|
A “new” Kerry?
Notwithstanding President Bush’s manifold defects and inadequacies as a leader, I’ve repeatedly said that John Kerry is such an atrocious candidate that he had no realistic chance of winning the election. I may have to modify that prediction. Kerry gave a speech this week to the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, and he was a notably different Kerry than I’ve heard before in this campaign. Not only was his substance much more moderate and sensible—he spoke favorably of business, for example—but gone was his insufferable tone of contempt for a world and a country not good enough for him. If Kerry can keep up this new, moderate pose (a big if), I’d say he has a realistic chance of beating Bush. Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 08, 2004 12:12 PM | Send Comments
The latest Gallup Poll, released on Thursday had Kerry ahead 49-48%. Bush had led by 6 points a month earlier. This poll was through last Tuesday, before some of the worst recent headlines. The Beltway Right has been saying that Kerry would be easily routed by Bush in the same way that Dole lost to Clinton on 1996. One difference, noted above is that Kerry is much better in the polls than Dole was at this time in 1996. I’ve been going back and forth. I said a year ago on the Forum that Bush could lose. Lately, it seemed that Kerry was unelectable. But if Kerry seems an acceptable alternative, and if Bush continues to have bad news, Kerry might be able to win. Also, remember what that great conservative Bill Kristol wrote in the Washington Post late last year? Kristol wrote, “(D)emographic trends (particularly the growth in Hispanic voters) tend to favor the Democrats going into 2004.” Posted by: David on May 8, 2004 10:22 PM |