Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
[ kerry spot home | archives | email ]

1. Los Angeles Times' Brownstein: "Perceptions of Kerry are so negative now — that he doesn't have strong beliefs, that he isn't clear on his convictions — that may be relatively easier for him to be more of those things than people are led to believe over the last several weeks" ("Lou Dobbs Tonight," CNN, 9/28).

Kerry Spot observation: If Brownstein is right, then for the last two months, the Kerry campaign has been executing the most brilliant expectation-lowering ‘strategery’ in political history.

2. Historian Douglas Brinkley: "But I think that the main thing that Kerry has to do is go to the right on the war on terror, go to the right on Bush. ... And he did that in his speech last week in Philadelphia, by saying that Osama bin Laden, where is he, Mr. President?" ("Scarborough Country," MSNBC, 9/28).

Kerry Spot observation: Hmmm… My ears don’t hear comments like that ‘going to Bush’s right’; they hear it as backseat driving, Monday-morning quarterbacking, complaining, whining, and more than a little Threepio-esque. Maybe it’s just me.

3. The TV networks plan to ignore a debate agreement made between the BC04 and KE04 campaigns that says they cannot show reaction shots of one candidate when the other is speaking, or vice versa. CNN general manager Princell Hair noted that while "the campaigns have agreed to this, we haven't. We have access to these cameras and we're going to ... decide which is the best way to broadcast this. A producer in the booth will make those determinations, not some people in the campaign." FNC is the pool for all of the networks at the 9/30 debate and Fox spokesperson Paul Schur said that "we're not going to follow directions from outside sources" (Bauder, AP, 9/28).

4. Madison Capital Times editorializes on the RNC mailers in AR and WV that "suggest" Dems would "ban the Bible": "[T]his is not just politics. This is something much darker, much more troubling." Capital Times continues, when GOP operatives "following a god named Karl Rove ... begin to tell people that their holy texts will be banned if they don't vote for a particular candidate or party, they enter into a danger zone. People take their religion seriously; history and contemporary experience tell us that they are willing to kill or be killed in order to defend their faith. One of the most powerful recruiting tools for terrorists is the suggestion that one's religion is threatened. Playing with religion is playing with fire. And to do so for political gain is beyond defense" (9/28).

Kerry Spot observation: I must have missed the e-mail, what time are Sunday’s services at the Temple of Rove? And am I correct that I have to get there early to get a good seat for the burning of the heretics?

5. The DNC released a new ad today featuring footage of GOPers like Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Sec/State Colin Powell, giving "realistic assessments of the lack of progress being made in Iraq." The new ad, "One Question," will run in FL starting today. Full script:

ANCR: "Here's what some of the Republicans are saying about their plan in Iraq: 'It's getting worse.'
'We're not winning.'
'The lack of planning is apparent.'
ANCR: "The Facts. 200 billion dollars in costs. Daily kidnappings and murders. New terrorist havens. More than 1,000 U.S. Soldiers killed. This week it will come down to one question: Will Americans finally hear the real truth about Iraq?" (release, 9/29).

Kerry Spot observation: This is a good segue into the next DNC ad, entitled, “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”

6. HBO's Maher, asked why Kerry can't exploit the growing disenchantment with the war in Iraq: "Because he is a rotten candidate. Exactly. That's the question every Democrat is asking themselves every day. It reminds me of that skit that 'Saturday Night Live' did in 1988, where Jon Lovitz played Dukakis. And Bush I is saying, stay the course, wouldn't be prudent. And then they got to Dukakis going, I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."

More Maher: "John Kerry is like a Frankenstein of other Democratic candidates that they have pieced together. He is a droning bore, like Al Gore. He is a Massachusetts liberal, like Dukakis. He is a policy wonk, like Jimmy Carter. ... They put all these together and made this one guy. And I think a lot of people are saying, is it too late to get Dean? Remember Dean? We kind of liked him" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 9/28).

Kerry Spot observation: Jeez, compared to Maher, my coverage of Kerry is as soft as Helen Thomas'.

7. Imus, on Kerry's claim he's run the Boston marathon but doesn't remember his time and there's no record of the run: "Are we looking for a Boston Marathon Veterans for Truth ad situation here?"

Edwards: "They've used everything else, they might as well use that too."

8. Pollster David Hill writes in the Hill, Edwards "has been quietly dragging" the Dem ticket "further down in the polls." Hill analyzes the WH polls released between 9/1 and 9/26 and reported in the Polling Report. He focuses on polls of LVs, and "on average, when Edwards' name was added to the ballot," Kerry trailed Bush by an average of 6.6% points, but when Kerry went up against Bush alone, he lost by only 1.7% on average. "If you add in all the other polls that were of registered voters, 16 of them, the evidence against Edwards grows stronger" (9/29).

9. MoveOn "members across the country are flooding the offices of CBS and its parent company, Viacom, with phone calls and e-mails demanding that the network reverse its decision and air a key "60 Minutes" report that uncovers how the Bush administration used fake documents to build its case for war in Iraq. CBS killed the story, saying it 'inappropriately' interfere" with WH 2004. MoveOn exec dir Peter Schurman: "It's outrageous that a major TV outlet would withhold an important piece of news for political reasons" (release, 9/28).

10. The DNC "no longer is airing TV ads" in MO. An ad analyst "says the DNC's departure leaves the impression" that John Kerry "is ceding" MO to Pres. Bush, "especially because Kerry ended his own" MO ads two months ago. The lack of Dem ad spending "means that Kerry probably will arrive in St. Louis" for next week's debate "without any supportive TV ads running anywhere" in MO. The DNC's last TV ad in MO ran 9/24. TNSMI's Evan Tracey: "My guess is that they have chosen to 'cut and run.'" DNC spokesperson Chris Mather "denied that was the case," and said MO "is still considered a battleground." She "cited two radio ads" the DNC is airing "on St. Louis and Kansas City stations with predominantly black listeners." Bush-Cheney spokesperson Danny Diaz called the DNC's decision "a very telling sign 35 days out" (Mannies, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/28).

[Posted 09/29 10:14 PM]