Back on Top, Kerry Lapses Into Bad Habits
By RON FOURNIER, AP
(Feb. 21) -- John Kerry was the Democratic front-runner early last year, a bad one, and the status didn't last long.
Now that he's back on top, the dominant figure in a two-man race, the Massachusetts senator may be slipping into his old habits - cautious, cold and a creature of Congress. There are the familiar signs of overconfidence, starting with his curt dismissal of rival John Edwards.
''Look, I'm not running just against him,'' Kerry snapped at an interviewer last week. Conveniently ignoring the fact that no other Democratic candidate stands a chance against him, Kerry added, ''You know there are others in the race. Obviously, he's one of the leading contenders.''
''I take that seriously,'' Kerry said.
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But some advisers and supporters say Kerry may not be taking Edwards seriously enough. They recognize in the candidate and his campaign a calculated nonchalance toward Edwards that Kerry once held for Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who stole the front-runner's mantle from Kerry in mid-2003.
Kerry had refused to debate Edwards, except for a long-planned forum in Los Angeles on Thursday with two long-shot candidates. He agreed Saturday to a second debate, this one in New York two days before a crucial March 2 showdown.
Kerry's aides insist that Edwards has not earned the right to stand on the stage toe to toe with Kerry; the North Carolina senator has won a single state, they say with contempt, while their candidate has won 15.
When Edwards criticized Kerry in Wisconsin for supporting the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, Kerry all but ignored the attack. Stung by Edwards' surprisingly close second-place finish in the Midwest battleground state, Kerry returned fire in Ohio last week while suggesting that Edwards, a freshman senator, was not ready for prime time.
''He wasn't in the Senate back then,'' the 19-year Senate veteran said, alluding to Edwards' relative lack of experience. ''I don't know where he registered his vote, but it wasn't in the Senate.''
Kerry's aides acknowledge that they waited too long to respond. ''We should have set the facts straight. Yes,'' said spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. ''Edwards has talked more about NAFTA in the last three weeks than he did in his entire career.''
Kerry has been tired and sick, two traits he wears visibly on his long, thin face. His health has affected his mood, making him a bit snappish and less likely to flash the smile that softened voters in Iowa.
Kerry has also taken several valuable days off from the campaign trail.
Longtime advisers say weariness leads to long-windedness with Kerry. When he is tired, Kerry lapses into the plodding, superfluous language the permeates congressional debates.
Workers do not just impress him, ''they have touched my conscience and my heart.'' His message does not just resonate, it's ''ringing loud and clear.''
And Cathy Schaefer is not just a diabetic whom he introduced at a union rally. She is ''an eight-year breast cancer survivor struggling to be able to get health care walking a picket line that I've been privileged to walk in California simply to get the care that she needs and desperately wants and deserves.''
But some Democrats believe that Kerry is taking the right approach, given his formidable standing. With three small-state elections Tuesday, he could roll up his election-year record to 18-2 as the race moves to March 2, when 10 states award 1,151 delegates.
''If I were advising Kerry, I'd say, 'Don't make any mistakes. Be careful,''' Democratic strategist Steve Jarding said. ''However, I'd work harder to get the message back on your turf, electability and the military stuff.''
Those were the keys to Kerry's 15 victories. In state after state, voters cited the ability to defeat George W. Bush as the top quality they sought in a candidate - and Kerry overwhelmingly won their support. His appeal stems from early victories in Iowa and New Hampshire that gave him momentum and the aura of a winner, a sense of inevitability.
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Kerry cannot afford to lose that advantage. Yet polls last week showed that Edwards as well as Kerry leads Bush in head-to-head matchups.
Kerry won Wisconsin last week, but Edwards finished just 6 percentage points behind - and with exit polls numbers that should give the front-runner pause. About 40 percent of Wisconsin voters were Republicans or independents, and they voted overwhelmingly for Edwards. The North Carolina senator also won among white men, a demographic group that Democrats lost to Bush in 2000 and must do better with in the fall.
Democratic strategist Jenny Backus said Kerry needs to lighten up, perhaps by sharing the stage with veterans and blue-collar workers, which he did in Iowa.
''You know what Edwards has going for him? He's been having fun. It's always fun being the underdog, because every minute you're still alive is a great minute,'' Backus said.
''Kerry just needs to relax, sit back and enjoy it,'' she said. ''But not too much.''
02/21/04 18:18 EST
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. |
