Keeping America's Promise PAC launch

[whometense]

Kerry in 2008?

The Freepers will be thrilled: It's another flip-flop!

Three weeks ago, John Kerry told Don Imus that it was "way too early for anybody to be talking about" running for president in 2008. But as the Washington Post reports this morning, it might not be "too early" any more. With a slew of other Democrats making moves toward presidential runs, Kerry seems ready to make his first step now, too. On March 7, Kerry and his wife, Teresa, will host a gathering at their Washington, D.C., home to launch a new political action committee called Keeping America's Promise.

Team Kerry says the purpose of Kerry's PAC is to strengthen the Democratic Party but also to "transform the infrastructure, energy and excitement from his presidential campaign into a permanent grass-roots organization that promotes the causes Kerry advocated on the campaign, and supports candidates up and down the ticket across the country."

One Democratic media strategist put it another way: If Kerry wants to run again in 2008, Dan Payne told the Post, "This is the kind of thing he has to do."

-- Tim Grieve

09:24 EST, March 1, 2005

[whometense]

1. Original source:

SNARK ALERT Washington Post, Richard Leiby (scroll down):

Kerry Sets the Stage for a Second Act

• Campaign '08 Watch Begins: We solemnly vowed in November not to start ginning up stories about the next presidential election until at least March, and mirabile dictu: An enticing invitation crossed our desk just in time. "Thank you for your interest in joining John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry at their home on March 7 in Washington, DC for a special meeting to discuss the formation of Senator Kerry's political action committee, Keeping America's Promise."

Woo-hoo! It's not every day that a defeated '04 Democratic nominee sets up a new PAC. "This is the kind of thing he has to do" to run for prez again, Dan Payne, a Dem media consultant and longtime Kerry acquaintance, told us yesterday. "It seems to me that candidates have been forming PACs before they made a run for president for a long time."

The senator's camp wouldn't comment on whether Keeping America's Promise is an effort to maintain and invigorate Kerry's base for 2008, stressing instead his "focus on strengthening the Democratic Party," as spokeswoman Katharine Lister put it.

Kerry is supposedly eager to help out new DNC Chairman (and former rival) Howard Dean, but Lister's official statement to us seemed more Kerry-centric than anything else. "Keeping America's Promise, a leadership PAC which will officially start raising funds in the second quarter of this year, will be the vehicle that helps Kerry transform the infrastructure, energy and excitement from his presidential campaign into a permanent grass-roots organization that promotes the causes Kerry advocated on the campaign, and supports candidates up and down the ticket across the country," she said.

[TayTay]

2. Everybody's got a PAC

Evan Bayh, Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton.

Kerry is just doing what's necessary.

[elshiva]

3. Good for him!

If Nixon could do it, why not a person with integrity like Kerry?