But over the past few days, adviser Bob Shrum has pressed for a more political and “in your face” approach to the announcement. “He [Shrum] wants a more aggressive speech, a more aggressive setting,” says a Kerry aide in Washington.
So now plans are for Kerry to announce in front of the USS Yorktown down in South Carolina on September 2. In an early draft of his remarks, Kerry takes a direct shot at Bush, ridiculing him for his spring speech from the deck of an aircraft carrier, and disparaging the president, claiming that that appearance was a metaphor for his entire administration, all staging, no substance, all fiction, no facts.
“It’s going to be a tough, bare-knuckle speech,” says the Kerry aide. “It’s going to establish the senator as the front runner, the straight talker and put people like [ex-Gov. Howie] Dean behind him. We’re sure of it. The competition is going to see us shift into a whole new speed after September 2.”
Kerry’s announcing in South Carolina is a bit surprising in that everyone expected him to stick close to home and reinforce his strength in the Northeast. But Shrum is looking past the early “excite the base” days and is seemingly looking to take on the Bush Administration from the get-go in a state where Kerry is beginning to focus some of his campaign energy.
“Kerry is a frontrunner in New Hampshire. He’s doing okay in Iowa. Now he’s looking at raising his profile down south,” says the Kerry aide. “If we push [Sen. John] Edwards back a bit down here, we probably push him out of the race altogether.”
Edwards has staked out South Carolina as his do or die state in deterring in how far he takes his presidential aspirations.
p> DAMSEL IN DISTRESS br> Someone who isn’t pushing her aspirations very hard is former Sen.
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
H/T to National Review Online