If you were John Kerry's campaign manager in 2004...

[Robert C. Byrd]

How would you have run his campaign?  What would have been your message, electoral strategy, VP selection, etc.

[Badger]

Tactically, the best thing would've been to hit head on the swift boating campaign. BEG on bended knee any/all of Kerry's old unit to end their post-convention vacations early when the smears started to hit early on and blanket the airwaves with the truth: We don't know who these guys claiming to know the Lt. are, but they sure as hell never served in our unit under Kerry.

Next, crack the whip on Kerry to work on soundbites over nuance. When he said regarding the Iraq War funding amendment "I voted for it before I opposed it" this was technically true and reasonably based on changes in the amendment he unsuccessfully fought for, Karl Rove was correct in calling this the most politically damaging 5 seconds of television that year.

Finally, anyone have an idea how to address the Bin Laden tape that came out the weekend before the election? The CIA's own analysis was that Bin Laden was patently trying to aid Bush's reelection chances, it seemed to have worked, and I'm not sure what else could've been done to blunt it's impact.

http://mobile.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/05/12/october_surprise/index.html

[sirnick]

How would you have run his campaign?  What would have been your message, electoral strategy, VP selection, etc.

Tell him to drop out and endorse Howard Dean

[fezzyfestoon]

Honestly, I don't know if there was much he could have done differently.  Yeah, he could have been more gimmicky to attract attention, but I don't think he could pull that off.  Besides, the Bush team was determined to win, they would have smeared anything Kerry did.  If they didn't nail the flip-flopping creation, it would have been something else.  The Democrats needed someone inspiring and exciting like Howard Dean.  Not the good but forgettable candidate like John Kerry.

[WEB Dubois]

I would of ran Wes Clark as VP to take some of the sting off of the Swift Boat ads.  He would of had someone there to sure up his commander in chief credentials unlike Edwards would of done. 

People were looking for an alternative to Bush, but John Kerry who was deemed as being unsure including his commander in chief credentials made the people vote the status quo.

[Sasquatch]

How would you have run his campaign?  What would have been your message, electoral strategy, VP selection, etc.

Tell him to drop out and endorse Howard Dean

[Deldem]

I'd tell him to grow a spine and totally discredit the Swift Boaters, and by extension, Bush.
It's one of the great political mysteries- John Kerry managed to somehow make being a war hero a negative quality, something I once thought was completely impossible.

[pragmatic liberal]

As I've said before on this site, I actually think Kerry *was* the most electable Democrat that year. (Yes, Dean was more exciting, but given the political climate, it's hard to see him doing any better. He would have been easily tarred - unfairly - as a left-wing nut by the Bush camp.)

Also, the race was always Bush's to lose. He was a wartime incumbent, and his approval ratings hovered around 50%. He was polarizing and divisive enough to make the race competitive, but the odds always favored a narrow Bush victory.

If I had been Kerry's campaign manager, I would have said:

(1) Pick a message and stick with it. Something like "responsible leadership" - responsibility (as opposed to incompetence) in Iraq, responsibility over the economy, etc.

(2) The post-September message on Iraq should have been the message from the start. It took Kerry until Sept. 18 of 2004 to actually declare that going to war had been a mistake. That should have been his position from the spring onwards.

(3) He should have taken ownership of the "flip-flop" label. Seriously. No matter what he did, he was going to be tarred with it, so he might as well have embraced it by saying something like "when the facts change, I change my mind. If that makes me a flip-flopper, call me a flip-flopper." It would have defanged the charge.

(4) Also, no going dark in August. Part of the campaigns problems were funding issues - having taken public funds, he had to spread them over 3 months whereas Bush only had 2. Instead, the DNC should have dramatically picked up the slack and done major ad buys in Kerry's stead.

[Northeast Rep. Doctor Cynic]

The minute the Swift Boat ads went out, I would've launced an immidiate offensive against them.

I would not have picked John Edwards. I would've looked for an Ohioan or someone from a swing state. If not, then I would've selected Wesley Clark or Russell Feingold

I would've diverted funds to Ohio from Florida.

[Guderian]

Picking another running-mate is the most obvious improvement to the Kerry campaign since Edwards really did nothing for him. It gets tough from there since I don't think Kerry ever had much of a chance. It's actually quite amazing that he came 118,000 votes in Ohio from becoming President. WOT and especially Iraq were the big issues in 2004 and Democrats had to choose between three evils when approaching them.

- dovish, McGovern-style approach embodied in Howard Dean

- hawkish, "me too" approach embodied in Joe Lieberman

- balancing act, which is basically the road taken by Kerry

First two approaches would probably result in Bush landslides (for different reasons), so you can't blame Kerry for trying to find a delicate balance, but this made him vulnerable to accusations about flip-flopping and indecisiveness. Just proves how tough it is to knock off a wartime incumbent.

[Senator Scott Westman (L-MT)]

The idea that Howard Dean would've been a suicide candidate is a bit foregone. Sure, he was deadset against the war, but he had some views that could've won quite a few voters over. For example, his "A" rating from the NRA would've destroyed the myth that the Democratic Party is the party of the fascist gun grabbers and he could've won states out west if he adopted some pro-land conservation platform. Also, his record as a tax cutting and balance budgeting governor in stark contrast to the deficit raising Bush. The fact that he was governor of Vermont and not a state say the size of New York or California might've backfired, but still........

[Guderian]

The idea that Howard Dean would've been a suicide candidate is a bit foregone.

I don't think that idea is foregone at all. Remember, political climate in 2004 was VERY different than it was in 2008. National security was high on the list of voters priorities and economy was down. Bush was campaigning on his Western macho I-can-keep-you-safe platform, that suited his personality quite well. Even Kerry, who had a military combat record and senatorial stature had trouble keeping up with that. How would Dean do, with his image (fair or unfair) of a typical soft Hamptons-Upper East Side-Vermont liberal who never wore a uniform or dealt with national security issues in his political career? My guess is worse than Kerry.

[Badger]

The minute the Swift Boat ads went out, I would've launced an immidiate offensive against them.

I would not have picked John Edwards. I would've looked for an Ohioan or someone from a swing state. If not, then I would've selected Wesley Clark or Russell Feingold

I would've diverted funds to Ohio from Florida.

There were no Ohioans remotely qualified to run as VP in 2004.

[Badger]

The idea that Howard Dean would've been a suicide candidate is a bit foregone.

I don't think that idea is foregone at all. Remember, political climate in 2004 was VERY different than it was in 2008. National security was high on the list of voters priorities and economy was down. Bush was campaigning on his Western macho I-can-keep-you-safe platform, that suited his personality quite well. Even Kerry, who had a military combat record and senatorial stature had trouble keeping up with that. How would Dean do, with his image (fair or unfair) of a typical soft Hamptons-Upper East Side-Vermont liberal who never wore a uniform or dealt with national security issues in his political career? My guess is worse than Kerry.

Welcome to the forum. You need to post much more often.

[GPORTER]

(1) Pick a message and stick with it. Something like "responsible leadership" - responsibility (as opposed to incompetence) in Iraq, responsibility over the economy, etc.

Responsible leadership? But, he is not responsible with his stances on the issues as he has flip flopped on many different issues. How can he be a responsible leader when he flip flops all the time. He cannot be trusted much less be seen as a responsible leader.