What's Kerry doing right that Gore did wrong in '00?

[InvisibleTouch]

Don't get me wrong ... I tremendously admire Al Gore, so I don't intend this to be disparaging. But I will grudgingly admit he did some things in 2000 that cost him, and I don't see Kerry making those same mistakes.

They're both intelligent and articulate, both initially had a tendency to be long-winded, but Kerry has learned better to focus on the issues foremost in people's minds, and to present them in an easily assimilated way. Example: I remember seeing Gore on TV (might have been during one of the debates) saying the very first thing he was going to to as President - the very first thing - and I'm waiting for some grand imporant revelation - was "campaign finance reform." Ta-daa! My response was: "Huh??" The vast majority of people listening, probably had no clue as to why that was a big deal; I didn't, admittedly. There are certainly much bigger issues out there. Now if the response of a dedicated fan and supporter was "Huh??" - what do you suppose an undecided voter said? I haven't seen any comparable incidents from Kerry.

There's the Clinton issue ... I do think it was a huge mistake for Gore to distance himself from Clinton. Kerry isn't making that one either.

Most of all, IMO, Kerry is being himself, while I always got the impression with Gore that he was struggling to present himself in a way he thought would be advantageous. Now, I know personally how hard it is to share of oneself to the public when you're actually more introverted and private by nature, and I gained a huge amount of respect for Al Gore, in that he really learned to be an inspiring and motivational speaker. By no means was he ever boring, in my experience. But so many times I just wanted to shake him and say "You know, it's okay to be yourself. We like you as you are!" Kerry by contrast comes across as being more natural and relaxed.

Now, given that Gore actually won the last election, it seems to me that Kerry can only do better.

Comments?

[Fenris]

1. The difference is a lack of indifference from the public.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Yer' durn tootin', hombre.

We have had four years of the what has been, previously, the most unimaginable hubris and incompetance ever seen in the executive branch. Forty years of healthy paycheck for historians incompetance. He has managed to piss off so many people that no sane person can bring themselves to contemplate more of the same.

Luckily, there are some sane people left. I wasn't too sure up to this point.

[Kipepeo]

2. he's preparing for their attempted theft

of the election. That's not something Gore could ahve fully predicted but this time we're ready.

[tomfodw]

3. Fighting like hell

"No retreat, baby, no surrender."

[Pump Man]

4. KERRY CAMPAIGN IS MOTIVATED BY HATE FOR BUSH

KERY GOT MORE MONEY CAUSE OF THIS VOTE----http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6092749

[tomfodw]

6. One other thing: Gore didn't have DU :)

Not just DU, of course, but the entire blogosphere, our ability to fact-check practically in real time and get the truth out there before the other side could spin things their way.

[Upfront]

7. Bush Has A Record

Kerry can run against the Bush record, Gore had to run against Bush promises.

[joanne]

10. Also, Gore gave up on Ohio

definitely not the case with Kerry!

Plus Gore did not want President CLinton to campaign for him.

Kerry has welcomed President Clinton's help and advice.

If it had not been for his surgery, I am sure Clinton would have played a much bigger role.

And most importantly, as has already been posted, Shrub has a record for Kerry to campaign against.

[feistydem]

8. I was watching some video of old debates and I was surprised at how poorly

Gore performed. He looked and sounded like a guy who thought he was too good to be bothering with this. I think that really hurt him. He has since turned it around and the Al Gore we see now is probably the real guy. That campaign bedeviled him.

Kerry has consistently behaved as if this is a fight to the end and he has to earn it every single day.

[girl gone mad]

18. I agree.

I think he underestimated Bush, and I think he got some bad advice from his campaign managers.

But let's not forget, he won.

[Arkana]

9. Oh, definitely.

You're spot on--I like Al too, but he made some mistakes, and one of them was picking Holy Joe Lieberman as his VP.

There was about 1/4 the enthusiasm in 2000 as there is in 2004, and the Bush campaign's vicious smearing of Al was something that was relatively unexpected, considering how he was running as a "compassionate conservative." To be honest, even though Daddy's '88 campaign was brutal (thank you, Lee Atwater, and burn in Hell), I don't think anyone expected the events of the last four years when they went to the voting booth in 2000.

There was no outrage in 2000, and considering Gore won despite all this, I can only imagine how epic November 2 will be for Kerry.

[InvisibleTouch]

13. Ah, right, the VP choice....

You're right, that's another factor. I was indifferent to Lieberman at the time ... I didn't care for the way he injected "God" into every other sentence, but I could live with it; I thought he did poorly in his debate, and found him completely uninspiring, but otherwise I neither liked nor disliked him initially. This time around we have John Edwards ... what a world of difference. :) I think Kerry's campaign really took off when he added Edwards to the ticket.

Another factor I thought of: in 2000, the country was fat and happy after all that peace and prosperity. Living in a nice little bubble. Now 4 years later, things have gone to hell. That'll make a difference too.

[Peanut Gallery]

11. I don't personally feel that Gore did anything wrong

As you pointed out, he did win the popular vote.

If there's anything different this time around it's probably because of the debacle that has been Bush's first term.

Regarding Kerry, I don't consider him long-winded. I prefer his intelligent discourse over the soundbytes and neatly packaged, dumbed-down, condescending PR that comes out of the Bush administration. Just my 2 cents.

[senseandsensibility]

12. I agree that Gore didn't do anything significant

that was "wrong." Of course he wasn't perfect, but he was hounded and smeared by the corporate media while the loser * was given a pass.

[AP]

14. He's campaigning like he wants to win and he's making no mistakes

which allow the media distract from his message (like the orange makeup, moving campaign offices out of DC, etc.), and he has a much better message which is about class issues.

[3trievers]

15. Too much Joementum

[Claire Beth]

16. well, for starters Lieberman was a poor ass veep choice.....

not to mention he ran poor ass campaign especially by distancing himself from clinton.

[NNadir]

17. Kerry has a huge committed following that is not buying into any media

bullshit.

It's true we still have Maureen Dowd as a New York Times "political columnist" and - mystifyingly - Frank Rich as an "Arts" columnist, but this fucking election is way past her ability to make it into a fashion show.

WE ARE DEADLY SERIOUS NOW.