Kerry/Gore supporter - becoming a full-fledged Clark Supporter....

[janekat]

I used to be a Kerry/Gore supporter. I hate to say it but after working on Gore's campaign and seeing what happened in 2000 to Gore -I have the feeling that Kerry is just too "intellectual" and "elite" to get the "regular joes" votes. For some reason, Kerry is just not catching on - and "the average joe" has VERY bad reactions to him when they hear him speak.

Midwesterners and Southerners have very bad reactions to him for some reason. (Don't ask me why because I'm a transplanted Midwesterner who now lives in Florida - and I like the guy!)

After seeing all of the people vote for someone like Bush in 2000 I've come to the conclusion that people just don't give a crap about a candidate's experience and also their intelligence level. How else can you explain Bush????

Please note that I'm a cynical "old warhorse" who usually votes for the "lesser evil" and thinks most candidates are just lying bastards. I've worked on about 10 campaigns and usually end up not being able to stand the candidate that I've campaigned for.

I hate to admit to this but I'm almost to the point where I'm going ga-ga over Clark. I'm trying to stop myself....

The only two other candidates that I've gotten this excited over are Bobby Kennedy and Clinton.

I know I'm not crazy because a lot of cynical journalists and other politicos who have been around the block have also gone totally ga-ga over him. Michael Moore is a fan - yet I know several die-hard Republicans who have become fans. Chris Matthews, Howard Fineman, scads of other journalists. Remember that article in esquire back in August? This was written when hardly anybody knew who this guy was.

Amost everyone that gets to know him seems to come away a fan. Bill Clinton says the only two candidates who are stars in this race are "Clark and Hillary". The Clintons are jumping on the bandwagon. Most of Clinton AND Gore's people waited until he got into the race to work on a campaign.

Bush and Co. are "quaking in their boots" about him.

Back when Clinton was a "nobody" a lot of people knew within 5 minutes of hearing him speak that he was going to be something - I get the same feeling with Clark. HE is the future of the Democratic party. HE is going to slash the Republican Party to smithereens.

Sorry Kerry fans - but for some reason he is just not catching on. It's been said that a Senator cannot win a Presidential election because they slowly become too removed from everyday Americans. There's a term - I think they call it "Senatorspeak"...

[RobertSeattle]

1. Welcome to the Vast Wes Wing Conspiracy

VWWC Rules!

[CMT]

2. i'm seeing a trend

So far i've seen far more posts from people who supported Sen. Kerry jumping ship for Gen. Clark than Dean supporters. I recall many predicted that Clark's entrance would hurt Dean--if what I've seen so far in the last couple of days is any indication--it is Kerry who will be hurt the most by the General. Of course we are in our own little sphere of the world here on DU and will have to see how the country as a whole responds.

[chimpymustgo]

3. Edwards fan here.

But not opposed to Clark at all. Or Kerry. May the best man win.

[CMT]

5. Edwards may be Clark's biggest threat in the South

I don't count him out.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. these people who say they supported Sen. Kerry

sure as hell weren't voting in the polls here. It's the main reason I posted my thread- Kerry supporter roll call

So IMHO these Kerry supporters were pretty damn lukewarm to begin with.

[blm]

6. Regular joes are firefighters and veterans...

Both of whom will be campaigning heavily for Kerry in the upcoming months.

They are the Million Moms and the teachers, both of whom have Kerry high on their lists.

They are the federal and state and county and municipality workers who have Kerry high on their list.

btw...since 9-11 the voice of the firefighter has gained a newfound respect from the American people. I wouldn't discount their influence on the 2004 election.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

8. I was refering to the supposed DU stampede AWAY from Kerry to Clark

I was only talking about the demented world of DU. Not the "real" world of NH and Iowa.

[blm]

9. heh...sorry, that reply was for original post.

.

[janekat]

10. I hate to say it ...

but they are all EAST COAST regular joes. He just doesn't translate over to the "regular joe" Southerners and Midwesterners.

You don't realize the "ill will" of many Southerners towards "Yankees."

I have been called a "Yankee" and a "New Yorker" many times and I'm not even from New York.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. ahh how quickly 9/11 fades from America's collective memory

yep, all those firemen, police, EMT were regular joes.. and a few janes too. :shrug:

[blm]

15. I'm in SC and

the head of the SC Dem party is a familiy friend. The longshoremen down here are going to support Kerry, too. And the military states like NC, SC, and Georgia ARE very much in play. The veterans groups who worked FOR Bush in 2000 are angry and working FOR Kerry against Bush in 2004. Considering that SC has the 2nd highest number of retired military that is a BIG deal.

btw...Firefighters are ALL over the country, not just in the north. ;)

[janekat]

7. I was a diehard brokenheated ex-Gore campaign worker

so you're right about that. In my heart Kerry was always my #2.

I will feel forever that Gore was totally screwed in 2000 - and that if this world was fair that Bush would have long been romoved from office and Al would have been put in his place. To this day, I still feel a wave of bitterness every time I think of it.

[OHdem10]

12. Could the Media have something to do with this?

With the Media constantly telling people they do not like Kerry and he is aloof the people are turned off before they meet him. Just as they " Gored" Gore, they have done a job on kerry and now they are in the process of "Goreing" Clark. If someone has a brain and might just be able to come up with solutions for our country, this is a threat to GWB. They are going to keep GWB in the WH if they can. This means we have to work ourselves very hard to keep any Person who could really beat Bush in there and viable. Some were brazen enough to declare Clark peaked yesterday. Translated===We will do whatever it takes to keep him from getting any more popular. I admit the candidate has to work himself but open contempt for electios by our Media is dangerous.

[Carolina]

13. call me ga-ga 2

I know exactly how you feel; I haven't felt this way, this excited either since RFK in 1968 and Clinton in 1992. Had he not been killed, Bobby would have won, and today our nation would be a better/different place, in part, because we would never have had Nixon and all those who cut their vicious, power-mad political teeth under him. Take exhibit A (please) -- Karl Rove who started his dirty tricks under none other than Tricky Dick (see pages 43-56 of Mark Crispin Miller's The Bush Dyslexicon for more on Nixon's dastardly legacy and those legatees who now occupy the West Wing). Anyway, the General has the intelligence, the gravitas, the military experience, the sensibility, the personality and more to defeat the Bush League. The Bushies already fear him and they will be hurling their slings and arrows mightily. But he's been to war and he's been hit, literally wounded. So I have no doubt he can take their hits and remain standing like Clinton. I was a Kerry/Edwards person; I thought they would be an ideal ticket: north/south, foreign policy/domestic issues, experienced insider/innovative newcomer, etc. But you're absolutely right. Kerry is not connecting and it is as though he's already been Gored! Not to mention both Kerry and Edwards lost my backing because of their Iraq Occupation support (despite their weak explanations then and weaker justifications now). I like what Dean and Kucinich have to say. In fact, I like the input from all our candidates except Lieberman and Gephardt (who couldn't even retain his leadership among House Democrats so what does that tell you about his chances in November 2004?). I will NEVER FORGET the image of those two sucking up to Bush in the Rose Garden over the Iraq resolution in October 2002 and no matter what they say now, I cannot forgive them for aiding and abetting the warmonger-in-chief.

Of the pack, Clark is the only one I feel exuberant about and the only one who can emerge a winner in the general election. So,let's take back the West Wing with Wes! Yes!

[Upfront]

14. Hell, You Might Get It Someday

Dean!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mcaverly]

16. I was a Kerry supporter last spring...

and it was not long before I felt that his campaign was:
1. Too cautious
2. Too politically correct
3. Too stiff

Dean told it like it was. The truth. I thank him for that. But I have concerns about his ability to be elected. Vermont is a northeast state and I think he represents the upper class.
I have What I like the most is the willingness to admit he doesn't know when he doesn't and his calm reasoned manner...

[DoveTurnedHawk]

17. WELCOME!

I am a pragmatic cynic, but I am more fired up by General Clark than I have ever been with a candidate!

You're in good company, don't let the haters and the bashers get you down!

DTH