Strategery

Because I live for you, the reader, I shall answer a reader request. Chris CB asks:

If you were the campaign manager for the Kerry campaign, what would your
strategy for the election be. Maybe you could also do another post on
if you were Bush's manger what would you do. What are their
liabilities, what are their strong points, how should they be appealing
to the American people, etc.

Ok, here are the official Craigorian Chant Keys to Victory

It is important to note that Kerry and Bush are going after a certain segment of the population that are swing voters. To oversimplify, these voters are white men, less well off and more culturally conservative than the Nation as a whole. Therefore, Kerry must do things to win these folks over that will annoy liberals.

Kerry must remind people every chance he gets that he is
1. A decorated War Vet
2. A hunter
3. A manly man
And of course remind people at every given opportunity that the economy sucks, Iraq has gone off the rails, health care costs are going up, etc, etc, etc. Remember who Kerry is going after. He will not win these folks over with his support for abortion rights, civil unions for gay couples, or gun control. So while Kerry will not change his positions on these things he will not talk about them much.

Bush's Answer:
As Joe Kline wrote in TIME, Bush has two foes: Kerry and reality. Bush cannot make a case for re-election based on the real world. So he must win in the campaign world. The first step is to attack Kerry.

Bush will try and portray him as
1. Soft on crime
2. Soft on terrorism
3. Soft in general

Second, the Bush campaign will do all it can to get down in the mud of the day-to-day campaign. So expect lots of stuff on Theresa's mouth and money, picking apart Senate votes by the two Johns, and so on. Anything that keeps attention off the two real important numbers: Jobs created and Iraq casualties. One of the Kerry campaign's most important jobs is to not make mistakes and give the Bush campaign opportunities

So to sum up:
Kerry play error-free ball, prove yourself to the white working class and keep the real world in view.

Bush tear Kerry down and hide those annoying real world facts.