I would have told him to get strait with disgruntled Vietnam Vets. It was a horrible strategy to run on Vietnam because he felt insulated by Bush's TANG serevice. Running on his service in Vietnam was folly. Wasn't the talking point from the DNV that it didn't matter in 1992 and 1996 when Clinton was running against war vets?
Welcome to the forum.
You are right, running on Vietnam was foolish, but no one could convince him otherwise. In past elections (including the primaries) Vietnam was this wondrous thing he could bring up and watch his poll numbers improve. He continued to believe, right through the end, that mentioning Vietnam would help him even when it was hurting him from teh Swift Boat Vets and his refusal to release his military records.
Also, the campaign should have gone negative, but not Kerry. The top of the ticket should look to be above that.