech.

[IowaGuy]

36. He was already going down....

The press were really johny-come-latelys on dissin' Dean. He was their favorite until the votes were counted in Iowa. Then came the speech w/ "the scream". They rather un-fairly piled on over the scream thing and may have damaged him in later contests, but the voters in Iowa had already talked and it was a done deal with them. Bottom line, is, if you are going to get in this game, this kind of crap happens and you got to be able to deal with it. He didn't. Was it fair? No, but it is what it is. It wasn't JK's fault or any other candidates, no conspiracies like some who felt the disappointment of this have suggested. Your always going to get some unfair shots thrown at you by the press and you just got to deal with them.

[liberal N proud]

15. You have got to stand up for what is right!

Never give up!
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Dig in and respond with vigor.
We must do everything we can to get the vote out for the Democratic Candidate.

[genius]

17. I didn't support him but I was happy he beat Dean.

I was glad Kerry came made a comeback. I don't think Dean could have handled Bush.

[MsTryska]

19. I actually didn't know

he had been given the thumbs down. as i said elsewhere - i didn't make a decision on who to support until the day before the primaries started.

[JI7]

25. yeah, it was hard work just making it there but all worth it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. In the early days, I thought he just didn't want it bad enough

After Iowa, I had no doubts he would take it all the way.

[cheshire]

22. For me the fact that Kerry faced the senate in 69 said he was strong

and honest enough yet calm enough to kick Bush's f**kin ass out. And It made me proud of him which is hard to say about a politician any more. He has not let me down.

[JohnKleeb]

28. It was 71 actually

but he's been fighting for all kinds of things his whole life, without a doubt I think he was the most accomplished candiate. so much variety too.

[cheshire]

32. I've heard 69 thru 71.

[mitchum]

30. I never lost faith in John Kerry's ability

[Nederland]

31. Kerry didn't win

Dean lost.

Big difference

[cheshire]

33. Whatever spin works for you.

[Nederland]

34. No

Its whatever works for the country. If we lose this because our candidate was nothing more than the guy who happened to float to the top after the front runner imploded the party has some serious thinking to do about how it nominates presidential candidates.

[IowaGuy]

35. Dogged determination...

Wife, kids and I spent a lot of time volunteering down @ Kerry HQ in DM in the summer, fall and winter months leading up to the caucuses....it was a first time experience for all of us. Have never been terribly political before, always tried to stay informed and voted, but had never been actively in involved in any campaigns or activist organizations before. I became hard-core convinced he was the man we needed in the Whitehouse when he gave his speech in DM the day he formally announced for the Presidency. His speech was fairly good, he hit all the right points, etc... that I expected him too, but what really sealed the deal was "the band of brothers".

Before the event started I was just doin' some people watchin, the usual suspects were around, local pols, unions, teachers, health care worker organizations, environmental activists, etc. There was one group of guys that seemed a little oddly out of place. They were all gathered together off to the side, talking with each other - a group of guys all my age, some in suits, some lookin' like they just got off the golf course, a couple that looked like they had just gotten off their construction job. Asked a volunteer who they were, and she told me they were guys that had served in Nam with Kerry and had paid their own way there just to be with him in this moment. I thought, cool, couldn't even imagine at that time who would stand by Bush's side from that same time frame now.

After the speech, everybody was all excited, music blarin' confetti, you know the drill. Everybody was jumpin' up on the stage to get in the picture, etc. Kerry was playin' his part and then he I saw him look over at "the band". Their eyes met and all those guys, without a word being said, like it was just some primal universal force started moving as if they were one organism towards him. He started walking across the stage towards them, None were smiling, their eyes all locked on each other. They met at the edge of the stage and he reached down to help each one up. As each one got up, face to face with him, they looked each other in the eye. It was the look of men who had been to hell and back with each other, who had looked deep int each others soul when all was darkness around them and had come into the light by trusting each other. It was a look that grabbed my gut and soul, a moment I'll never forget; and I knew, just knew, this had to be the guy.

During the campaign, it was often tiring, often cold (when canvassing door to door or being part of "the crowd" for TV events) and left us awake many nights wondering what was going on, when all the polls were writing him off. We existed on too much pizza and caffeine. During this time I met Wade Sanders, a long-time friend of JK's that was a fellow Lt on the Swift boats and knew him from even before Nam. He always said, "Things will go up, they will go down, just remember, John always knows when his homework is due"

Towards caucus night, I felt somewhat confused. Many of the polls were saying JK would be lucky to finish third. Edwards wasn't even really in the picture. I had been working the phone bank and for nearly two weeks I did not have one undecided break towards Dean, only a few to Gephardt. Everybody was going to JK or Edwards. At campaign events you would see all the Dean people, but realize that they were all largely college kids that had been imported to work the campaign. Intelligent, well-meaning, idealistic and committed individuals they were, but they weren't Iowans, They wouldn't be voting in the caucuses. I just wasn't gettin my head around what the news organizations were saying and what I was seeing. There just seemed to be a big disconnect.

Well, we all know what happened. Caucus night started out being a personally anxiety ridden time for me, but ended up being an incredible high that can't even be explained adequately in a forum like this...you just kinda had to be there.

In some sense, regardless of how this election turns out, I feel like this has been somewhat of a life changing experience for me. Never again will I sit on the sidelines and wish "somebody should do something". I will be involved from now on in the issues and directions I would like this country to go. I know there will be disappointments, but the worst feeling of disappointment of all to deal with, is if you didn't try. This campaign has taught me a lot about people and myself. I will always hold JK and his "band of brothers" in deep respect for what they have already done for me.

Sorry about the long post..just hard to articulate what a profound experience this has been.

[blue neen]

37. Always thought Kerry was the strongest candidate,

from the very day he announced his candidacy. And I still do.