Rolled-up sleeves don’t cut it -The Hill

[Rose Siding]

The beautifully restored Orpheum Theater in Phoenix was a stunning setting for CNN’s presidential debate. Once the shooting started, however, it seemed that the OK Corral — 150 miles to the southeast — might have been a better venue.

Gen. Wesley Clark was clearly perceived the front-runner du jour and thus took intense fire. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the current leader in Iowa and New Hampshire, was ambushed with a carefully orchestrated Kerry campaign stunt featuring fliers charging Dean wanted to close down a prescription drug plan for seniors in Vermont. Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) joined in branding Clark a Republican and Dean a threat to everything Democrats have stood for since FDR. All in all, a good rough-and-tumble show fitting for the cactus patch.

The most improved debater award goes to Sen. John Kerry..........

snip>

A year ago, Kerry had won the Beltway primary. The chattering class had anointed him the one to beat. He had the money, the consultants and the experience. But a week ago in the Arizona desert, people were not as impressed. The jampacked post-debate party was Dean’s, not Kerry’s. One local operative counted more people in the Dean room than were in the ballroom the night Janet Napolitano was elected the first Democratic governor of the state since Bruce Babbitt. “And I don’t know any of these people,” he said.

Kerry doesn’t know them, either and my guess is they haven’t flocked to this campaign to elect the candidate “most experienced in domestic policy and foreign affairs.” If that is the message Kerry has settled on, chances are we won’t be hearing much of it past March of next year.

http://www.thehill.com/goddard/101603.aspx

This says Goddard is a political consultant. I don't know of him but it's good to see the weight he gives to the supporters no one recognizes.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

1. This isn't the first hit piece The Hill has done on Kerry