Drudge: Kerry to accept nomination at convention

Take it with a grain of salt, but I hope it's right.

he listened to my advice. :D

have Bushit "accept"

Best not to get "cute" we'll win ok either way

all of Bushit's 150million has done is make the TV stations and the PR guys some $$$

Seriously, this means Kerry loses because Bush will outspend him 2 to 1.

It's over. Kerry loses.

You think so, eh?

and Bush will win because he will spend the most.

When Bush spent the most and lost the popular vote?

Like horseshoes and hand grenades, close is enough.

If it's going to come back to the Supreme Court anyway. Might as well use that money to find better lawyers than last time.

that they don;'t have an opportunity to steal the thing again.

But Kerry just blew it.

You should at least know your U.S. history.

Where did I ever claim to be running for public office?

BTW, American history does not apply here as we are playing by 100% new finance rules.

please.

Democrats have NEVER spent as much money as Republicans. There will still be plenty of money spent. Just not by the Kerry campaign per se.

of nothing but Bush propoganda.

The election is over as far as I'm concerned.

see ya in '08 :hi:

because tha'ts where I'm heading once Bush takes the thing again.

that 527s can buy ads up until 60 days before the election (early September)... after that, they can't spend anymore because of McCain-Feingold. Those 5 weeks between the conventions can be covered by 527s as they did just after Kerry secured the nomination... he hardly spent any money but GOP ads were been answered indirectly.

This was a losing move by Kerry.

Stupid stupid stupid!

This was a losing move by Kerry.

Stupid stupid stupid!

Maybe he will run for president some day and not make foolish moves like this.

I gotta give ya one of these awards!

People don't give a damn about ads. More people are getting fed up with Bush despite the fact Bush spent a fortune in ads already. They haven't helped him a bit. We are polarized like never before. The debates are gonna win it for Kerry!
:kick:

Bush has a built in excuse to duck them. He's too b usy running the Wah on Terra.

And he's still losing. And he will.

The Kerry campaign is doomed.

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we are enslaved.

Are you serious, or just being sarcastic?

Now, every Democrat in the country knows they have got to get their money in NOW. And they will. This is going to guarantee we WON'T be outspent by Bush, not the other way around.

but Bush gets another FIVE FUCKING WEEKS TO BLAST THE AIRWAVES WITH SHIT LIKE "A VOTE FOR KERRY IS A VOTE FOR OSAMA".

Kerry fucked up and blinked. He's lost this thing, mark my words.

for the last month, with no results.

When he accepts. The time to spend OUR money is NOW, so send it in. After the convention, send money to the 527's and other organizations that can still spend money. It's called strategy, get with it.

Kerry can spend money in that five weeks, it just has to be the $75 million in government money ( if he choses to accept it ) He has to quit spending the private funds.

five weeks he doesn't have it for Septemeber and October.

Bush spends whatever the fuck he pleases during those five weeks AND he gets the 75 million on September 1.

Please, try to pay attention to the facts about this.

on the air.

sorry, the cynicism runs deep today

This is not a money contest. Trying to match the Bush Money Machine dollar for dollar is doomed to failure.

There will be plenty of DNC and 527 money to keep Kerry on an even financial keel with Baby Bush.

and Kerry will lose the election because of it. Mark my words.

Because the $70 million BushCo. ad blitz has done wonders so far hasn't it?

Just wait until the August Terra ad blitz about a vote for Kerry being a vote for Osama.

And no counter ads because Kerry can't afford it.

The current polling data doesn't seem to reflect that.

Watch what happens in August. It'll be close enough for the fuckers to steal it again in November.

But then again it could be close enough in Nov. for them to steal it regardless of the Kerry campaign's tactical maneuvering in May.

Nothing has changed. If Iraq is still a mess this fall Bush will be hurt.Same with the economy. Some lame ad blitz isn't going to save his sorry ass. A terrorist attack in this country is an entirely different matter, though. The effect of that on this election would be highly unpredictable in my opinion.

Don't you just love politics?

Thirty second sound bites close the the election decide this shit.

Well you all just made up my mind for me---Kerry get's another 50 bucks from me, can't afford it but what the hell, this is a cause we MUST try and make happen so come on---Give!

He spent over 70 million to win the TX governorship. Rick Perry spent less than 30 million. The vote was 58%-40%--only a 2% difference from the Gore-Bush race in 2000 in Texas. Gore spent no money campaigning in Texas.

That's the message, can you hear it?

because he can;t spend a dime for the entire month of August or esle Bush will so outspend him in the final weeks there will be no digging out of the hole.

Our only hope is some picture of Bush personally anally raping an Iraqi pre-teenage boy.

along with a coordinated effort by the DNC which will be allowed to spend 16 to 18 million. 527 money, recently legalized by the FEC, will also be allowed. You make it sound like Kerry will be off the air in August. That is not correct.

Bush can spend millions upon millions of unanswered dollars for five weeks, Kerry has to sit back and take it for those five weeks.

SEVENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS. He will not be without money. Plus the other groups who can spend money at the time. Wake up, this was a political ploy to get it through the public's head that the time to send money to the campaign is NOW, when they really need it.

The Bush ads will not go "unanswered". There is the DNC, 527 and matching funds, not to mention free media. Everybody knows that there is a saturation point of diminishing return when it comes to campaign spending. And you never did answer my question about Tony Sanchez.

And don't forget that with the Olympics politics will be off the radar screen for 2 weeks.

applied.

#2, I don't appreciate being called a liar when what I stated was 100% true, Bush attack ads will go unanswered by Kerry because Bush will still be playing by the primary rules while Kerry is constrained by the general election rules. The DNC and 527's cannot answer those attack ads for Kerry under the rules, only Kerry can. They can produce attack ads against Bush, which he'll be able to counter because again, he is playing by the primary rules and not the General Election rules.

Please, educate yourself about the situation.

he CAN spend money in August....the public funds

he is a hero. The RNC won't spare him for showing this kind of honor. They will no doubt gloat over their advantage and ridicule Kerry for ...whatever. I can never think of anything.

and a LOT of it was favorable.

People are impressed with his thinking outside the box.

Put GOP on edge.

GIVE like you fukin life depends on it!

let's move on and stop endlessly debating it. We don't need the circular firing squad, we need to put our energy into winning.

But unfortunately some of the "Sky is falling" crowd have other motives and sadly, hopes. Kerry wasn't my guy either, but I've come to grips with reality and moved on with life.

the idea out there caused some bleeding, I am afraid. OTOH, it does draw attention to the Pubs decision to hold the convention so late that they are going to have to bend the rules in a couple of states to get Shrub's name on the ballot. Hopefully the media will now begin to talk about that with as much enthusiasm as they addressed the question of whether Kerry would delay acceptance of the nomination. Ok, I know, when pigs fly and it gets really cold in that place where the neocons are going.

there's no THEY to it. the democrats in those states (except illinois) caved and changed the rules and allowed dumbya to cheat with his convention date

and now kerry caved to rw talk radio and threw away a much-needed fundraising option to get hannity off hs case.

thanks again, terry mcaulliffe, for your spineless leadership!

with no rebuttal from Kerry.

say hello to four more years of the destruction of America.

I'm so fucking depressed. This was the stupidest move I've ever seen.

this isn't new. The party and Kerry have known all along what the schedule was, and what the rules were. Only in the last couple days was this idea floated, and it was roundly rejected by people on all sides of the spectrum.

It was likely that the networks would not cover the convention if he didn't accept the nomination then. There were many downsides to moving out his acceptance: no coverage, a perception that he's "rigging" the rules, a general sense of "sliminess" about the whole thing. All of those things would hurt him worse than the money situation in August.

BTW... those five weeks include the Olympics, where Americans will be otherwise distracted.

the fact is, no campaign is made or broken in August. There WILL be plenty of money spent on Kerry's behalf. He will not be invisible for those five weeks.

I live in Boston, and both papers have been howling at the possibility that he won't accept the thing. I haven't paid all that much attention until today, strangely enough, but just being in the city here is enough to pick up a bad vibe.

The convention is going to, completely, stop the city of Boston cold. All the major highways in, out and through are bring closed, particularly I-93, because that passes within rock-throwing distance of the convention site. I-93 is the femoral artery of highways passing through the city; that's why they've been doing the Big Dig since 1904 or so.

The Mayor is telling every business in downtown Boston to basically close up shop that week and give all their employees a week's vacation. This is going to cost the city's economy billions.

If Kerry doesn't accept the nod in Boston, the ONLY story will be the entire city screaming at him for offering only a wave and a speech at the convention that removed Boston from the Eastern seaboard for five days.

The pollution in the Boston Harbor damaged Dukakis badly. The entire city of Boston telling Kerry to eat shit and die won't do good things, either.

My 2 cents.

How this move isn't a death sentence for the Kerry campaign. I think it might help with the Chicken Little crowd's massive anxiety attack.

to accept it five weeks later to even out the time they have to spend...but imagine what it would be like if this story overrides the convention itself. All people may hear about is how Kerry is delaying the acceptance of the nomination. It would smother the message of the convention.
The 527s and DNC will have to carry us through those 5 weeks.

The upside argument is fundraising and spending: Spending rules change once you get the nomination. Bush's convention is five weeks after Kerry's, so he will have five extra weeks before *his* convention to spend like a mad bastard and kill Kerry's potential convention bounce in the polls. If Kerry negs the nod, he can match that spending during those five weeks.

It's a hell of a persuasive argument, especially when you consider the almost-pornographic financial advantage Bush enjoys over Kerry. Bush could release the hounds at the end of July and bury Kerry in TV commercials, radio connercials, direct mail attacks, push-polls, live jaguars falling from the sky, and all at once, and still have enough cash left for the rest of the run.

But the argument to refut this, as best as I can make it, is this:

1. A decision to turn down the nomination breaks a fundamental rule when dealing with the media: The Forms Must Be Obeyed. Do anything even slightly weird, and the media will bury you in a day (see: Dean - Scream, the). If Kerry does this, it will be unprecedented, and so the media will saturation-bomb it. This will give a lot of people a lot of chances to describe the decision as The Ultimate Kerry Flip-Flop: I Can't Decide If I'm The Candidate (film at 11). As that is already one standardized theme out of the Bush campaign, it will play very well in Peoria.

2. You haven't heard a great deal out of Kerry lately, as he is gathering his cash and allowing events (and Dean and Gore and Clark and Edwards etc.) to campaign for him. It's working, to date, and it is a good thing, too. Kerry cannot get into a financial/campaign slugfest with Bush in May; he'll run out of cash immediately. The point: This financial disparity between the campaigns will still be in place, in one form or another, in August. If Bush decides on August 1st to attack Kerry in TV commercials, radio connercials, direct mail attacks, push-polls, live jaguars falling from the sky, and all at once, Kerry won't be able to do much about it *whether or not he accepted the nomination or not*. The argument that this has to be done for financing reasons fails on this point alone; Bush's advantage is such that any ground Kerry might gain by not accepting is more than lost by the perception problems it will cause (see #1).

3. The problems this will cause in Boston (copied and pasted from above response): I live in Boston, and both papers have been howling at the possibility that he won't accept the thing. Just being in the city here is enough to pick up a bad vibe. The convention is going to, completely, stop the city of Boston cold. All the major highways in, out and through are bring closed, particularly I-93, because that passes within rock-throwing distance of the convention site. I-93 is the femoral artery of highways passing through the city; that's why they've been doing the Big Dig since 1904 or so.

The Mayor is telling every business in downtown Boston to basically close up shop that week and give all their employees a week's vacation. This is going to cost the city's economy billions. If Kerry doesn't accept the nod in Boston, the ONLY story will be the entire city screaming at him for offering only a wave and a speech at the convention that removed Boston from the Eastern seaboard for five days.

The pollution in the Boston Harbor damaged Dukakis badly. The entire city of Boston telling Kerry to eat shit and die won't do good things, either.

So that's me thinks.

I especially agree with point 1. I can only imagine how much the media would have orgasmed over the delay in acceptaning the nom. Man on the street interviews with surly, disguntled Bostonians would be all over the place......the horror!!!

Well that settles it...

He has to accept in Boston. Of course.. This was all a publicity move, as his policy speeches get no press at all.

Completely de-fuses a potentially damaging fracas the enemy was trying to raise.

needed in war games, and this is what "the war president" lacks IMO!
:shrug:

BREAKING NEWS John Kerry will accept Democratic nomination at convention rather than delay it for fund-raising, spending advantages. Details soon.


http://www.cnn.com/

nt

he's evil and we all know not to go there

Probably Moveon.org.

But the Repukes are forming 527's now and will outspend the Democratic 527s.

Meanwhile in ?august, Bush can put on a $200 million dollar ad blitz because this is just the sort of thing that will fire up the idiots to donate more maoney to the bastard.

Money helps, but it can backfire, too, especially when spent by arrogant SOBs with nothing but contempt for common folk.

He is out there every day giving policy speeches that is all but ignored, but it takes some silly comment to get the media all giddy with coverage. Hey...coverage is coverage. Now if the media can get all giddy about Bush and his crimes.

he's got a great team. He will be a great President.

At what point should I donate to a "527" (what is that BTW) like Moveon instead of Kerry direct?

:shrug:

In the CA recall, Bustamante was well-funded, but because of the controversy over his fundraising practices (there were judgements against him), his advertising was ineffective.

Kerry can use this as a plea to donate to progressive causes and his campaign to overcome the disadvantage. Some work must be left to the 527's. Kerry should promote himself and let MoveOn and others work against Bush.

can take the low...

And then we can win the presidency, win the house and win the senate.

max before convention.

Or is it $4000? I've only given a couple hundred so far and was hoping to stretch it out.

...of the funds cutoff to when the last candidate accepts nomination, in stead of when each candidate accepts. The GOP is doing an end-run around this, and should've been called on it sooner. People took the bait and were distracted with the idea that they moved the convention date to be closer to the 9/11 anniversary. Uh-uh. They moved the date to leave their cash availability wide open for another five weeks. Suckers. Fucking suckers.

As for those who say Kerry will lose because Bush will outspend him 2 to 1--that's effectively what Bush has already done, and it's gotten Bush exactly nowhere.

the love! Gore proved that giving in to thugs is a stupid thing to do.

last week of August, that way there would have been only one week between them and Kerry could bombard the airwaves until then.

:argh: