Why are people jumping on the Kerry bandwagon?

[dolstein]

First Hollings, now Clyburn. Sheesh. Aren't these people making the same mistake that Gore, Bradley, Harkin, etc. did by jumping on the Screamin' Dean Express?

The fact is that a surprise victory in a single caucus doesn't even come close to demonstrating that Kerry has what it takes to defeat Bush in the general election. Frankly, it's far too early to say whether ANY candidate has what it takes.

And let's not forget that only a few weeks ago, Kerry was considered to be dead in the water. Does a last-minute surge in Iowa suddenly wipe out months of criticism about how poorly run and ineffective the Kerry campaign was?

My suspicion is that many people are coming out for Kerry right now simply because he isn't Dean. While their concern about Dean is amply jusitified, does it really make sense to side with a largely untested candidate simply because people are afraid that if Kerry's position as frontrunner isn't quickly solidified, the Dean campaign will have an opportunity to regroup and stage a comeback? Or maybe these people simply fear a drawn-out and potentially deadlocked primary campaign. Better to annoint Kerry now, so the thinking goes, than to risk even the slightest possibility of an open convention.

I look at Kerry and I see the same flaws I saw before Iowa. His voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy's. He was Michael Dukakis' lieutenant governor. He comes from the same patrician, Ivy League background as Bush does. He's an uninspired public speaker.

Sure, there are positives. His face would fit comfortably on Mount Rushmore. He served in Vietnam. His campaign isn't bound by spending caps. And yes, he isn't Howard Dean.

But at this point, the negatives still outweight the positives. And it strikes me as ridiculous that people would be rushing to annoint him as the nominee after a single caucus. Is it really so silly to demand that Kerry -- and Clark, Edwards, Dean, Lieberman, etc. -- actually prove himself in SEVERAL primaries before any calls are made for the party to unite behind him?

[WI_DEM]

1. well

As Harkin and Gore learned endorsements don't really seem to matter.

[Ficus]

21. perhaps Dean would have finished lower

without the Tom Harkin endorsement? I dunno, but I know that one was the only one out of those 3 to matter here in Iowa. I think the other 2 were nationally aimed.

[bowens43]

2. What makes you think that

Gores, Bradleys, Harkins support of Dean was a mistake?

[Democrats unite]

3. Politics makes for strange bed-fellows...

We shall wait and see what happens.

[WildForKerry]

4. If he wins New Hampshire he is the front runner

Of course Dean can come back in the next 3 Days.

[AP]

5. Everyone loves a winner, real or perceived.

Kerry is a real winner, and many pereive him as the future winner. Some people still perceive the others as winners.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Dolstein, sour grapes. You wouldn't be saying this if Lieberman were

receiving these endorsements.

Try this for inspiration:

"We're coming. You're going. Don't let the door hit you on the way out." - John Kerry

and, as always, my signature line...

"Don't just send them a message. Send them a President." - John Kerry

And don't forget Kerry was the first calling for "regime change" in the United States--pretty damn inspirational to me.

John Kerry is our best candidate to go up against Bushco, and I think Fritz Hollings gets it. I did not know that Clyburn had endorsed Kerry. If so, this is great news for Kerry in South Carolina! Thanks for the update, dolstein.

[overground1]

7. people like to go with a winner; avoid hard decisions, let others decide

[spinbaby]

8. Kerry shows well on TV

And I'm afraid that's worth more nowadays than how the candidates stand on issues.

[sandnsea]

9. Well, that's not the whole picture

It's not popular to talk about business and taxes and common sense on DU. So I avoid it. But out there on the campaign trail, he can and does. And people listen. He's liberal on social and environmental issues, he's tough on crime, he's fought corporate welfare and pork, he's supported small business, he's fair on taxes, he's common sense in his solutions at all times. And he's an inspiring speaker, he respects the intelligence of his audience and that is rare.

I hope everybody keeps saying he's too liberal, he's aloof, he's patrician. Let Hannity think he can beat Kerry that way.

It's been proven untrue time and time and time again. But go ahead, keep trying to beat him by bashing him.

[Hawkeye-X]

10. after next Tuesday - it'll be the Dean Express

and with stops to South Carolina, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Arizona, Oklahoma and Ohio.

Hawkeye-X

[FreeperSlayer]

11. Jump on the ABB bandwagon!

BUSH OUT!

[THUNDER HANDS]

12. all our candidates have negatives that outweigh positives

Depending on how you want to look at things.

Personally, line Bush up side-by-side with Kerry and you'd have to be either (a) a fundamentalist right-wing Republican, (b) partially blind and deaf, or (c) a houseplant, to vote for Bush.

And once New Hampshire is over, if Kerry wins that, he IS a virtual lock for the White House. Money and momentum will pour in and his campaign will never look back.

If he wins New Hampshire, I bet he'll win South Carolina.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. Wow. That's optimism.

More than I could ever express for Kerry. I expect a hard close fight. Gore showed what they are capable of- I can only think we have learned the lesson and are ready to fight back harder than they can return it.

[THUNDER HANDS]

18. I've felt Bush was utterly beatable about two months after 911

And I still feel that way. It might take the rest of the nation longer to realize it, but I GUARAN-DAMN-TEE Bush will be out on his ass in November.

[nightperson]

14. In oft-forgotten days of yore,

Kerry was considered by many to be the assumed eventual nominee, so I like to think of it as people returning to "the bandwagon" ;-) :toast: :thumbsup: .

[THUNDER HANDS]

19. luckily

Kerry's bandwagon is equipped with Bungee cords. :D

[beaconess]

15. Clyburn hasn't endorsed Kerry

and has said he doesn't know whether he'll endorse anyone. CNN jumped the gun.

[jobycom]

16. A lot of people wanted to like Kerry all along

I kept hearing that. I'm in a club with close to two hundred members, and many of them who haven't committed don't like Dean (they don't really dislike him, either), they don't like Clark, and they don't believe the rest have a chance, but when I start talking to them, I always hear "I wish Kerry was doing better. He's the one I wanted to vote for."

I guess a lot of those people voted Kerry in Iowa, and now he's doing well, and so he'll have a bandwagon. But he still has to sell his recent supporters on his viability.

And you are right about his flaws. He is boring. But he has a lot of money to run. And he matches against Bush well. And all of the positives sandnsea pointed out above are true, too.

He hasn't been annointed yet, any more than Dean was, or Clark was. He's just the poll leader for now. If he keeps it, he earns the spot. If he loses it, he's not good enough. But he gets his day, and that's what a lot of anti-Dean people wanted. Now it's a real race, and whichever one wins can feel more legite.

[PATRICK]

17. Our Dem establishment

This comes as a surprise to DUers? I don't think we take satisfaction in this, but it happens to all professional politicians at some time. At some time or other they need to put a brown paper bag over their head before they sagely open their mouths.

Doesn't anyone up there know how to play this game? If you are looking for a party that is apparently guileless when it comes to effective political strategies, then apparently the Democrats are that sheepfold. I guess the bright side is feckless honesty in spite of any desire to the contrary.

Candidates with appeal that transcends the plans, the strategies, the calculations, the accumulated "wisdom" of having won elections before prove over and over that it is the voters and their vote, stupid.

Powers that try to intercede between the candidates and the public may be effective and well intentioned. They also get in the way and are only one vote more in the booth.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

20. They want to beat Bush.

Talk to people all across the country -- they are either with Bush, or against him. Those who are against Bush have one overwhelming criteria in selecting a candidate -- can he beat Bush?

Kerry was the 'annointed' frontrunner in the beginning. Why? because everyone believed he had the best chance of beating Bush. With the Dean phenomenon, and the subsequent bad press Kerry was getting, many lost faith. But once the people spoke in Iowa, and spoke so resoundingly, with Kerry winning almost every demographic, people see the Dean phenomenom as nothing more than another dot.com bubble that has burst. And Kerry looks like a winner again.

[Old and In the Way]

22. I like them all, but

I really think Kerry matches up real well against the anti-Kerry.