The San Francisco Chronicle reported that John Kerry said, when he was asked about ditching his campaign manager today, "Watch over the next few weeks and you'll see it. You guys watch, we're doing great." What is funny about this quote to me is that it really is somewhat representative of the kind of confusion that Kerry and his campaign has been projecting for the past few months. In the first part of the quote Kerry seems to elude to how things will be better in a few weeks, and then you can see that political bulb in his head light up and he suddenly realizes that such a comment may be a concession that his campaign has been doing poorly (as if the firing of his campaign manager and his dismal poll numbers in New Hampshire wouldn't let us know that already). He then tries to correct his earlier faux pas by saing, "we're doing great." It is this political bulb that has been planted in Kerry's head that has caused me to turn against him.
I saw Kerry several months ago on Meet the Press. He was magnificent, and I found myself immediately wrapped up in the campaign as a Kerry supporter. However, as the weeks past I noticed that the frankness and intellect that drew me to Kerry initially was beginning to wane. I don't think that Kerry lost his ability to be smart and spontaneous. I simply believe that he became the puppet of his handlers, and it killed all that was great about him as a candidate.
Pollster Rich Killion from New Hampshire told MSNBC that Kerry's shake-up “seems to confirm the growing unease within the epicenter of his key supporters over message and strategy. With the New Hampshire primary 11 weeks away, the opportunity cost for the campaign to overcome this dynamic is running out.”
I personally think Kerry's chances of winning the nomination have all but run out. By changing his campaign manager just over two months before the Iowa caucuses, he just illustrates his lack of confidence in the campaign's direction, which can't give his supporters any sense of confidence that they are supporting a winner. Also, if there are still questions regarding the campaign's strategy and message, then how do they expect to win the undecided vote? I suppose Kerry could just keep telling everybody, "we're doing great."
However, he still has a very slim chance to get the nomination. First, everyone agrees that he has to win New Hampshire, and he is behind Dean by double-digits in all the polls I have seen. So, in order for Kerry to win New Hampshire two things have to happen. One, Dean would have to screw-up bad, which is not out of the question. Two, Kerry would have to turn the political bulb off. I don't mean that he would have to stop listening to his handlers, but he certainly would need to stop letting them talk for him. Sure they have given him a few funny one-liners at the debates, but they are hurting him in the long run.
All, and one more thing, don't go shooting pheasants so that you can talk about the NRA. It just makes you look like a giant ass. In addition to that, don't go on national television and defend yourself by saying you eat what you kill. You are a millionaire, you jackass. It is not as if you are hunting to survive. We all know why you were hunting, it was because your handlers told you that it would offer a nice photo-op to appeal to southern voters, and it would also give you a chance to breech the subject of Dean's conservative position on guns.
That light needs to go, before it burns out.