I've decided that Kerry is an electable candidate

[bluestateguy]

Make no mistake about it, I am still strongly for Wes Clark in my March 9th Texas primary, but John Kerry has proven to me that he would be an electable candidate should he be the nominee of our party in November.

Kerry has better campaign skills than he is given credit for. I have seen him campaign under the toughest of circumstances, such as in 1996 against Bill Weld in the Massachusetts Senate race. He came on strong in the last 2 weeks and won by 7 points against the toughest opponent the Republicans could have put up. He debates well, he runs an excellent town meeting and he fights back when he is attacked. He simply won't tolerate the usual Republican bag of tricks out on the campaign trail.

Kerry has an appeal with middle aged and older working class voters that Howard Dean could not hope to replicate. Both men are of patrician background, but working people can more readily identify with Kerry than with Dean. Kerry could win all of the Gore states, and possibly West Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire, Arizona and Nevada (he voted against Yucca Mountain nuclear waste).

This is not to say that he does not carry liabilities with him into a general election matchup. He does. All the potential candidates do. There will be time to talk more about that, but I feel much better about a Kerry-Bush matchup than I did a few months ago.

[lancdem]

1. I saw him yesterday at a town meeting on C-SPAN

and was extremely impressed. I believe he is electable, too.

[Ripley]

2. The top 4 are ALL electable.

It's a matter of who will bring the most people out to vote.

[sandnsea]

3. NH, NV, OH, AR, SC, NC

Kerry/Edwards I'm thinking we could win just like that.

[democratreformed]

4. What makes you think this ticket could take Arkansas?

Being from Arkansas, I am curious.

Edit: Please don't forget that GW has spoken specifically of this state as a key to his campaign. He had a major fundraiser here a month or so ago. Repub support is very strong - esp in the Northwestern (Wal Mart and Tyson) area of the state.

[sandnsea]

5. Pryor & Lincoln

Arkansas is most likely to go Democratic, these are two amazing senators with alot of support, Kerry/Edwards will go well in Arkansas. It'll go Dem.

[democratreformed]

6. Pryor, maybe... Lincoln, not so much

I hope you are right but I don't think Arkansas is going to be easy. We have a lot of work to do here.

[sandnsea]

7. Kerry is all about work

That's the "secret" of his campaign.

[IndianaGreen]

8. I am sure that Kerry getting a medal for executing a wounded VC

I am sure that Kerry getting a medal for executing a wounded VC will play well with the Left, just as Kerry's 100% gun-grabbing record will play well with gun rights voters, and Kerry's prowar vote will be overlooked by the "antiwar on conscience grounds" crowd.

Here is another factor that hasn't been discussed yet: the Catholic Church!

The Catholic Church, and I mean the Vatican as well as the US Bishops, are on a major PR campaign against gay marriage demanding that all public office holders take a moral stand against what they see as a "perversion" (their words) against the "sacrament" (also their words) of matrimony. Add to that the very aggressive stance the Catholic hierarchy has taken in denying communion to those that support gay marriage and abortion, one wonders how Kerry will waffle himself out of confronting his own Church.

President Kennedy had no problem saying back in 1960, before abortion and gay rights became issues, that he was not going to be puppet of the Vatican as he did in his address to Southern Baptist leaders:

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute -- where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be a Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote -- where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference -- and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/66.htm

We are living in an era where there has been a significant erosion in the wall that separates church and state, and we are on the verge of having the remnants of that wall being swept away altogether.

Can we expect Kerry to take a public stand against his own Church on abortion and gay marriage? I think not! Kerry won't be able to waffle out of this one either, the Church is demanding absolute obedience from Catholic office holders, and Kerry is no Kucinich.

[cavebat2000]

9. I will strongly disagree with you

I am confident that he will lose horribly in the general election. He is by far one of the most liberal candidates we have, he is as my friend said, "One ugly man"

People should not underestimate the power of uglyness in an election. lol

[HuckleB]

10. Interesting.

A well argued post. Yet, in the last two days, I have come to the exact opposite conclusion. I am now incredibly worried about Kerry's "electability," whereas I was not concerned about it on Thursday morning.

[John_H]

11. I hope so, but I'm a little wobbly on Kerry's electability.

I think he's a big fat target for the "wooden" "unlikeable" "elitist" crap the media used to make the 2000 election close enough for Chimp to steal. My hpe is that maybe being a war hero innoculates him against these charges.