Back on Top, Kerry Lapses Into Bad
Habits
story.news.yahoo.com
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
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.
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 has refused to debate Edwards, except for a long-planned forum in
Los Angeles on Thursday with two long-shot candidates.
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.
Kerry is playing it safe. He would rather be accused of dodging a debate
than risk elevating his rival with a high-profile showdown.
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.
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."
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Ron Fournier has covered national
politics for The Associated Press since 1993. February 19, 2004
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