Kerry to take break after cross-country tour

[Feanorcurufinwe]

John Kerry now departs the political stage – temporarily – as President Bush prepares to ascend it. The Democratic challenger wrapped up his two-week national tour Friday on the West Coast, hoping his slight lead in most polls can withstand the coming blast from the Republican convention.

Drawing more than 40,000 people to the banks of the Willamette River, Mr. Kerry paraphrased Harry Truman after a similar cross-country trip: "America's great age is ahead of us, providing it has the leadership to help to take it there."

Mr. Kerry appeared in Portland just minutes after the president, almost as if the two were passing the baton in the race for presidential publicity.

With the Olympics also competing for voter and media attention, Mr. Kerry plans to campaign only sporadically over the next three weeks, aides said.

Still, with a solid Democratic base and relatively few undecided voters, aides said they believe Mr. Kerry will remain competitive, whatever "bounce" Mr. Bush gets when he formally claims the Republican presidential nomination Sept. 2.

"After their convention, when they go back out into the country, that coach turns back into a pumpkin," said Kerry spokesman David Wade. "They have a record they have to defend."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/081404dnpolkerry.80928.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. About that bounce for Bush...

have we pre-defined it as 911 points gained yet?

[Democat]

2. Taking a break when the right wing are launching numerous attacks?

What the fuck?

When do we, the American people, get a break?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. No rest for Kerry?

The campaign isn't taking a break, Kerry is. I don't plan on letting up.

[Protected]

4. "Mr. Kerry plans to campaign only sporadically over the next three weeks"

This sounds like a great way to win, in addition to the great plan to not retaliate against the Swift Boat Vets for Bush or other Bush lies.

Who in the hell is making these endless stupid decisions?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

5. How many winning campaigns have you run?

[JohnKleeb]

7. I got another request

Look at the man's campaign history, he's a slow starter but excellent closer, meaning he starts out ok but closes excellent.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

20. A former candidate that I am not allowed to name

learned the hard way not to peak too early.

[JohnKleeb]

22. nod gotcha

Kerry got off to a rough start against Weld if you've read which I am sure you have, but Weld was beating him pretty good but Kerry came back and won by a sizable margin of 7 points.

[Democat]

9. As many winning presidential campaigns as John Kerry

The only way this would be acceptable is if they are going to put Kerry somewhere away from the spotlight so that they can launch a full scale attack on the right from the Democratic Party and the 527's. If they were planning to go on the offensive, and they wanted to keep Kerry away from the attacks to insulate him, that would be on thing, but do you think that will happen?

If Kerry goes on break and they don't launch an attack, then we are going to pay for it.

[Protected]

10. Can I have a fucking opinion or not?

I see lots of people belting out their opinions on this message board, so why can't I?

[Democat]

12. Not unless you can prove that you have won a presidential election

There are exactly 42 people who are allowed to post opinions on DU, of which only 5 are still alive. :)

(Al Gore actually won the last election, just in case GW Bush thought he was one of the five allowed to post an opinion.)

[Protected]

14. LOL, good point (NM)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

18. I am so sick of this strawman

Yeah you're entitled to your fucking opinion. So am I.

Say whatever you want, and I'll say whatever I want in reply.


OK?

[grasswire]

6. wha????????????

Are we backing some kind of candy-ass here?

I've been working up my blood pressure for four years now (not counting the Lewinsky era), fighting every day. Sacrificing work time, family time, hobbies and most pleasures.

And now Kerry's taking three weeks off?

Man, this is getting extremely wearisome. I'm getting tired of seeing grassroots people working their hearts out while those who get paid and get perks spend less effort.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. I suggest you calm down, for your own health.

High blood pressure can be a serious condition.

[JohnKleeb]

11. people wont truly calm down until Kerry wins

Hell, I think he's doing pretty damn good if you consider that he's not known for getting off to great starts, like take the primary season for example, none thought he could win, and he did and won big. He can do the same thing here.

[grasswire]

15. my response to you...

...is what abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison said to those who called for him to speak with moderation. No, he said, no! You wouldn't ask a man whose wife was in a burning house to cry with moderation. He said he would speak with alarm, and he would be heard.

(Paraphrasing here -- too lazy to pull out the book and type in the quote.)

Too many members of my family in the last 374 years suffered, bled, starved, and died to preserve this land as a free nation for me to "calm down."

Our lives, our fortune, our sacred honor....and our health when necessary.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. There is a time to sound the alarm and a time to carry water.

[delete_bush]

13. Does this have to do in part with money?

Isn't he limited now to the $75 million? If so, it's probably good to conserve until after the repuke fest in NYC. Money spent in August is lost come mid October.

The chimp can spend all he collects for another several weeks and will still have $75 mil to go through after the convention, unless I'm not understanding how this works.

[Gloria]

17. He should spend a day sporadically campaigning down here in

Southern New Mexico, where he has been creamed over BRAC, and Bush followed with a visit and a lovefest in the editorial pages (with extremely snide remarks about Kerry).

And....still no response from the Kerry people....

What, me worry???????????

[Feanorcurufinwe]

19. Could you explain what you are talking about?

Thank you.

[Gloria]

24. BRAC is the process for examining military base usage and whether

some should be closed. Kerry did a phone interview saying that he would want the process to stop so he could reassess since the world has changed since 2001 (his last vote on BRAC was in 2001)
THe next day, in addition to an article on Bush's upcoming visit, there was a SCATHING editorial...snidely saying he knew enough to vote 3 times on BRAC but suddenly doesn't know anything and "needs to find out more" (which he DID NOT SAY in the interview). THen they dragged in the $87 billion vote, the IWR vote...it was pure GOP talking points. The whole tone was belittling and snide. The next day Bush gets headlines about his visit to ABQ, one which counters Kerry directly.

So my friend and I decided to team up to write a letter. We both spent the better part of a day researching and composing. In the meantime, stuff happened and we thought a response would be provided. However, it hasn't happened and we haven't been informed about what's going on.

BRAC is a huge issue down here...we are near Ft. Bliss, Holloman, and White Sands. We need some action on this before it's too late.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

25. So you are reacting to a negative editorial?

What do you mean by 'we thought a response would be provided'?

[Gloria]

28. Down here, BRAC is a pivotal issue...and also, there were misquotes

and comments by Kerry that were "incomplete" in the way they were used in the editorial. It was a complete smear job.

And, yes, --we were anticipating a letter would be written to the editor.

By the way, none in today's paper (Saturday)--just another smear column by Kathleen Parker, questioning in "Gore terminology" Kerry's character.

Perhaps the campaign has something else planned, but we are not privy to anything and we don't know where all our researched info went...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

29. You did write your own letter to the editor, right?

You sound informed and highly capable of making the case. Are you waiting for someone else?

You should both write letters to the editor. Get your other friends to do the same.

[Sloppyfourths]

21. I don't like this at all

Does this guy really want to be president?

[lancdem]

26. Of course

Does anybody here really think Kerry would be doing this if his campaign were in anything other than strong shape? Some people here seem to think Kerry's an idiot or something. Presumably his campaign has access to info about what's going on that we don't. If they feel he can relax for three weeks that's a good sign, not a bad one.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

27. Thank you for a sensible comment.

Although I'd be surprised if the superficial message of this story, that Kerry is going to relax for three weeks, really reflects the underlying reality.

[brentspeak]

23. A week out of the spotlight is all he can afford

Three weeks? In that time, Bush can hog the headlines to the point where the average American practically forgets Kerry.

Kerry cannot wait for Bush to implode; he needs to make himself known as a familiar and solid candidate in the minds of the average American. He hasn't accomplished that, yet. He can't win if all he appears to voters is "ABB".

[Democat]

30. Three weeks is a big percentage of the rest of the campaign

I can't believe he would take that long off.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

31. Well

he's not, which would explain why you find it hard to believe.