# How will Kerry try to win the election?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-kerry-try-to-win-the-election/229732>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 18, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-kerry-try-to-win-the-election/229732 "2004-02-18T00:03:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-kerry-try-to-win-the-election/229732/41 "2004-02-23T23:39:17Z")

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> [@elucidator](#):
>
> A good thought experiment might be this: we know that roughly 10% of America is Afro-American.

Again, strictly as a factual aside, according to the 2000 census, [12.9% of the U.S. population self-identified as African-American or black](http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-5.pdf).

As others have mentioned, the number for people who self-identify as gay is a little harder to get a handle on. 1-2ish percent seems to be the rule for face-to-face and mail interrogatories, but it’s higher for many phone polls and higher still for internet polls – as high as 6% for the internet, but of course that may reflect the demographics of internet users (and internet survey-filler-outers) as much as anything.

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**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-kerry-try-to-win-the-election/229732/42 "2004-02-24T02:23:03Z")

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**rjung** :

> [@](#):
>
> You either have psychic powers, or are pulling this out of your ass. Since I don’t believe in psychic powers, please stop posting with your rectum in the future…  
> And you’ll have the second orgasm of your life, I take it?

[Moderator Hat ON]

rjung, take it down a notch or take it to the Pit.

[Moderator Hat OFF]

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-kerry-try-to-win-the-election/229732/43 "2004-02-24T07:40:36Z")

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> [@Gaudere](#):
>
> rjung, take it down a notch or take it to the Pit.

Sorry; I’ll just sit here and wait for **ralph** to demonstrate his psychic powers, then. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-kerry-try-to-win-the-election/229732/44 "2004-02-24T08:49:43Z")

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I don’t think Bush will really run with the idea of gay marrage. In 2000 he had Cheney supporting states rights in determining marrage and I don’t see how the situation has gotten worse for gay rights people since then.

What Kerry will run on the most is jobs. The easiest thing for Kerry to do IMHO is go for the look of the way it was before Bush. Because I think that the best thing he can do is simply point out all the things that has happened under Bush’s term and say that he prefers how it was with Clinton. IE “What part of peace and prosperity do you not like”. It would have been an effective slogan in 2000 and I’d say it can be an even more effective slogan now considering what has happened with Bush.

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