NYT: Advisers Urge Kerry to Flex Power in Senate and Party

Still reeling from his loss to President Bush on Tuesday, Senator John Kerry is being urged by top advisers and friends to take a high-profile role as the Democratic Party grapples with issues like selecting its next chairman and shaping its identity and course.

Unlike Al Gore, who made a tortured exit from the public stage after his loss to Mr. Bush four years ago, Mr. Kerry has a Senate seat to return to and is under no pressure to disappear from view for the sake of national unity and the legitimacy of the presidency, his advisers say. They argue that his continuing presence in the Senate gives him a natural role in determining how Democrats deal with the White House.

"If President Bush indeed wants to earn the support of people who supported Kerry, then he'll probably have to deal with Kerry," said Mike McCurry, a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign. "The question for Kerry is in some ways the same as for Bush: Does the president want to lead by establishing some bipartisan consensus in the center, or does he want to govern from the ideological right?

"Kerry would be the person that could help him accomplish that, but if not, there will be a hunger for someone to stand up to Bush."

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/06/politics/campaign/06kerry.html

Especially without John Edwards, who gambled it all on this race (and yes, that's a snarky comment).

I actually have a yucky feeling about our presidential candidate sitting there as a regular minority Senator. :(

Kerry can lead us out of the bowels of Hell.......

in a gentlemanly way, with dignity, of course.

How the heck do they know he's 'reeling?' That's just how they choose to perceive things, so that they can subconsciously feel superior.

Jerks. And that's the New York Times! (the last bastion of liberalism -sometimes).

Just make fun of the boyking.....make a complete mockery of the whole process.

don't have many strong spokespeople and we need some.

As McCain said on one of the morning shows, sometimes running and losing can raise your stature. It did for McCain. I think it will for Kerry and he needs to use it. We need him to use it.

Look at the number of people who voted FOR John Kerry?

Doesn't he owe them something?

He should claim his power & use it!!!! For US!!!!

We need him to be the most vocal member of the Senate. Shout about every ill-advised bill they're going to ram through, pounce on every mistake * makes and keep himself in the public eye. A four year campaign of "I told you so" without saying so much could do wonders in 08.

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Gee, we only lost the nation to jesusland and are now royally
screwed on almost everything this country was founded on and what
we believe in..

so, what do the dems do? vie for power.

What power? They lost EVERYTHING!

It's like watching a starving pack of dogs try to chew on each other.

Another thing: Kerry's web design people suck. It's like a corporation building an "online community for their people". They should take a clue from DU on how to design a good forum for interaction.

Kerry would say "I have a plan" and go to "johnkerry.com"...
no outline of the solutions presented...

ok, let's say people managed to figure out how to go to johnkerry.com....could they find the plans?

HELL NO! Buried in obscure links, half not even put into webpages,
search engine that did not even search a pdf! terrible. I'm an engineer and I had to use google domain searches to find half of the stuff and sometimes even guess.

It was pathetic! People were trying to find out what the hell was the plan and couldn't.

Did john kerry ever email out a series of links on the details
of his plans? HELL NO!

Just trite crud of wanting contributions and your typical blow off
"let's stand together" type of campaign slogans to the already faithful. NO information dissemination whatsoever.

That and to drop the Benedict Arnold CEO's rhetoric on the advise of his pro outsourcing economic advisor...

I mean come on, these people just do not sit down and decide what is right for the direction of the country, period and then work on selling it to the America people...
instead of blowing to the wind and saying whatever the next large donor wants to hear.

after an election this close, Kerry has earned it. No other Senator has the national public support which he has. No other Senator has the political leverage over Bush that Kerry has.

Bush has promised reach across to work with Democrats like John Kerry in his second term, even calling him the honorable opponent. With Kerry as the Democratic leader we can put this statement to the test!

about Kerry ...since the election ...probably worried ...

Which is it?

There is as much unity and loyalty on the left as there is in this country toward each other.

That's what's wrong. Nobody gives a shit until it happens to them.

It's like one big bad reality show, but this isn't a game.

Instead of empathizing with the loser or the one being shat on,
people attack.

I hope all start working together and join forces, period.

Look at the little Nazi organization called the fundamental Christian right. We just had our country sold down the river over gay rights
and abortion. All because these little cultists stick together like the Borg.

this has been a rough campaign..but Kerry's public image is still a winner. A Vietnam Vet, a challenger who nearly beat the incumbent during a war, and a spokesman who would be known by every voter in the country.

When Mitchell left, I felt Tom Daschle would be the better Democrat to replace him. IMO Daschle was more likely to work with the Clinton administration than Dodd. I also felt that selecting a Senator from a red state would make it easier for Democrats to win back the Senate.

Since Bush has been President, Daschle's role began to change. Unfortunately Daschle didn't change with the times. The Democratic Leader must use every tool at his disposal to stop the neocon agenda, or force a compromise whenever the majority is desperate. In order to have this leverage during Bush's second-term we need a leader who can unite Senate Democrats, while boosting public approval for our fight.

Beating Bush was not very likely, but blaming Kerry for this defeat would result in an even greater loss for our party.

Then look in the mirror.

the only benefit i see is if kerry turns into a figure like gore is now. the gloves came off big time. if we have a guy like that leading the charge in the senate we will be in good shape

I mean a leader of the movement to bring back elections. He won - he was robbed - he should have championed clean elections - at least in the future. As it is, he allowed the myth of the "silent majority" to take hold again. For that, I hold him in contempt.

want anybody doing anymore caving in to this administration. To me
I proud of the fact that we stand for all people not just the ones that resemble republicans. That is the foundation of our party and we must stand on our issues. Otherwise were just republicans.

Make them go through the man who got 55 million votes.

They can raise a ton of money from the people in addition to progressive billionaires.

So, get the democrats to use this power to stop being corrupted by special interests and to hit on multiple fronts...

details of policy, selling it like mad and take a stand for what
we believe in ("values") and stick to it.

They constantly cave and I have to agree...I was horrified when
they voted to go to Iraq.

I'm not in government and I could see in 2 seconds that was about
neocon philosophy and grabbing the oil.

I personally was horrified such as much as I was horrified they voted
for NAFTA and the China PNTR and so on.

They sell out for a donut.

It would be great to have a man of his stature as our leader in the Senate. It would almost be like winning a little piece of the election, having him there confronting Bush on a daily basis. The press would definitely give him more credence and publicity than they would Reid, who few people know. He would still have filibuster powers to bring to the table. Why should he go quietly into the night when he could continue to debate Bush on a regular basis and so elegantly kick his stupid ass?

Everything and I mean everything from the Dems is a "move on" attitude...how to work with the oligarchs. We have 44% of the Senate...

look at the thread about the 25% of Chimp voters who seriously considered voting for Kerry. If Kerry is our public leader, once the consequences of Bush's recklessness start becoming apparent to even the most TV-addled fools, they will get a second chance to undo their picking the wrong candidate by responding to Kerry's appeals to help the Dems take back the House and Senate in 2006.