I was a Deanie from way back. I found Kos through the original blogforamerica back in the spring of '03. I hear a lot of Deanies bitching about Kerry's lack of passion or rightward tack. I hear some whining about "he should pick Dean as his VP!". I also hear a bunch of anger and vitriol directed at Ralph Nader and the Greens.
I happen to believe that no matter how much we complain about Kerry's politics or campaign choices, it will have very little effect. Kerry will continue to do what he and his advisors think is the best strategy to win. He'll pick the VP candidate he likes and he'll stake out the positions he wants and we'll just have to live with it. That's the reality of Anybody But Bush.
I would like to take some time to give Kerry some simple, constructive advice that doesn't require him to conform to my politics or change his own style: Hit the road, Jack.
The very first piece of political action that ever undertook in my entire life for a presidential candidate was stapling homemade signs promoting Howard Dean's Sleepless Summer Tour stop in Portland, OR. Me and my stapler made sure every single person living or working between SE Clinton and Woodstock Blvd from 39th down to 26th Avenues knew that some Governor/Doctor from Vermont was coming to town. The Tour and the money and attention it helped raise put Howard Dean on the map. Dean put out a call for local volunteers to help him put the show on and I responded. I got to meet many of the other Deanies in the area and finally felt that I wasn't just one guy chatting on a blog. I was part of a movement. The guy who introduced Howard, Landon Mascaranaz went on to start Lewis & Clarkies for Dean, and I went on to start Reedies for Dean. Weeks after Howard left, Landon and I hooked up to host a joint house party for Dean.
This is the kind of grassroots activity that people seem to think is lacking. And it was all started by a rock-star style cross country tour. Howard came by for 20 minutes, gave a speech and left. But the seed was planted. The energy was collected and concetrated in the courtyard of Portland State University for an hour or so and it didn't all dissipate after that. In fact it grew and grew. It's time for John Kerry to get out and meet the people. It's what won him Iowa and New Hampshire. I was there in New Hampshire. One of our biggest complaints was that Howard was too busy getting hotshot endorsements from Jimmy Carter instead of doing the pancake flipping/chili ladelling legwork that Kerry was doing.
John Kerry should either A.) start having huge stadium filling rallies all accross the country leading up to the convention in Boston. Or B.) use the convention as a launching pad for a cross country tour that keeps the "convention momentum" going.
I've seen Kerry live once. He's not bad. He's totally competent when it comes to speaking to large crowds. He was a lot more convincing than his commercials that's for sure. Get some high-profile liberal entertainment to tour with him and it'll be better than Lollapalooza. Right now all the media has to report on is polls. Let's show them some crowds. Big huge, Bush hating, Kerry loving crowds full of grandmas and children and people of all different colors and classes.