Rate Kerry's Campaign
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Poll
Question: How well did John Kerry run his campaign?
#1
A
 
#2
B
 
#3
C
 
#4
D
 
#5
E
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 77

Author Topic: Rate Kerry's Campaign  (Read 17754 times)
Nation
of_thisnation
Junior Chimp
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« on: November 03, 2004, 04:02:24 PM »

I'm not sure what I'd give him. Bush and Rove definitely get the "A" in this situation -- I'd give Kerry a C+, probably. He did some things right, some things wrong.
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A18
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« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2004, 04:03:34 PM »

I'd give him a B or a C.

Rove gets a B.
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WMS
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« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2004, 04:04:40 PM »

A "B". I think Kerry did quite well, all things considered, and he has nothing to be ashamed about in his campaign...well, maybe WV, but I'll give the floor to Al on that one. Smiley

And a "B" for the Reps as well.

Two solid campaigns, but no dominating ones.
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zachman
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« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2004, 04:22:33 PM »

Shouldn't have listened to Shrum on giving an internationalist message. This has consistently failed the Democratic Party. Should have confronted cultural issues head on, instead of avoiding them. Should have gone after Bush on the 'there will be no casualties' line. Should have focused on values more than healthcare.

C
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The Dowager Mod
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« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2004, 04:23:35 PM »

Not as bad as gores but still an "F"
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Sam Spade
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« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2004, 04:24:46 PM »

Kerry gets a C

Bush gets a B+
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Kodratos
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« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2004, 04:44:45 PM »

Kerry: C
Before the debates Kerry was going to lose in a landslide. People were talking about the death of the Democratic Party. After that they seemed to pull it together a little.

Bush: B+
He gets downgraded because of his terrible performance in the debates. He screwed what was a certain landslide. He gets MAJOR credit for getting the base out to vote.
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AuH2O
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« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2004, 04:49:28 PM »

Difficult to rate,  because the media was on Kerry's side for the most part. That makes the campaign's job a lot easier.

Kerry: B-
Bush: B
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dazzleman
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« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2004, 05:07:30 PM »

I would give Kerry a C for his campaign.

On the one hand, there were certain elements that were well-run, and he definitely gave the president a better fight than anyone would have anticipated 1-2 years ago.

On the other hand, he never offered a coherent alternative to President Bush.  He flip-flopped to the point where even his closest supporters couldn't possibly anticipate what he would do as president, or make sense of his varying stands on the issues.  He criticized President Bush, but spent more time saying what he would have done up to this point (after voting mostly in support of what the president did) rather than saying what he would do going forward.

A fairly good campaign can't make up for a lack of intellectual consistency by a candidate.
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ATFFL
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« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2004, 05:14:11 PM »

Kerry gets a C.

He was pretty good in the period up to his convention. Nothing great, but not bad either.

The convention was awful.  No information, no plans, no solid goals, just a lot of information on his Vietnam service and little on his years in the Senate.

The month to the Republican convention was his worst time.  He completely fumbled the Swift Boats and kept making it worse for himself.  Some of the worst campaigning in modern history.

He finally did well in the debate period.  He hit his stride and the MSM really got behind him here and helped him get his message out.

After the debates he failed to ever stick with one message for long enough for it to work. 
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The Duke
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« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2004, 05:26:04 PM »

C-

He had good debates, but a disasterous convention.  That stupid salute will go down as a Dukakis tank moment.  He also lacked an overarching theme.
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Alcon
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« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2004, 05:28:56 PM »

Kerry: C
Targeted the right states and everything, but, well, made some seriously stupid mistakes. Nice last month - saved them from a C-.

Bush: B+
Rove is good, although he shouldn't have bothered in states like New Jersey. I mean, come on! And the debates were a real roadblock. Still, overall, the evil genius did well again.
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KEmperor
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« Reply #12 on: November 03, 2004, 07:19:57 PM »

E?  Don't you mean F?

At any rate, I give him a D.
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No more McShame
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« Reply #13 on: November 03, 2004, 07:54:09 PM »

C-

He had good debates, but a disasterous convention.  That stupid salute will go down as a Dukakis tank moment.  He also lacked an overarching theme.

No overarching theme?  All he talked about was Vietnam!  It wasn't that the DNC had no theme, but the wrong one to resonate with the voters.
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Alcon
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« Reply #14 on: November 03, 2004, 08:00:08 PM »

E?  Don't you mean F?

At any rate, I give him a D.

Some school districts use "E" instead of "F." It's kind of more logical.
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J. J.
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« Reply #15 on: November 03, 2004, 08:17:53 PM »

Kerry made a lot of mistakes:

1.  His "flip-flop" on the war and the voting against 87 billion.

2.  Choosing Edwards as VP.

3.  His retrospective convention speech.

4.  "...Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, ..."

5.  Overplaying the "377 tons of explosives."

He could have done worse, but not by much.  The grade is a D -.
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George W. Bush
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« Reply #16 on: November 03, 2004, 08:18:01 PM »

E?  Don't you mean F?

At any rate, I give him a D.

Some school districts use "E" instead of "F." It's kind of more logical.


no its not...... F is for Fail
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J. J.
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« Reply #17 on: November 03, 2004, 09:59:01 PM »

I'll add one more:

6.  Kerry's strategic decision to contest FL and not spend more time in the mid west and WV.
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Alcon
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« Reply #18 on: November 03, 2004, 10:16:56 PM »

E?  Don't you mean F?

At any rate, I give him a D.

Some school districts use "E" instead of "F." It's kind of more logical.


no its not...... F is for Fail

Then what are A, B, C, and D for?

I'm not saying it's more logical though. And I'm also not getting into what will by far be the lamest debate here ever.
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James46
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« Reply #19 on: November 04, 2004, 12:31:14 AM »

Kerry gets a C.  He only gets that because the MSM never ask him the tough questions that were thrown at Bush.  And Bush dropped the ball in the first debate.  But Kerry kept screwing up by making cracks about Bush's faith.  That hurt him badly because morality was the top issue for voters.  And his hunting in Ohio!  Come on, that was ridiculous.  It just brought out in aces that he was still trying to figure out who he was.  But, having to run on the Democratic ticket, he was an overachiever.  The Democratic party needs to look at itself.  It is on the verge of becoming marginalized, maybe even insignificant for many years to come.  In Ohio, it offered very little help to Kerry.
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opebo
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« Reply #20 on: November 04, 2004, 03:43:37 AM »

He didn't do very well because he didn't attack Bush enough.  The Bush campaign was much dirtier, and Kerry should've gone whole-hog negative in response.  Instead he took the high road, and worst of all appealed to reason rather than emotion - which left out the great majority of the American public.
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Umengus
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« Reply #21 on: November 04, 2004, 05:15:21 AM »

Kerry: D
Rove: A
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Silent Hunter
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« Reply #22 on: November 04, 2004, 06:26:07 AM »

Who are the MSM?
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #23 on: November 04, 2004, 09:26:07 AM »

well, maybe WV, but I'll give the floor to Al on that one. Smiley

In brief:

1. Kerry seems to have led in WV early on
2. For some insane reason, Kerry's "strategists" decided to silently pull resources out of WV. Although some went to OH, they mostly went to VA. This started almost as soon as they got to WV (ie: early spring. Yes. That early)
3. Because there were less resources in WV the local Party Bosses got angry with the Kerry campaign.
4. Kerry's numbers started to drop because there were less resources/local party bosses pissed off. Result: more resources pulled out, visits cancelled, party bosses even more pissed off. You get the idea. By November State and Federal Parties weren't talking to each other (note that Manchin won the Gubernatorial race in a landslide)
5. Some party bosses began to covertly aid the Bush campaign.
6. Someone (almost certainly a pissed off local boss) began to circulate some evil little leaflets claiming (amoungst other things) that Kerry "wanted to ban the Bible". As a result Evangelical turnout soared.
7. Kerry's campaign failed to seize on the fact that Bush intends to reduce safety regulations in mines. Result? Coalfield turnout more-or-less the same as 2000 (up about 3% on average. Actually down in some areas). Only a solid campaign by the UMW stopped the WV result from turning into a KY like result.
8. Etc, etc, etc

I found out most of this from a (very) reliable source three days ago.
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dazzleman
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« Reply #24 on: November 04, 2004, 09:32:06 AM »

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that both the Democratic candidates' wives turned out to be a liability, in my opinion.

Initially, I liked Teresa Heinz because she wasn't afraid to say what she thought.  But after a few times, her statements started to rub me the wrong way.  She reminded me a lot of Betty Ford - being applauded for her "outspokenness" without regard to the nonsensical content of much of what she was saying.  I strongly suspect that she has some of the same problems that Betty Ford was suffering from (alcoholism, prescription drug addiction, or both).

Mrs. Edwards really rubbed me the wrong way when she said that the Cheney's were upset about Kerry mentioning their daughter's lesbianism because they felt shame.  It was a nasty, catty little comment and revived unpleasant images of other people I have known who have gone around sticking their nose into other people's business without being invited.

The reality is that a political spouse, for the most part, can only be a neutral or a negative.  Laura Bush's extreme popularity probably was a small net plus, but I doubt too many people who weren't already planning to vote for Bush switched to him because of his wife.  On the other hand, she sure didn't drive away any voters, which I suspect the wives of Kerry and Edwards did, with their comments.  
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