Kerry tries shoving back

By James Kuhnhenn
Knight Ridder Newspapers

JAKE SCHOELLKOPF / AP Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, speaks at a rally in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The 6 p.m. shadows were spreading across a political rally at the foot of the Sandia Mountains when John Kerry, a long day behind him, decided to improvise his stump speech by handing his microphone to retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

The former NATO commander wasted no time picking up the new tenor of the campaign.

"John Kerry is a fighter, John Kerry is a leader. When George Bush was a CHEER-leader, John Kerry was playing hockey," Clark said. "When George Bush is running from his record, John Kerry is speaking the truth to the American people."

Kerry has been testing a new slogan by mocking President Bush's middle initial — "W stands for Wrong — wrong choices, wrong direction, wrong leadership."

By Clark's account, it also appears that W stands for wimp — an epithet that bedeviled Bush's father in 1988.

Left reeling by a punishing assault at last month's Republican convention and an effective ad campaign from anti-Kerry Navy veterans, the Kerry camp is shoving back with an aggressive offense that spares little in Bush's record — from Iraq to health care to terrorism to Halliburton to, yes, even Bush's cheerleading prep-school days.

Kerry has expanded his top echelon of advisers and adopted the belligerent tone he used when he was running behind in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Several national polls suggest that Kerry is recovering some of the public support he lost in August.

Aides promise that the tough talk is here to stay, adopting an adage from political consultant James Carville, an occasional adviser to Kerry who counsels clients that "it's hard for somebody to hit you when you've got your fist in their face."

In the past week, Kerry has said Bush ran an "excuses presidency," lived in a "fantasy world of spin" and "failed the fundamental test of leadership."

"He failed to tell you the truth," he told National Guard members Thursday.
 
He kept up the barrage Friday, going after Vice President Dick Cheney and his links to Halliburton, the oil-services and construction contractor.

"Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, has profited from the mess in Iraq at the expense of American troops and taxpayers," Kerry said in Albuquerque.

Cheney has dissolved his ties with Halliburton, but continues to receive income through bonuses and deferred compensation. Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt noted that Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, received deferred compensation while in the Senate.

The tougher talk comes as the high command of the Kerry campaign receives extra help.

John Sasso, a tough political operative who ran Michael Dukakis' campaign in 1988, is now Kerry's traveling confidant. Mike McCurry, former spokesman for President Clinton, has taken over as the leading media voice aboard Kerry's charter jet.

Another former Clinton spokesman, Joe Lockhart, is helping devise strategy.

The old Clinton hands, accustomed to Clinton's mastery on the stump, may be excused for flinching as they watch their new boss. Nevertheless, the campaign believes the pull-no-punches approach trumps any of Kerry's foibles. Although a Gallup poll released Friday has Bush leading Kerry by 13 percentage points, other national polls show the race tightening.

For Kerry, the key is to show improvement before the first debate. The debate, several Democrats said, can't turn Kerry's fortunes around by itself.

"You've got to be in a situation where you're right there in a close race," said Bill Carrick, who helped run Democrat Dick Gephardt's primary campaign. "Since 1960, we've never seen anybody turn around a campaign completely in the debate process. But very often it does blow open close campaigns."