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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (4992)	3/4/2004 1:24:43 AM
From: ChinuSFO	Respond to of 81568

ss, the newspaper "The Australian" says that Kerry's fight is just beginning. And it also goes on to say that Kerry has been a fighter and a successful one at that. Here goes. Bush to learn of fight in 'wimp' By Roy Eccleston 04mar04 JOHN Kerry declared last night that he is a fighter and nobody should doubt it – not because of his bravery medals from the Vietnam War but because two months ago many pundits had his presidential campaign dead and buried. But Kerry, 60, didn't give up, even when the polls showed him in third place or worse behind runaway favourite Howard Dean. And when the Democrats, fired up by Dean's anti-Bush rhetoric, looked for someone they felt could actually beat the US President, they turned to Kerry. In his first speech as the Democrat nominee last night, Kerry thanked the voters of Iowa for listening to his message. It was there, in the first Democrat vote in mid-January, that his pitch as a warrior with Washington experience first hit the spot. And thanks to the shortened Democrat nomination process – designed to get a winner quickly – Kerry's momentum from Iowa gathered pace a week later in New Hampshire and then became a bandwagon that continued all the way to this decisive Super Tuesday. Kerry thanked Dean last night. So he should, because it was the feisty doctor and ex-governor of Vermont who motivated the party to stand up to Bush. He also thanked John Edwards, the other surprise performer who had hoped for two or three states yesterday to keep his hopes alive. In the end he recognised he couldn't keep going with just one win – his birth state of South Carolina – from 31 contests. But if it's the end of Edwards's bid for the Oval Office in 2004, a stint at the White House is not yet out of the question. The North Carolina senator may yet become John Kerry's running mate. Edwards proved to be the best on-the-stump politician of any of the candidates, and his southern roots make greater appeal to the middle ground of US politics than does the blueblood pedigree of Kerry from Massachusetts. This is crucial: the country is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans but the decisive voters are about 10 per cent who say they are independent. They hold the key to the White House. Edwards lacked the ace card this year, national security experience. He has been in the Senate only five years, less than a term, and was never in the military. But he has been good for Kerry. He has kept him on his toes and sharpened up his less-than-charismatic performances, and also kept the media focus on the Democrats as they have spent a lot of their time attacking the President. With Edwards now graciously out, Kerry can focus his guns on Bush and stop spending scarce resources on winning his party's nomination. Kerry will now come under intense scrutiny and attack. A Vietnam War hero turned protester, the Bush-Cheney team says it won't target Kerry's anti-war speeches and activities when he came home – other conservatives are doing that already. Instead, the White House intends painting him as a New England liberal who is inconsistent in policies and whose voting record in the Senate over 19 years has included attempts to cut back budgets for the CIA, Pentagon and weapons systems important for US national security. As well, the Bushites have more than $US100 million ($133 million) to spend on ads to define the Kerry they want voters to see – indecisive and too liberal – well before the man himself can make an impression. For Kerry now, the challenge is to raise his own money to fight back, maintain the media focus on his campaign, sharpen his message and delivery, and neutralise the Bush charges that he's a New England wimp. His fight is only beginning.