I've been working on this letter to Senator Kerry, and with a good deal of help over at my blog, now have a draft I like. I could like it more if it were better, though. If any of y'all want to help edit this thing, I would greatly appreciate it.
Senator Kerry,
First, congratulations and well done. You show no sign of needing advice, so of course I join the rush to provide it. Now that you have won the nomination, you need to shape the frame through which voters can interpret your actions and those of President Bush. A critically important point to repeat at every opportunity is this: President Bush and his Inner Circle betrayed ordinary Republicans by their incompetence, cronyism and secrecy. I know there are Republicans who are already saying this in public, and it must be repeated from all sides. This could well be the key point that brings swing voters to your side.
My advice is inspired by FDR's nomination speech in 1932. President Roosevelt broke with the tradition of his time by actually appearing at the Convention; he turned this presumption into a symbol of his essential openness and honesty. Having secured the nomination this far ahead of the Convention, you need to do the same. Show that you are clearly different from President Bush in your openness and honesty.
Our current administration is obsessively secretive, and secrecy breeds distrust. You can convince many people that you would be a better President by showing your disdain for pretense, for unnecessary secrecy, and for sham. Remind people of the self-serving process by which Dick Cheney chose the Vice-Presidential nominee in 2000, and contrast it with a process that is clearly as open as good taste, courtesy, and respect will allow. Whether you announce that choice before the convention, or decide that it would be presumptuous to do so, make it clear what you are doing.
Decide what purpose you want this summer's Convention to actually serve, and announce that purpose. Introduce your speechwriters, and discuss in an interview how useful they are in helping you articulate your thoughts. Another high-risk possibility is to underline the insularity of the current administration by having some of your advisors and staff admit to some minor policy differences with you, and your amicable discussions about those differences. Make it clear that you are starting as you mean to go on, as FDR did, by saying what he was doing, and by doing what he said.
President Roosevelt also made it clear in his nomination speech that he was criticizing the Republican leadership, rather than the Republican Party. He said in part, "Here and now I invite those nominal Republicans who find that their conscience cannot be squared with the groping and the failure of their party leaders to join hands with us."
Please, Senator, recognize that the leadership of the Republican Party has once again failed the membership of that Party. Make it clear that the current administration does not serve the interests of Republican voters. Make it clear that you do not criticize Republican voters, and you have no ill-will towards them. Their President has betrayed them far more than he has betrayed us. This administration is the administration of the elite within the Republican Party, not the Republican Party as a whole, and certainly not the country as a whole. Many Republicans will find that they cannot square their consciences with the groping and failure of their leaders, and certainly not with the greed, secrecy, and insularity of those leaders.
Right now you have an opportunity to frame the choice voters will make. Give them a choice between a President who works in secrecy to the benefit of the few and who ignores the people who supported him, and a Senator who will govern openly, honestly, and transparently, to the benefit of all. Give voters that choice, and voters will choose you.