Democratic Candidate KERRY has a good chance ?

Great Debates
21

This Democrat thinks Kerry has zero chance to beat Bush, and that his chances of getting the Democratic nomination are almost that weak.

The guy has a charisma deficit - the same problem that has plagued so many Democratic contenders over the years. It’s not enough to be right; you also have to charm voters. Kerry is not the guy for that job. Outside New England, he will be perceived as just another intellectual snob. That doesn’t play with the masses.

Lieberman has exactly the same problem, and also has zero chance of winning.

Dean has more of a “regular guy” air about him. I think the folks who assume that no New England candidate can perform well outside his own region may be very surprised at how well Dean does in the Midwest and the South. He does not have that patrician vibe that turns off many middle-class voters. Also, he is an unabashed fighter, which I think also appeals to the regular Joe.

I like Edwards’ positions, but his campaign seems not to have caught fire. He’s a smart guy but there is lacking in him the sense of the strong leader (or so it seems to me). He might yet emerge as a dark horse.

If Wesley Clark enters the race, I think it will come down to Clark or Dean for the Democratic nomination.

The only people I hear talking about a Hillary run are conservatives. I think they are trying to bait her into running because she is such an easy target for them. They are hoping she will jump in and take the nomination away from Dean or Clark, since those guys have a real chance of winning the general election, while Hillary does not.

That, and Hillary-bashing is proven fundraising gold for Republicans.

22

I’m also from Massachusetts, but have trouble explaining why Kerry would make a good President. Ever since joining Dukakis’ ticket as LG, and later as Senator, he’s always given me a vibe of self-interest, calculation, aloofness, interest in his own image above all. I don’t know if that was true when he was the spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War in the early '70’s. Frankly, I can’t name a single thing he’s accomplished or an issue he’s become known for in the Senate. Even marrying John Heinz’s widow has had an odor of gold-digging about it.

It’s interesting that he isn’t Irish at all, despite allowing the impression to exist uncorrected for many years. His grandfather was an Austrian Jew who anglicized (gaelicized?) his name on arrival in Boston to help assimilate. Kerry’s mother was Scottish-English Brahmin. The odd thing to me is that he apparently wasn’t interested in the origins of his father’s side at all.

But, a presidential campaign can be a transforming event, for the candidate himself as well as for public perception of him. He may grow into the role, and our (my) view of him may as well. If he hits the right notes in his speeches and ads and debates, he could well do it. But his candidacy for now is based on (his wife’s) money and his success in Massachusetts, where if you can make it you can make it anywhere if you’re a pol.