Kerry campaign to kick into high gear after Labor Day
I'm still big on John Kerry! It's that we progressive Californians have been a bit, um, occupied lately with the Republican-driven gubernatorial recall election on Oct. 7. (Go Cruz Bustamante!)
John Kerry is to make his official campaign announcement after Labor Day. Reports the Associated Press:
He's been campaigning for president for months, but Democratic Sen. John Kerry will finally make it official in a two-day campaign swing after Labor Day.
The Massachusetts senator will begin his announcement on Sept. 2 with appearances in Charleston, S.C., and Des Moines, Iowa, where he plans to focus on his record as a decorated Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War. Both stops will feature crew members who served on the small gunboat Kerry commanded during the war.
On Sept. 3, Kerry will shift his focus to jobs and the economy, first in a swing through New Hampshire and culminating in a rally at Boston's Faneuil Hall.
Besides Kerry, four of the nine Democrats seeking the nomination have yet to make official announcements.
After Labor Day, the presidential race should heat up. Kerry will start his television ads in the states with early primaries and caucuses. It remains to be seen whether Dean's unorthodox pre-Labor Day campaign push, especially his TV ads, was smart and innovative or was only a waste of his campaign cash. (The Washington Post reports that while Dean is raking in the dough, he "is also spending money faster than any other candidate.")
Meanwhile, I'm doing what I can do for Kerry.
I've attended the last two monthly Kerry Meetups in Sacramento, and as no one else has assumed a coordinating role in the Sacramento group, I've fulfilled that role, with the help of my brother. (For a photo of our Aug. 28 Meetup, click here.) July's Kerry Meetup in Sacramento had seven attendees, and this month's had 13. If the group keeps growing like that, it's going to be pretty large.
Those who attended the Sacramento Kerry Meetups are ready to get to work to help defeat "President" Bush -- in fact, some of them seem a bit disappointed that Meetups are rather informal and are not officially connected to the presidential candidates' campaigns. These people want to roll up their sleeves, which is good to see.
But from what I can tell, the Democratic candidates are focused on the primaries and caucuses in January and February. California, with its comparatively late primary on March 2, doesn't seem to be a high priority for them right now, but as November 2004 nears, there will be plenty for Californians to do to help end the Bush regime's hostile occupation of the White House.
If you aren't attending a Meetup for your favorite Democratic candidate, I encourage you to do so. Meetups are fun; it's always nice to be surrounded by people who (for the most part, anyway) agree with you, and, as they are only once a month, Meetups aren't that demanding. (Click here for information on Meetups.)
As I write this, Internet darling Howard Dean is the Meetup king, with more than 95,700 registered Meetup members, while John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich and Wesley Clark (who isn't an announced presidential candidate; the pundits consider him more likely to be a vice-presidential candidate) are in a distant second place, with between 10,000 and 11,000 registered members each.
I also encourage you to donate to your favorite Democratic candidate if you can afford to do so. Even giving a small amount every month helps. I am of modest means, but so far I've given $235 to the Kerry campaign over the past few months. (To donate to John Kerry, click here.)
The Bush regime "re"-election machine is expected to rake in more than $200 million. Whether we like it or not, it takes money -- a lot of it -- to win a presidential election. That should be changed, but for now we have to deal with what is, not with what should be.
Kerry leads the Democratic presidential contenders in fundraising, having raised $16 million between January and June. Kerry's archrival Dean is catching up fast, however; this past week the Dean team announced that it expects to take in more than $10 million this quarter.
The polls and the fundraising figures indicate that the Democratic presidential nomination is going to be between Kerry and Dean. Kerry first led Dean in polls in New Hampshire, the first state to have its presidential primary (on Jan. 27), but, due in large part to his television advertising there, Dean now leads Kerry by a significant margin in a poll of New Hampshire residents conducted by Zogby International.
Something I found disturbing in the Associated Press' coverage of the Zogby poll in New Hampshire is this:
When asked whether it was more important to have a candidate willing to stand up for what they believe or a candidate who can win in November 2004, [New Hampshire] voters said they preferred the former by a 2-to-1 margin.
Idealism is fine and good, but idealism isn't going to prevent Bush's "re"-election; a Democratic candidate who can win is going to prevent Bush's "re"-election.
While I would vote for him if he won the Democratic nomination, I can't see that Dean is the candidate who can beat Bush. While he is stylish and hip and popular, if it comes down to Dean vs. Bush, the Bush "re"-election team will paint anti-war Dean like Bush Sr. painted his Democratic challenger Michael Dukakis in 1988: A liberal. A liberal who in these times of (Bush-induced) terrorism is too dangerous to have in the White House.
It's complete and utter bullshit, of course, but the Bush regime has gotten away with its complete and utter 9/11-related bullshit for almost two years now. (The Bush regime is still using 9/11 as an excuse for its make-the-rich-richer-and-the-poor-poorer policies. "Citing a national emergency that has existed since the 2001 terrorist attacks, President Bush said Wednesday he will cut the pay raises that most civilian federal employees were to receive in January," the Associated Press recently reported. Where the fuck was the "national emergency" when Bush gave the richest Americans the largest tax cuts?)
It disturbs me that the majority of voters polled in New Hampshire seem to think like members of the Green Party: They're apparently OK with handing the election over to the Republican because they are all about principle. Their fucking principles won't mean much to them once the Republicans have succeeded in destroying the environment for their own profit, have gained Orwellian control over the populace through civil-rights rollbacks in the name of "national security," have crushed the labor movement and made us even bigger slaves to the corporations than we already are now, have succeeded in rigging every election (electronic voting machines especially make this Orwellian tactic possible), etc., etc.
But I digress...
I'm not worried about Dean's current popularity. It seems to me to be a textbook case of the tortoise vs. the hare. While Dean is playing the part of the hare -- his "Sleepless Summer Tour" is a prime example (Dean is going to give himself a heart attack before he can ever sit in the Oval Office) -- Team Kerry knows that slow and steady wins the race:
"Dean has spent considerable resources on TV, so it's not surprising he's increased his numbers in a very fluid electorate," the Associate Press quoted Kerry campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs regarding Dean's poll numbers in New Hampshire. "Kerry has long-term strengths that will stay with him throughout the winter when more voters are paying attention and making their final decisions."
I'm rooting for the tortoise.
3:43:46 AM 
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