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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (498776)	11/26/2003 12:52:19 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

Having endured prostate cancer is generally not considered a prime qualification for the presidency. But Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) leads off his new Iowa commercial by talking about just that. Not to be outdone, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) is turning a staple of his stump speech -- about his young son's long-ago battle with cancer -- into a new Iowa campaign ad. Both Democratic presidential candidates have concluded that they need to personalize the complicated health care issue to connect with voters. Neither ad mentions the Medicare and prescription drug bill that the Senate approved yesterday and which both men opposed -- perhaps because they did not want to help publicize President Bush's legislative victory on a popular issue. "A few months ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer," Kerry says in his ad. "I'm cured now, but I was lucky. As a United States senator, I could get the best health care in the world. Most people aren't so lucky, and we need to change that. That's why my plan gives every American access to the same health care that Congress gives itself." Jim Margolis, Kerry's media consultant, said the senator feels passionately about the fact that his Senate job "allowed him to get the best care" and that "everyone should have that same ability." He said the risk created by the spot -- reminding voters of Kerry's recent illness -- was "outweighed" by the chance to "talk to people from the heart about something that is very personal." Kerry has boosted his ad spending in Iowa and New Hampshire since rejecting public financing of his campaign, with its strict state-by-state limits. In Gephardt's ad, which features old pictures of him with his son, the lawmaker says: "Thirty-one years ago, our 2-year-old, Matt, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Our health insurance paid for experimental treatments that saved Matt's life. But in the hospital, we met a lot of parents who didn't have insurance. I'll never forget the terror in their eyes." The campaign has tested the phrase "terror in their eyes" before focus groups. Asked about the personal approach, spokesman Erik Smith said: "It's important to Dick Gephardt for people to know why he cares so much about health care. It's not just an important issue to him because of the polls." Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), meanwhile, is tying himself ever more closely to his Republican friend Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who won the New Hampshire primary in 2000. Lieberman's new ad features former McCain supporters talking about the similarities between the two men. "They're both straight talkers," one woman says. "Both John McCain and Joe Lieberman vote their own conscience," another woman says. Lieberman campaign manager Craig Smith told reporters that the campaign is sending letters to 30,000 McCain supporters in New Hampshire. Another adviser said campaign polling shows Lieberman's support among independent New Hampshire voters has risen to 16 percent, about twice the level as voters generally, while McCain has a 70 percent approval rating among Democratic voters. washingtonpost.com

To: American Spirit who wrote (498776)	11/26/2003 2:23:49 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

The world has never been more complicated than it is now. Have you considered the alternative? That perhaps you are simply more befuddled than ever? <g> You certainly seem befuddled about how electoral politics work. Take a look at the campaign Arnold Schwarzenegger just ran. He won in a landslide. Did he have answers for every problem confronting Kalli-for-knee-a? Of course not. Did he have answers for every reporter's jab? He blew them off. Campaigns are run on image, not platforms. Dean's image is that of a forthright fighter, akin to "give 'em Hell" Harry Truman. Your boy from Massachusetts is coming across as a man who hasn't found the right focus group yet to tell him how to do things. Bush's image couldn't be more well defined. You either love or hate an anti-intellectual cowboy like Bush. Unfortunately for the nation, way too many simpletons relate to the cowboy act.