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Is the 2004 Kerry Kampaign Dukakis Redux?
Lotsa close parallels in this election year. Edited for highlights
Read the whole thing. Well written...


Mr. Devine has admitted that the Dukakis campaign failed to "run a general election in broad thematic terms that are cultural and historical. But you get so wrapped up in what you're doing, sometimes you lose a lot of focus."

That is also what appears to have happened to Mr. Kerry. In August, 1988, Michael Dukakis repaired to the Tanglewood Festival in the Berkshires and failed to respond to attacks on his prison furlough program, centered on the murderer Willie Horton, who raped and brutalized a Maryland couple while out on weekend release. This year, Mr. Kerry hung out in Nantucket and allowed himself to be filmed windsurfing while the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth pounded him for nearly a month with little effective rebuttal. "The Bush people have a very effective message: the president is tough on terror and John Kerry is either too liberal or too indecisive to do the job. That's become the campaign backdrop," says GOP consultant Charlie Black.
Posted by: badanov 2004-09-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=43705