Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Very, Very Kerry

Friday June 20, 2003

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Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is the WELP (Washington Elite Liberal Press) flavor of the week. A new poll in New Hampshire shows him with a ten-point lead over former Vermont Governor Howard Dean 28-18.

This, in big time politics, is what we insiders call: Good news/bad news.

The good news is: It's better to be 10 points ahead than ANY points behind.

The bad news is: (1) It will be difficult for Kerry to maintain a 10-point lead which will result in "DEAN SURGING!" or "KERRY STUMBLES!:" headlines; and (2) 28 percent doesn't win many elections (with the possible exception of Governor of California if the recall goes well).

Also, in a Quinnipiac University poll of voters nationwide, Kerry loses to George W. Bush 53-37. Actually, EVERY Democrat tested loses to George W. Bush including the Recently Re-Sainted Hillary Rodham Clinton Rodham who loses to the President by a 53-40 bulge.

[Pause while 25,000 readers type a snappy retort to the use of that word and hit the "REPLY" key.]

Done? Ok. Let's move on.

Fox News did a poll which showed that if George W. Bush ran against Bill Clinton, Bush would win 53-32. Extra credit question for stat majors: Does that mean Hillary would beat Bill in an election match-up? If so, by how much?

In that same poll, Kerry came in third among Democrats nationwide (Lieberman-22, Gephardt-17, Kerry-15) but, as there is no national primary, those numbers are even more meaningless than an "If the election were held today �" question asked 501 days before the actual election will be held.

In New Hampshire the other night, Kerry said (according to the AP's Ron Fournier) of President Bush and the war in Iraq: ''He misled every one of us� That's one reason why I'm running to be president of the United States.''

Inasmuch as Mr. Kerry used his December 1, 2002 "Meet the Press" appearance to announce his intention to file the papers necessary to run for President, I need some help understanding the notion that he just now decided to run because he was misled by the President.

Would this be Mr. Kerry attempting to mislead the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party? Lest you think I am attempting to mislead you, this from the same Fournier piece, "Kerry fielded several questions about Iraq from a small group of anti-war Democrats after he addressed about 250 people in a downtown Lebanon [NH] park."

Kerry is a current member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. If he had some questions about the intelligence one can only wonder why he waited until last night - at a park in New Hampshire - to share his doubts with the rest of us.

Kerry has had problem with rank-and-file Democrats - who are pretty far to the Left by any reasonable accounting - in that he appears to be running as "Bush-Better." The Democrats don't want Bush-Better; they don't want Bush at all. And almost every Republican in the solar system seems to be pretty well satisfied with the Bush we've got.

Think the Democrats are getting their legs back under them? Consider this AP story by Will Lester: Last month, the Democratic National Committee announced it was laying off 10 staff members - another example of the DNC's fundraising success in the wake of the adoption of McCain-Feingold.

It turns out that all 10 employees were Black, which got the attention of the Congressional Black Caucus, causing DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe to back off from his decision, and now to hire former Clinton Labor Secretary Alexis Herman to "ease tensions" between the DNC and the CBC.

So, on this Eve of Summer, let's review the bidding:

Two-thirds of Americans view President Bush favorably.
Of the major Democratic contenders, none is within 13 percentage points of the President.
The Democratic National Committee is in a public fight with the Congressional Black Caucus.

It's time to drink straight buttermilk.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the Kerry-New Hampshire and the Congressional Black Caucus stories; A link to the story about Kerry announcing for President LAST DECEMBER; and a Mullfoto of the Mullmeister overlooking La Casa Blanca.

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