Saving candidate Kerry

September 22, 2004

This article was published in the Tampa Tribune on Sept. 22, 2004.

By: Richard K. Scher
Richard Scher is a political science professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

An open letter to Candidate John Kerry:

Mr. Kerry – your presidential campaign is in trouble. After leading President Bush in the polls, your numbers have headed south since the Republican convention. A recent Associated Press poll has Bush ahead, although still within the margin of error. More seriously, you have lost ground in every major demographic group except minorities, urban residents, and yellow-dog Democrats. If the election were held today, you would lose.

Is it too late for you to save your campaign? Not necessarily. You need to take a very hard look at what you have failed to accomplish thus far, and take aggressive steps to turn things around. There is still time.

You have failed in each of the major tasks which a presidential candidate faces, especially one challenging an incumbent.

For starters, the challenger must convince the public that the incumbent needs replacing and that he is the man to do it. Why are you so reticent to call this administration a failure? Also, you have told us very little about how you are different from Mr. Bush. You slipped terribly when you said recently that you would still vote to invade Iraq. Why vote for Kerry, when a bona fide warmonger already sits in the White House?

In American-style democratic elections, incumbents are expected to defend their record. It is the task of the challenger to insist that this happens. You have thus far failed to make President Bush answer for anything – Iraq, Al Qaeda, Afghanistan, tax breaks for the rich, loss of jobs, a phony prescription drug plan, environmental degradation, an education policy even Bush’s own brother protested. Years ago the eminent political scientist E.E. Schattschneider noted that no campaign – political or military or sporting – can be won if it’s fought on the opponent’s end of the field. And yet this is exactly what has happened. Bush and the Republicans have controlled, even dictated, the debate.

So what are you to do? The following is a partial list which, if implemented vigorously and aggressively, might save your campaign:

Fire the pollsters. Or at least put them out of sight. My partner and I recently hosted a “Kerry Evening” at which a campaign representative noted that Kerry wasn’t talking about Iraq and Afghanistan and terrorism because his pollsters felt it was his weakness. Say what? It’s not the Kerry policy we are talking about here, it’s the Bush one. As long as you avoid the subject, you leave the field open for Mr. Bush alone. Talk about what needs talking about, starting with a half-done job in Afghanistan, an ineffective campaign against Al Qaeda, and an indefensible war in Iraq.

Say something. Get angry. Most especially, demand answers. You consistently let Bush off the hook. This is not only counter to our style of democratic elections, it is bad politics. The charge that the media will not respond when you start asking tough questions and demanding answers is garbage. The media – except possibly for Fox News – are spoiling for a fight. Show some spunk, Mr. Kerry. Make demands, insist that we hear the facts, the real facts, not the Republican version. The media will follow.

Embrace the debate about Vietnam. You were there. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld were not. What right do they have to criticize you? What right do they even have to an opinion? Make them defend the fact that they avoided service.

Fight fire with fire. For decades the Republicans have masterfully used “slash and burn” tactics against Democratic opponents. Almost always their methods have been reprehensible – look at what they did to Max Cleland. No one is suggesting that you follow suit. But like other Democratic presidential candidates, you have been afraid to doff your gloves, to take them on, to wage a hardball campaign. Think Harry Truman, 1948. It worked for him!

Most importantly, tell us who you are. Tell us why and how you are different from George W. Bush. Do so boldly, clearly, fearlessly, eloquently. Show that you are a leader, tell us what you think, not just what people want to hear. Stop playing it safe!

Take Viagra if you have to. It’s time to be bold, Mr. Kerry.