John Kerry helps raise money for women candidates in Iowa

The writer should learn not the start three sentences in a row with "Kerry says ..." It's boring and amateurish writing. (And there are no direct quotes after the 'Kerry says.' Says what?)

I am very glad he is raising money for women candidates. That's a general good. And I'm happy to see him back in Iowa. I am hoping we have some pics soon. That would be nice.

I mean, there are women candidates all over the country. Why's he spending time in Iowa?

I'm just sayin'.

dontcha think?

A coincidence :tinfoilhat:

For some reason, I could not post directly the images. If somebody succeeds, this would be great.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/pl/021103kerry/im:/051009/480/iasp10410091839;_ylt=ApgCwW.RaGlYEiGZj76uTelsaMYA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGcyMWMzBHNlYwNzc25hdg--?sp=-1&lsp=6000

h

you have to cut the url short in the right place.

That no tie look works for him. I love those third and fourth pics down. Very, very nice.

The despcription in the Iowa forum is very short. Very, very short. Sigh! Oh well. That's the breifest description of a political talk I've seen yet. Maybe it's because it's October. Geez, they had Vilsack and Kerry there, I should think there would have been some interesting questions. (Heck, ethanol even, anyone?)

Geez, it sounds like not even the topic of Iraq came up. That's odd.

And yes I really like the last two. :loveya: And yay for women!

http://www.kcrg.com/article.aspx?art_id=98092&cat_id=123#

There is a transcript of the video at this site as well. (Click on the video camera icon above the story to get the video to run.)

Kerry looks very good, sounds good and is very tall in this video. (Well, he is.)

especially the part about pretty much staying around to talk to anybody one on one.

nice to see both Vilsacks were there. especially since Tom Vilsack is considering a Presidential run .

200 people is a decent number to get out in the 'off-season.' I love the retail politics idea of being able to go up and talk to Kerry (or any otbher Big Dem) one on one. That's so nice. (That is the best thing about Iowa and New Hampshire and their early political races.)

Kerry seems to have done quite well. It's wasn't a 'major speech' but it seems to have been well-done. I wish someone from here had been able to go becuase then we would have a more detailed account, but that's okay.

It is amazing and unusual he showed up for a city seat. Goes to show you he really does treasure his friends. I loved that and so sweet of him. And that reporter was so young (and cute)!! I tried to see the Kerry 2008 video but it wasn't anything (they got the wrong video).

The article seems really balanced between recognizing that Kerry will have to make a new strong case to retain his Iowa supporters and the clearest statements I've seen about how seriously Kerry feels about the role of helping the party in 2006. The third snip suggests a sense of duty to do this. (Interesting they contrast it with Gore. Wasn't Clinton pretty absent in 2002 as well? (NJ had a weird race. Our Senator was involved in scandals and was replaced weeks before the election by Lautenberg and I don't remember Clinton helping Lautenberg. Is this faulty memory?)
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From article:
I have a feeling that people have a hard time, after someone hasn't been able to pull it off, getting behind them again," state Rep. Janet Petersen of Des Moines said. "So if Sen. Kerry wants to run again, he's really going to have to make a case."

<snip>

What I admire is that Sen. Kerry has stayed visible unlike Gore," West Des Moines Democrat Avon Crawford said at the Des Moines event.

<snip>

"It's the importance of my responsibility as a nominee and as a senator and as a public person not to turn my back on the invested effort of millions of Americans," Kerry said.

<snip>

"The bottom line is that this work has got to be done. Having been out there as a national candidate, I know what it means when you have legislators that are there for you. These are things that have to happen, and I'm going to fight to make them happen, period," he said. "I'm not going to worry about what people read into it."












http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051010/NEWS09/510100332/1001/NEWS

And he is. I think he knows that the Party will rise or fall on it's ability to turn out voters for ALL contested elections, not just the Presidential one. (Plus, he said he would do this. I think he was sincere when he promised to go out and strengthen the grassroots and so he is doing the follow-through. Kerry was highly critical and frustrated by the Dem GOTV effort last year. The Party had outsourced it to the 527 groups and there were massive problems with this. I think Kerry wants to make sure that the Dems get this critical function back under their financial and political control.)

He said he would do this. Therefore, he should do this. He knows that it's not about him, it's about aligning the Dem Party to be more competitive all the time. That would benefit everyone down the line. (And he said he would do this. So, he kept his word. People should keep their word.)

BTW: I found this great article on MA pols and the pressures on Kerry from the get-go. We are a very serious state that can easily tip over into stuffy, I guess. LOL! Thank gawd for this group. It has been a godsend to 'lighten up' sometimes and see beyond the borders of MA. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/10-05/10-10-05/a03lo016.htm

I think just looking at this group, he has caused at least some to increase their activity. At the risk of misquoting, you had said you choose to caucus in MA for the first time in response to a Kerry email. My husband and I are more actively involved than we've been in decades. (I'm doing some phoning and we both canvassed one weekend and we're hosting a house party for an assembly candidate. In the previous 20 years, we voted and I went to County headquarters 4 times to help last year.)

Even with the issue emails alone, there is a subtle affect. It is likely that more people are aware of what is happening and know the Democratic (or more specifically the Kerry) position on many issues and HIS REASONS for taking that position. Nice to have Kerry's coherent arguments when these things are mentioned.

There is a level of Democratic activity here that is unusual. Possibly because people are horrified by where things are, but I think Kerry's call to action in emails and in person have had some effect. It is definately not clear that even the majority of the people responding to Kerry's message will back him. Hillary may very well be the beneficiary of a stronger Democratic party.

I wish that DU would at least give him credit for his efforts. They will likely give Dean all the credit if the party gets stronger. The politicians and real activists will know otherwise. But DUers seem to have suddenly found a new hero in Al Gore. Maybe by 2007, they will relook at Kerry and see that he never stopped fighting.

PArt of the letter I got in late January. It's the reason I went to the Dem Meeting and got 'elected' a delegate to the MA Dem Convention in May.



Yup, direct appeals work. They make you feel as if you are indeed a vital part of the effort, not just an ATM. It got me up off my ass. This was a very good thing. From your earlier e-mails you said that Kerry has sent similar appeals to NJ voters on his list and this was warmly welcomed by the State Dem party. It's very smart politics.

Now, if only he could do something to make Town Meeting more bearable. (Sigh!) I have a TM to attend tomorrow and they are excrucitating events.