"Kerry a huge disappointment", says insider.

[sfecap]

Kerry recasts campaign team: Manager loses job in shakeup.

by Andrew Miga
Tuesday, November 11, 2003


WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry, desperately seeking to spark his sputtering presidential bid, yesterday fired his campaign manager - but insiders contend Kerry himself has been the campaign's real problem.


``There's a new phase of the campaign now and I wanted to change the dynamic,'' the Bay State senator said in Iowa. ``I wanted to move this campaign forward.''

Kerry, making good on a long-rumored campaign shakeup, replaced Jim Jordan with Mary Beth Cahill, chief of staff to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), amid signs of a broader staff shuffle.

Cahill has no national campaign experience but comes to Kerry with strong ties to liberal groups whose support Kerry is vying for with less than three months until the leadoff Iowa caucuses.

Some Kerry aides were miffed at what they called Kerry's cavalier handling of Jordan's firing, some even threatening to quit, sources said.

``It's like reshuffling the chairs on the deck of the Titanic,'' said one Kerry source. ``Kerry himself has been a huge disappointment.''

(more)

http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/national/kerr11112003.htm

[wtmusic]

1. This is sad

I respected the guy. Still respect the guy. But he's not presidential material.

[eileen_d]

2. Yeah, it's sad, all right

Sad that Kerry's message is not getting out. Sad that he's not getting more support from Democrats. I don't think Kerry's the perfect candidate, and he's certainly not running the perfect campaign, but I'd still like to see him in the White House. The man is presidential material.

[Padraig18]

3. I can only speak for myself.

My major differences with Sen. Kerry aside (and I do have some major ones), he would be a 10000% improvement over * and his evil cabal of neo-fascists. My decision to support Gov. Dean has much less to do with who Sen. Kerry is than it does to do with who Gov. Dean is.

That said, I will work my fingers to the bone for the senator, should he win the nomination.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

15. I can see how you see that

but the question that now lingers in my mind about Kerry is this:

Is he presidential material if he continues surrounding himself with people who lead him in the wrong direction? Does he have good judgement when it comes to people? The truth is that the Presidency is really made up of a group of people, people that the President has chosen, to offer him advice on specific matters, since the President cannot know everything himself. Kerry keeps hiring people that are doing him wrong. What does that say for his ability to pick a Cabinet?

[GreenArrow]

16. It worked for Dubya

.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

17. When W was running this is exactly what I had feared

And it's what makes me fear a Kerry nomination.

[helleborient]

4. Unfortunately, this all looks very bad...

If he were the eventual nominee.

It's saddening there wasn't better damage control somewhere within his campaign or by him.

I think the comments by staffers attacking their own candidate as a disappointment can be very damaging.

[blm]

5. so says the NYPost of Boston.

ntw...anyone notice that Jim Jordan was NOT fired, but is staying on as a senior advisor? Reporters don't know the difference?

[helleborient]

6. Excuse us...Jim Jordan was demoted...and last I saw...

He was asked if he wanted to stay on as a senior advisor.

Do you have a link to show that he has agreed to stay?

[blm]

10. the reporter said FIRED.

.

[sfecap]

11. You'd better call the wire services...

...lot's of stories using the word "fired". (Because that's what it is...a firing.)

[helleborient]

12. Isn't involuntary removal from a job a firing?

Jordan certainly didn't resign his position.

Also, I still haven't seen indication that he definitely is staying on.

If he isn't, this is definitely a firing.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Could be the Globe or the Herald- they both hate Kerry

as do a lot of people apparently.

[sfecap]

9. Really? Is he?

(snip)

Kerry said he has asked Jordan to remain as a senior strategist "as we enter this critical phase of the campaign."

An official close to Jordan, who asked not to be publicly identified, said it was unclear whether Jordan would accept the offer.

(snip)

Democratic strategists have blamed the Massachusetts senator more than his campaign, saying he is known to be a candidate who doesn't take advice well or likes to split his staff into competing camps. Indeed, his presidential campaign is layered with high-priced advisers, some of whom have duplicative roles and are roughly divided into two factions: those based in Washington, where Kerry has been a senator for 18 years, and others from his home town of Boston.

(more)

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2003/11/10/massachusetts_sen_john_kerry_fires_campaign_manager_two_sources_say/

Jordan is gone. You think he's gonna stay around after having been fired? Not likely.

[eissa]

8. It's still very early in the game

As I've said before, I really liked Kerry before the war vote; in fact, as soon as shrub was in office my friends and I were compiling a list of would-be presidential nominees and Kerry was on top. I only bailed after that vote and went to Dean and have remained there because I believe in Dean's message. But it's still early; remember that Clinton also lost Iowa and NH, but came back strong. Kerry is still in the game; all he has to do is focus on his campaign and lay off the other contenders.

[tsipple]

13. Agreed

Kerry has a lot of problems right now, but he's not totally out of it. Bashing Dean just isn't working. It seems to be boosting Kerry's negatives, causing people to tune him out, and energizing the Dean supporters.

The fundamental problem, I think, is that John Kerry still hasn't faced up to his war vote. It may be too late anyhow, but politically he would need to say, "I made a grave mistake." And that's assuming he believes he did. (Maybe he doesn't.) No one can figure out why he voted for the Iraq War, voted against Gulf War I, and voted against the $87 billion supplemental. That combination just doesn't match with his character or record and, like it or not, it's the Big Issue.

He's also got an awful choice to make within days: should he stay within the matching funds system or opt-out? Either way, he's screwed, not to put too fine a point on it. If he stays in the matching funds system he'll have some more money to compete in the primaries but will have to fight perceptions that he won't be able to compete against George W. Bush. If he opts out, his campaign is almost immediately broke. (His entire spending and fundraising strategy counted on getting that government check in January, and his spending was accelerated by Howard Dean's rise.) Kerry is truly in a pickle there, and I think he blamed Jim Jordan. I don't think it was coincidence that he fired -- yes, fired -- his campaign manager right after Dean opted out.

It's why we have primaries, folks. Best to discover now who can run a good -- no, great -- campaign. It's not a perfect screening test, but it's the best we've got.

[OneBlueSky]

14. Kerry's strategic mistake has been . . .

putting so much energy into going after Dean . . . he should be staking out his positions vis-a-vis George Bush, i.e. articulating all of the damage Bush is doing to international relations, the environment, the budget, the military and veterans, etc. and stating what he'd do differently . . . in some cases he might even agree with Dean . . . focusing his campaign on a fellow Democrat instead of on Bush comes acrosss as, well, bush-league . . . combine this with the contortions he goes through explaining his war vote and you have a campaign that seems to be at sea, and rudderless . . . may be too late to save it at this point, but I'll continue to listen to what he has to say . . . just hope that what he has to say doesn't include the words "Howard Dean" . . .

[sandnsea]

18. D.C. insider cockroaches

What is Howard Dean's campaign????

What are the rest of the Democrats supposed to do, let him get away with it?

[Padraig18]

19. Listen to yourself!

'Get away with "it" '? This isn't second grade, and JK is not the hall monitor. It's time he started having a message besides "I'm not Howard Dean"; his dismal showings in the polls and the implosion of his campaign should at least give you a clue about that, I would think.

[Myra]

20. I can past the fact that he voted *for* the Iraq invasion

And he's a Boner (Skull & ...).

Both facts make me mistrust him completely.