Sen. John Kerry, the all-but-crowned Democratic presidential nominee, traveled Thursday to Capitol Hill, meeting with congressional Democrats to shore up party unity in advance of the general election. The visit came as Republicans cried foul over some tough words from Kerry a day earlier.
That is the caption under the picture in the CNN politics section. I have highlited the area that interests me. The word tough, in particular, is very important in terms of how Kerry is perceived by the general public; Particularly when he is compared to Bush on issues such as National Defense by swing/undecided voters.
It is for this reason that Kerry must continue to force the idea of him being tough into the american psyche. He cannot allow his image to be defined by negative ads. He must instead maintain the offensive because while he is on the correct side of the issues; they alone may not be enough to win the election for him, but a continous string of headlines touting Kerry as tough from now until election time might just be what it takes to put him over the top.
bleh