Oliphant on the Kerry surge in Iowa

[Karmadillo]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/01/13/kennedy_at_his_side_kerry_makes_a_push/

MIKE CONNOLLY, a veteran state legislative leader from a part of Iowa where you can almost close your eyes and imagine being in the Northeast -- the heavily Catholic, blue-collar east by the Mississippi River -- summed up John Kerry's situation with the conciseness of an experienced politician. "It's safe to say John Kerry is an underdog, but he's an underdog on the move," Connolly said.

This week Kerry is displaying a strong grip on the Iowa State House, bringing out more than two-dozen legislators, the people with the most direct links to the local precincts where the caucuses that start the presidential nomination process are held. No other candidate has this kind of backing.

<edit>

Kerry's fresh emphasis on family economics, the essence of connection in what is after all a contest within the Democratic Party, is being supported on television by some truly powerful commercials. The latest is a testimonial from a single mother who lost her husband to cancer and is struggling to raise three kids on $30,000 from her job. Her message supports Kerry for insisting that the income tax cuts she has received in the last few years -- all pushed by Democrats in Congress -- be maintained so that her heavy burden isn't increased. There is no need for any mention of Howard Dean's name on the other side of this question.

Kerry's reversal of fortune out here is mostly a function of message. It shows how wrong the conventional view is that his summer slide was the product of his vote in the fall of 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. The real problem was a campaign that blocked a connection with voters by focusing took much on Kerry's resume, foreign policy knowledge, and Vietnam War record. That campaign was about him; this campaign is about them.

more...