If you were John Kerry's campaign manager what would you have done different?

[Erc]

What would your message have been?
Bush messed up, but here's my plan for getting us out of it.  And it's not on johnkerry.com

Who would you have pushed for as VP?
Gephardt probably was the best of the bunch here.

What would have been your platform?
Concentrate mainly on the economy (especially in states where it's a problem)--present a viable plan for getting the country out of the so-called recession--appeal to small-town values, small business, etc.
On Security and Iraq--Kerry did very little to dissuade the public of the popular opinion that Democrats are weak on Security.  You have to say that you supported going into Afghanistan and Iraq, but you feel that the implementation's been screwed up royally.
Domestically, you just can't point out stuff about port security and the like--you have to present your own comprehensive plan.
On Iraq, don't concentrate so much about internationalism and the UN--Francophilia doesn't appeal to anybody.  Instead, concentrate on things like the disbanding of the Iraqi army, the slow pace of reconstruction, etc--and then present a plan to deal with Iraq on our own.
Never talk about the deficit.

How would you have reacted to the Swift boat ad's?
If he hadn't gone on and on about his bloody Vietnam service so much, this wouldn't have been an issue.

Would you have written of the entire South?

Not MO or FL, of course (although you can surreptitiously slip out of FL if necessary)...but also make a couple of tentative stabs at AR/VA to test the waters (and get Bush to spend money there).  Other than that, of course, the South is a lost cause.

Would you have spent less time in Ohio and more in the midwest?
Kerry generally had a good focus--there wasn't much more he could have gotten with that level of PV support.   The real question is what to do about the West (NV/NM/CO)--if you write that off, you can concentrate exclusively on the MN-OH belt.