Quit blaming it on vote fraud. Kerry didn't win in a landslide because:

[bobweaver]

Kerry failed to attack Bush in direct, simple, ruthless and vicious ways. The same ways the Republicans attack the Democrats. Bush was vulnerable in a variety of areas. Even in the area supposedly the strongest for Bush (national security and the "war on terror") Bush was highly vulnerable.

Kerry could have tied Rumsfeld to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and then by proxy to Bush, because Bush appointed Rumsfeld. Kerry could have tied Bush directly to the horrific execution of Nicholas Berg. Kerry could have tied the 9/11 attacks drectly to Bush's ineptness and failure to address the warning signs. The mere fact that the attacks happened during Bush's presidency, on his watch, was a huge black mark against Bush and the failure of his staff (Rice) to take their jobs seriously.

Kerry could have skewered Bush on the lack of WMDs and contrasted it with Bush's previous insistence that there were WMDs in Iraq. Kerry could have skewered Bush with his prior insistence that Saddam was connected with the 9/11 attacks, while the 9/11 commission concluded that there was no connection. Kerry could have tied Bush directly to the deaths of 1100 Americans in Iraq and an unknown number of Iraqi civilians, at least in the tens of thousands.

Kerry could have laid the blame for these deaths directly at Bush's feet, for after all Bush was the world's biggest advocate for the war. Kerry could have skewered Bush mercilessly for the ridiculous "Mission Accomplished" photo-op. Kerry could have ridiculed Bush for attempting to teach an entire country the concept of democracy while simultaneously pointing guns at them. Kerry could have roasted Bush on the touchy subject of the private connections between the Bush and Saud families.

Kerry could have roasted Bush on the reduced stature of the U.S. in the world which is a direct result of Bush's words and actions. Kerry could have grilled Bush mercilessly on his creation of an undisputable miasma in Iraq and his unwillingness to even address the Iraq situation any more, other than the occasional obligatory mention of it, along the lines of "we're pleased with the progress" or some such bullshit.

On the domestic issues, Kerry could have tied Bush directly to Ken Lay of Enron, since the two were very cozy and Lay was Bush's biggest single campaign donor and even let Bush fly around on his private jet. Kerry could have hung the Halliburton logo around Cheney's neck since of course Cheney himself is a former CEO of Halliburton.

Kerry could have lambasted Bush for his malicious and dishonest attempts to destroy the nation's environmental protection laws, all in the name of profit for the corporations who donated to Bush's campaign. Kerry could have pointed out that Bush's so-called "Clear Skies" initiative actually has the effect of making the nation's air dirtier, not cleaner. Kerry could have pointed out that Bush's so-called "Healthy Forests" initiative is actually just a carte blanche for the timber companies to chop down the nation's vital forests, not to save them.

Kerry could have tied Bush directly to the Republican's endless campaign to drill for oil on the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and to drill for gas on the Rocky Mountain Front. Kerry could have roasted Bush alive on the price of gasoline alone! Kerry could have impaled Bush on the Valerie Plame scandal (someone in the White House "outed" her as an undercover agent in retaliation for something someone did that they didn't like). Kerry could have chided Bush for creating a "No Child Left Behind" act and then not funding it.

Kerry could have tied Bush to a whole laundry list of deregulation activity instigated by the Bush administration which specifically and obviously benefits the corporations which donated heavily to the Bush/Cheney campaigns. Kerry could have driven home the point that Bush's tax cuts really do benefit the upper income taxpayers and offer a comparative crumb to the rest of us - that was an easy point to make and it could have been a real stinger.

The final, fatal blow that Kerry could have rendered would be to call Bush on the carpet for his spending. This is one area where even some Republicans are extremely angry with Bush. Bush is the biggest spender in the history of this planet, and his deficits are the highest that any country has ever had, and the national debt is now over 7.5 trillion dollars - with no way to pay it off. Kerry could have painted Bush as a reckless and irresponsible spender (and pointed out that huge chunks of the spending go to the very people who funded Bush's campaigns).

And there's so much more ammunition Kerry could have used: the stagnant economy. The first president since Hoover to have a net job loss on his watch. Outsourcing and the devastation of the American job market. The declining standard of living for Americans vs. the rising standard of living for corporations. The high price of housing and all essential goods and services coupled with the ever-declining real wages being paid and benefits being cut. The enormous numbers of Americans who cannot afford health insurance. The absurd, unjust and embarassing inequality of wealth and power in the U.S. The absurd power that corporations have. Offshore tax havens which give corporations the ability to avoid their tax obligations completely. Scandals in the financial and investment markets.

The whole Bush administration is one huge scandal comprised of a multitude of smaller scandals. The erosion of civil liberties by the Patriot Act. The wholesale attempt to shred the Bill of Rights and the attempt to rewrite the Constitution. Any of these could have been major target points for Kerry to attack Bush with.

Kerry did mention many of these things in passing during the debates and at campaign appearances, but he was too polite and gentlemanly about it throughout the campaign. Bush was highly vulnerable in all these areas, and if Kerry had attacked viciously, Bush would have had no real comeback for most of them. Kerry should have hit much harder, been completely merciless, and he could have reduced Bush to a quivering mass of purple jello, and won the election without any question, and would be making phone calls right now asking people to be on his cabinet and going out tomorrow to get fitted for the suit for the inauguration.

Instead, Kerry took the "high road" and acted too formal and "presidential" to make his own image look better, but did nothing to tear apart Bush's image. Kerry lost it by his own failure, in my opinion.