OPINION John Kerry is - gasp - running for president ZAC PESKOWITZ THE LOWER FREQUENCIES Sept. 4, 2003 as soon as the political landscape began A fter riproaring shifting, Kerry was in trouble. His supporters and rollicking aren't wedded to the man based on his poli- through South cies or biography. And as the Kerry cam- Carolina, Iowa, New paign has begun to realize, they are now Hampshire, The Ameri- playing catch up with the pugnacious Dean. can Courage Tour ended Last week, Jordan argued to The Los Angeles last evening in Boston. Times that "no campaign has ever put a lock No, this isn't one of on things in the summer. This thing will be those Lynyrd Skynyrd settled somewhere in the snow." Kerry built reunions. It's that hell- his candidacy around the perception of presi- raising, firebreathing, Harley-riding junior dential inevitability and with the Dean insur- senator from the Bay State, John Kerry. Lock gency expanding daily and the likelihood of up your daughters, Brahmins of Boston, John a Kerry nomination shrinking, you'll be able Kerry is on the loose and he's running to be to see the painful process of Kerry's support the Democratic nominee fot president of the eroding beneath him. Without that coveted United States. trump card of electability, the campaign is The conventional wisdom of Washington now forced to undergo the wrenching process politics is that the summer before the presi- of retooling Kerry's image. Tonight's Democ- dential primaries is irrelevant. Take it easy. ratic debate in Albuquerque, N.M., which Go to a few hog roasts in Iowa, vacation in will be aired on PBS at 8 p.m., will offer the Hilton Head, S.C., make the perfunctory first opportunity to see the new Kerry journey to the hamlets of New Hampshire. unscripted. The race really starts after Labor Day. That's Who does John Kerry want to be? Is he the when everyone joins the political animals man who can save the Democratic party from and starts scouring the papers for the latest the liberals and restore the Democratic Lead- tidbits on presidential politics. ership Council's unquestioned control over the But a funny thing happened on the way to party's machinery. Is he the man running out that moment of destiny when the anointment of a sense of obligation? A man who has of Kerry was supposed to take place at the served his four terms in the Senate, always 2004 Democratic National Convention in watching the action from the back benches Boston. While John Kerry's media wizards and now coveting the chance to set the policy were busy getting the atmospherics just right, agenda for the nation. Or is he just a ward- just as his pollsters were conducting focus heeling, back-slapping, baby-kissing pol who groups to accentuate their candidate's posi- will contort and gyrate his positions every tives and his wonks were crafting tax policy, which way for that elusive shot at the presi- former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean built a dency? And as soon as John Kerry decides for certifiable juggernaut. From a little-known himself, he can let the rest of us know. New England governor with no national fol- lowing and few connections to the Democratic Peskowitz can be reached Party's most powerful interest groups, Dean at zpeskowi@umich.edu. transformed himself into a legitimate presi- dential contender with a massive war chest. One of the most enjoyable political activi- ties of the summer has been watching the Kerry camp's animus toward Dean grow steadily nastier. Speaking to The New York Times after the May 3 Democratic debate in South Carolina, Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan meekly said, "There's no secret that we think Mr. Dean's rhetoric has been hot and a little bit personal." But as Dean's star began its ascent during the lan- guid summer months, Kerry's team went on the attack. In July, Jordan unleashed an assault on - Dean, calling him "an unemployed doctor with no responsibilities, and it was easy to sit there and take political potshots from the outside." And Jordan again to The New York Times in August: "He " has sold himself as the straight-shooting candidate, the truth-teller, the one who will say what's hard and unpopular In truth, he's a very crafty politician, very calculating." Needless to say, Kerry is now terrified of a crippling New Hampshire loss at the hands of Dean. With an August Zogby poll giving Dean a 21-percentage- point lead over Kerry in New Hampshire, the likelihood of a Dean triumph on Jan. 27 shifted from a faint possibility to a near cer- tainty. From the beginning of the campaign, Kerry and his advisers isolated his status as the frontrunner. That's all well and good, but SAM BUTLER/ Daily The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2004 - 11 Central Campus North Campus 324 S. State Pierpont Commons 214 S. Main South University Next to Ulrich's Busch's Shopping Center on South Main Kroger Shopping Center at Plymouth and Nixon Packard and Carpenter a a Wa -I pAC1(R