Election 2008: Senator John Kerry
The race for the Democratic nomination in the 2004 election was a hard fought battle in the Iowa caucus and then a quick slide to a candidate that seemed to have what every Democrat could hope for: experience, intelligence, and a large campaign fund. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts may not have been the early favorite, like Governor Howard Dean, nor was he the one making bold claims like fringe candidates Dennis Kucinich and the Reverend Al Sharpton, but he was able to win in Iowa. The Democratic National Committee had skewed the primary season to give the early winner the best opportunity to sweep through the big primaries, like New Hampshire, and protect against a contentious nomination battle.
However, the Democrats have learned their lesson from 2004, when Kerry had the nomination sown up in early March’s Super Tuesday primaries and faced eight months of Republican attacks on his voting record, his aloof manner, and his record as a soldier in Vietnam. The Democratic National Committee, under the leadership of former Governor and candidate Dean, has made an active effort to move up some primaries to early January and spread them out both chronologically and geographically in order to ensure balance in the process. Meanwhile, John Kerry has stayed in the spotlight since his concession speech in 2004 and is poised to run once again for the presidency.
John Kerry’s potential 2008 presidential candidacy would work against intraparty discontent with Kerry and historical precedent. There are many outside of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, with such Democratic luminaries as Joe Lieberman and Bill Clinton within its ranks, that want to see a fresh and unbattered face in the next election. This reasoning is difficult to reconcile with the fact that Kerry and Al Gore, the 2000 presidential candidate, did very well in polling throughout the nation and neither has done anything but work for the improvement of the party since their failed candidacies.
As well, the Democrats have done a poor job of forgiving and forgetting past presidential woes. Candidates such as Dick Gephardt and Joe Biden have made multiple runs for the office and failed each and every time to garner votes outside of their constituencies. As well, very few Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates have survived one election loss to become the party’s candidate in future elections. One only needs to look at Adlai Stevenson, the 1952 and 1956 Democratic presidential candidate, to see how support dwindles rapidly for a repeat candidate.
Undeterred, John Kerry has stayed out in front of the cameras and maintained a significant fund raising presence nationwide in order to prepare himself for another run in 2008. Kerry has come out for nationwide health coverage for everyone under the age of 18 and wants a mandate for everyone in the nation to have health coverage by 2012. He has also protested the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and has been vocal in opposition to George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education program. All of these ideas were part of Kerry’s 2004 slate of proposals, but the Vietnam War issues and the personal attacks muddled whatever policy initiatives that Kerry wanted to propose.
While campaigning will be difficult in a new Democratic primary calendar and the Republicans won’t ease up on whomever the Democrats nominate for president, John Kerry should not be seen as a loser but someone who has weathered the political storms once before. Certainly, Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, have at least one national campaign on their resume and Democrats need to consider both as viable candidates in 2008. At the very least, John Kerry’s Senate experience and issue portfolio should make him prominent in the 2008 Democratic convention, either as kingmaker or candidate.
