John Kerry is enjoying the scrutiny-free media boomlet that comes with a New Hampshire win.

It’s so good for him right now that the press and even some Democratic primary voters have decided that a liberal, Massachusetts senator with a Ted Kennedy voting record, a charisma deficit, and a stint as Michael Dukakis’s lieutenant governor in the 80’s is the most “electable” candidate in the field.

Really?

Something tells me that the conventional wisdom on Kerry’s “electability” may change soon.

I offer the following to my Democratic friends as just one example of the welcome party we’re looking forward to throwing for Mr. Kerry.

Let’s go to the videotape.

Bill O’Reilly was interviewing Donna Brazile on September 5, 2001. Donna Brazile, you may recall, was Al Gore’s campaign manager.

She’s a very bright woman and an excellent strategist. She’s a frequent guest on any number of political talk shows to this day. She is a member of the Democratic establishment.

And get this; we have her on tape saying “John Kerry is far more liberal than Al Gore.”

Let that and all its electoral implications sink in for a minute.

How’s that for “electability”?

Although this pre – 9/11, televised interview has surely been forgotten by most, I have a hunch that Bush-Cheney, Inc. has a copy. Maybe even several copies.

Here’s the key part of the transcript:

Brazile: “… Al Gore is more of a fiscal conservative. He’s more moderate than perhaps John Kerry on many issues. I would think there, probably, are many issues that separate the two.”
O’Reilly: “You think John Kerry is a liberal?”
Brazile: “I think John Kerry is far more liberal than Al Gore. There’s nothing
bad with being a liberal. I consider myself a liberal…”

“Electability” anyone?

And then there’s Kerry’s opposition to the death penalty and his 1989 vote against the death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans abroad (see page 779 of The 2004 Almanac of American Politics). That’ll go over real well.

But that’s for another day and another ad.

–Robert Moran is a vice president at Republican polling firm Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates.