Don't shoot the messenger, okay? More, 'you running?' from MA folks

[TayTay]

Capuano wants decision on Kerry's presidential plans soon

Source: AP Alert - Massachusetts
Date: December 28, 2006

WASHINGTON_Senator Edward Kennedy isn't the only Massachusetts Democrat pressing
Senator John Kerry for a decision soon on whether he will seek the presidency
again.

Congressman Mike Capuano says he wants to hear Kerry's plans soon -- and hopes
to sit down with Kerry next week to find out his plans.

Capuano, a strong supporter of Kerry's 2004 White House bid, said other
prospective 2008 candidates have already asked for his support, but not Kerry.
If Kerry runs, the Somerville Democrat plans to back him.

A Kerry spokesman said the senator plans to decide early next year, after
consulting with Kennedy and other members of the state's congressional
delegation.

[TayTay]

1. I'm a little surprised to see Capuano saying this

not a lot surprised, but a little. I didn't think he wanted the job. Maybe, he does, maybe he doesn't. Huh! I also noticed that Martha Coakley refused to take the pledge to serve out her 4 year term as AG.

Hmmmmmmmm. Everybody wants to know, Ahm, if you're done with the Chinese food on New Year's Eve Senator, could you let us know how it's gonna be? We got sides to take up with here already! (I'm getting call. I can't put them on call-waiting forever you know.)

[Democrafty]

6. Maybe he's asking for somebody else?

Playing bad cop?

[wisteria]

2. Maybe Kerry isn't asking because he felt he could count on his support.

This almost sounds like others in the party trying to push him. Why no push directed at HRC or Obama to make an early announcement to run. There is plenty of time, why the big rush, unless they are trying to get him out before he can gather enough $$$ support.

[rox63]

3. The others might be getting pushed by people in their own states

Well, I don't think HRC is getting pushed. Everyone knows she's running. But I wouldn't be suprised if Obama is getting the same sort of pressure. Other candidates are out trolling for endorsements, and the endorsers want to know who's in the running before they decide who to back.

I'd always heard that Capuano didn't really care much for life in DC. But perhaps that has changed with the upcoming Dem takeover of Congress.

[beachmom]

4. Why the hurry? The primary is a year away, and we've got a bloody

war that needs to be stopped. I'm with Cadmium. Why can't Kerry do his job in the Senate for a while? Then after some substantial work is done, he can campaign. Or will he need to launch a "phony war"? Declare to satisfy everyone, and then just keep working in the Senate. Frankly, I don't understand all the backstage machinations in all of this, so maybe that's my problem. But 2007 is so damned important -- we need to stop the Bush madness NOW. Not wait and hope a Dem is elected in 2008 for president. We've got Congress NOW. Sigh.

[Democrafty]

7. Yet another reason why the idea of a Unitary Executive

is literally ruining our democracy. Even the Congresscritters won't concentrate on the existence of Congress.

[cadmium]

12. Yeah just one frigging congressional session without gavel to gavel

campaigning would be better. I'm almost in favor of some kind of Election Commission regulation time out for governing
I'm not even commenting on whether he should or shouldn't run. I think that the constant - even overlapping election cycle- is a bad way to run the country.

[europegirl4jfk]

14. Can't he run and work at the same time?

I have no idea, maybe I don't know enough about American politics, but couldn't he just announce and then concentrate on his work in the Senate? He campaigned hard for other candidates in 2006 AND did his work in the Senate. Couldn't he continue like this for a while without going in full campaigning gear? How do the other candidates handle these things? Most of them have a job as well, I guess.

[rox63]

16. He'd be ok for a while

He could keep working for a while, before the campaign gets really intense. But he'd end up missing in action for long stretches of time as it got closer to the primaries.

Some candidates (like Edwards, Clark, Gore if he runs) have no such restrictions on their time, since they don't currently hold any elected office. Competing with them will be difficult if they can campaign full-time, but Kerry can only campaign part-time.

[babylonsister]

5. My beef is why they have to make their 'concerns' so public.

Why not call him and ask him, and skip spouting off to the AP?

[wisteria]

8. Yeah, why is the press involved in this? That I don't understand.

What purpose does it do for them to inquiry to the press about something they should be asking Kerry quietly?

[karynnj]

9. There is a speck of good in this as in the Kennedy one

He is saying he will back Kerry if he does. I wonder if this isn't because Kerry changed his plans due to the joke nonsense. If that wouldn't have happened, Kerry would have had the high of celebrating the victory with all the Democrats. I assume an end of year announcement might have been planned because Kerry had somewhat hinted at it a million times - and the web site is clearly that of someone running.

Many of these people may feel that announcing now and making his case would be the best way to put the joke in the past. If he defers his announcement significantly because of the joke, he somewhat allows the question of whether the joke has ended his quest to be discussed. He could even say that although he was officially running - it was important that there were important things that must be done in Congress - which he was working on.

By the way, I saw some MSNBC footage of Kerry and Edwards from 2004 that was shown as the MSNBC person spoke of Edwards being chosen because of his star power - and she then spoke of Obama. the footage playing as the visual was interesting - as she spoke of Edwards connecting it was Kerry who dominated the scene - blowing a kiss to someone, reaching out, smiling and doing that thing where he puts his hands together and slightly bows his head. Edwards almosted didn't register as I watched it. (Now I KNOW I'm not neutral, but Kerry was great in that footage.)

[Mass]

10. What did Capuano say exactly? Who broached the subject: him or AP?

AP of course does not tell us all that, and these are information that are important to read this correctly. In addition, this is not a direct quote, but an interpretation by AP of what Capuano said.

This said, a lot of people, including supporters, want to know what Kerry is doing to do. By floating last month after the election that he could wait until April, he has opened the door to these questions and reactions. We should not be surprised and this is rather a good sign: people are interested.

[_dynamicdems]

11. Inquiring minds, huh?

Let the man take the time he needs, for Gawd's sake! He's a busy guy with a lot of irons in the fire. If he runs they will know about it soon enough. Personally, I'm glad he's waiting until after the first of the year. The holidays are not the time to be deciding such a momentous undertaking as running for President.

Give the man at least until January 2nd. :rofl:

[JI7]

13. i'm not sure i have a problem with this

only as far as an overall problem of focusing on a horse race rather than issues.

but as for Kerry and whether he will run, i do wonder what is best. i lean towards announcing earlier rather than later if he does want to run. the botched joke and other stuff will be brought up no matter what. the earlier the better for it to get out there and get enough play, so by the time people start to really pay attention and make up their mind this will be old news.

the same thing happened with the IWR issue in 2004 primaries. it hurt Kerry for sure. but after a while as people got to know and hear more about Kerry they knew where he stood. they knew he didn't support war . it's not enough to attack people on something like this, you have to actually convince them that in this case Kerry was pro war. and by the time people started to vote these attacks on Kerry were old and not believable.

[rox63]

15. The local NPR station asked Rep Ed Markey about supporting Kerry this morning

The good news is that Markey said he'd definitely support Kerry if he ran. This may be partly because Markey wants to run for Kerry's Senate seat, but it's support nonetheless. :)

The bad news (besides the fact that WBUR asked the question) is that the "botched joke" turned up in their year-end review of Boston-area news that followed a couple of minutes after the Markey interview.

[TayTay]

17. I thought Markey said he wasn't interesting

in running for that seat, should it open up. Markey is 65, he has a powerful Chairmanship in the new Dem House and I wonder if he really wants to run for that Senate seat. I thought he took himself out of the theoretical running for a seat that hasn't opened up yet, hypothetically speaking, of course.

Arguably, Marty Meehan from the 5th District would run. (If there is a race, of course.) It is not entirely in the realm of fantasy that Marty has been amassing that huge warchest for more than just uncontested primaries and Dem-only general elections. Martha Coakley, newly elected Attorney General for the Commonwealth, refused to take the pledge and stipulate that she would finish out her term. Whatever could she have been thinking? What possible thing could open up that would interrupt a nice life of catching and imprisoning bad guys? I was a bit shocked to hear her say that being Mass AG is not the sole goal of her life and life-long obsession. (Gee, what could make a woman give up being Mass AG? I am but merely speculating, of course. And if she was the only woman in the race that, of course, hasn't happened yet, might not happen and might not happen as far as we know and we don't know much. that would be interesting.)

As for the rest of the "I'm just asking, is all" people, well, it's not like they want to inconvenience anyone or anything, they are trying to be respectful and all, but you know, if Teddy can ask, then well, the rest of the food chain is also allowed to get, well, you know, curious as well. We know a guy who's been waiting forever to run for this State Rep job and if so-and-so gives up the current State Rep job to run for State Sen, cuz the State Sen gave up the job to run for Congress, cuz the Congressman gave up the job to run for, well, something, then, well, what am I going to tell this bright young thing who wants to run for State Rep? Is it happening or not? I mean, we just want to know. There are like 14 or 15 million reasons to believe that nothing might change, cuz those 14 or 15 million reasons mean that, ahm, no one else can compete on that level if this stays in-state. But, ahm, we are just asking. Respectfully, sir. Cuz, you know, we would all be there for ya, it's not like we have selfish reasons or anything. Honest. You know I love ya, I was there for ya, except for that 12-15 months in '96, but it's not like you would hold that against me, after all this time, right?

Ahm, yeah, it's like that.

[rox63]

19. The interviewer asked Markey if he was interested in running for Kerry's Senate seat

And his answer was evasive. If he wasn't interested, you'd think his answer would have been no. But evasive answers to questions about running for office usually mean "Yes, but I can't say anything yet."

This was near the end of Morning Edition today. I caught it as I was driving to work this morning.

[TayTay]

20. I see, so Markey is being coy and deferential

in respecting both the Senator and his own ambition. (Not everyone can pull that one off with elan. Kudos to Markey. He gets the 'pol of the day' award for smoothness.)

So, what they are saying is, 'yeah Senator, run. We all love ya and we don't want you to go, but, if you want to, then here's your hat, here's your coat, what's your hurry?'

LOL! I know everyone here hates this stuff, but I think it's funny. The subterfuge and the need to be polite and so forth and not look like you are kicking Kerry to run or not run is a very strange dance indeed. So, ahm, Senator, ahm, I like, really think you would be a good President and I'm with you if you run, at least until like, April, and if you don't run, then you have my undying loyalty and stuff, but if, like you are running, can I like, have your leftover stuff? I mean, if you aren't using it, of course. And I have hired someone to come in and measure the office for curtains, but like, don't take that as a sign that I mean anything by it. Cuz, I might and I might not, if you know what I mean.

By the way, we are only doing this cuz we care. Honest. And I mean, if nothing works out for ya, well, you could always come back as President of Harvard or something. So, where's the downside in just asking?

[MH1]

24. President of Harvard? Wouldn't that be, like, illegal?

Considering he went to Yale and all...

;-)

[wisteria]

18. CNN had a spot on it too, but it really wasn't that bad.

They said nothing more than he flubbed a joke and it "may have" hurt his chances in 2008. I think we all know that it won't have much impact by 2008 and it has been recognized as a botched joke and not an insult towards the troops. So, as much as we wish the whole episode would not of happened, if it is remembered as a flubbed joke, it is still better than being remembered as an insult.

[karynnj]

21. I agree

and if you are going to have baggage,

botching a joke is not all that heavy - especially if people see a lot of him being serious (Presidential), committed and articulate in hearings and talk shows.

I also hope that he and Teresa get some good press and airtime with their book. People need to see them together - they really are what they are - 2 very good, very serious people who also have a fun side that is harder to see.

[wisteria]

22. Teresa got nothing but bad press in 04.

Even her cookies were voted down. ( I like pumpkin cookies) She has- forgive me for this description- a cute, playful and caring side of her that needs more exposure. We witnessed this recently in Boston. For example, JK and her joking about who did how many chapters in the book.

[karynnj]

23. It was also nice to see their smiles and expressions

as they joked about that.

[Mass]

25. More on the same subject - It seems that AP is hunting MA Dems about this issue.

and that they answer according to their skills.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO38453/

[wisteria]

26. It would also be a big story if one of Kerry's supporters turned around

and supported say a Hillary or an Edwards.

[TayTay]

27. Delahunt's off my Christmas card list

"Delahunt added he was not sure if he would support Kerry if he runs."

Geez Bill, what's the hurry? Mr. Grumpus checks in. Sigh!

[whometense]

28. Geez.

What's up with him?