The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> A MAN OF AFFAIRS br> Sen. John Kerry doesn't appear to have a care in the world, judging by his behavior in Sun Valley, Idaho. /p>

His friends and colleagues in the Senate and his campaign advisers have been telling him that all is well, that his surrogates are defending him against the onslaught of attacks from Republicans.

Kerry is said by some advisors in Washington to have watched with rapt attention Sunday's "Meet the Press" appearance of his senior senator, Ted Kennedy. "He loved it," says one such adviser. "He thought Senator Kennedy just blew every one of Russert's questions out of the water."

With everything going so well in backfilling all the holes Kerry created for himself -- the waffling, the unseemly shopping spree with security in tow, the falling down in the snow (on bunny trails no less) -- the campaign is putting Kerry on the money trail.

Over the next two weeks, Kerry will be appearing almost nonstop at fundraisers. First stop, Washington, D.C., where Kerry will appear later this week with Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter at what is being billed a "unity" dinner/fundraiser for the DNC.

Then, Kerry is out to California, where he will be hitting up entertainment big-wigs at a fundraiser in Los Angeles, as well big-money Democratic types in San Diego and San Francisco, where Kerry has privately agreed to meet with Mayor Gavin Newsom.

"We're going to see how things are out there," says one campaign advance staffer. "If San Francisco is politically hot, then that meeting might not happen. We don't need that candidate surrounded by pictures of protesting drag queens and gay married couples. That wouldn't be helpful."

Also probably not on the "helpful" list are meetings and public appearances with former Vermont Gov. Howie Dean. But given Kerry's tough financial bind, and the need to keep Dean's perceived base of young voters happy, Kerry will appear with Dean in Michigan.

Dean is now operating only in tightly choreographed events that have been fully vetted by Kerry's senior advisers. His remarks are scripted by the Kerry campaign, and he has been asked not to "ad-lib" so as not to embarrass Senator Kerry.

"There are a lot of people who agree with things Dean says," says a former Dean campaign staffer now waiting to be hired on to Kerry's national field operation. "But the media seems to always find a way to twist it into something bad. He isn't going to change, so the Kerry campaign is going to change things for him."

topics:
Bill Clinton, Catholicism, Abortion, Law, NATO