WP: Competition Becomes Democrats' Elixir

[kskiska]

Friday, February 6, 2004; Page A01

As the Democratic presidential race enters its closing phase, the party finds itself facing prospects for the fall election that are vastly improved from just two months ago. At the same time, for reasons that are partly related and partly coincidence, President Bush is weaker than his strategists expected, spreading alarm in the White House and Republican circles, GOP sources said.

The dramatic turn of fortunes prompted an equally dramatic response. In South Carolina yesterday, Bush offered a comprehensive defense of the invasion of Iraq and vowed he would make the same decision today. And the president, who grants far fewer interviews than most of his predecessors, suddenly agreed to an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

The new balance in the race, even as Democratic front-runner Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) still faces spirited challenges, is a striking circumstance in historical terms. Usually, nominating battles weaken candidates, at least temporarily, as a party's ideological rifts and personal resentments take time to heal and sometimes prove fatal in the general election. This year, the Democratic contest is likely to produce a nominee who will be stronger coming out of the process than going in, according to strategists with both parties.

(snip)

Bush, meanwhile, has suffered a simultaneous slide, leaving his team nervously assessing whether his recent problems are a patch of bad luck and bad publicity or represent more structural weaknesses for his reelection candidacy, senior GOP political operatives say. Some recent polls have shown him behind Kerry in a matchup, if the election were held now. The State of the Union address is usually any president's best opportunity to showcase himself as leader of all the people. Two weeks after Bush gave his, he is suffering the lowest approval ratings of his presidency -- numbers that helped spur yesterday's aggressive moves to recover.

"People are concerned. The people that run the president's campaign are concerned," said a top outside adviser to the president in close contact with the campaign.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17227-2004Feb5.html

[neverforget]

1. They should be concerned because we are taking the People's

House back from the unelected fraud!

[kskiska]

2. Kick!

:kick: