Monday, November 10, 2003
The Game's Afoot
John Kerry fired his campaign manager last night and replaced him with a veteran Democratic operative. This kind of thing often happens in a presidential campaign, even successful ones--didn't Ronald Reagan fire one of his campaign managers in 1980?--but it signals bad news for Kerry in one way. The story about the sacking is the first one I've seen about Kerry containing the phrase "invigorate his lagging campaign." In one sense, that's lazy reporting. Kerry's campaign is not lagging compared to the real laggards like Lieberman and Edwards--he's running second in New Hampshire and third in Iowa--but in the media echo chamber, perception is more real than reality. And it makes the decision to forego federal matching funds for the campaign--which became nearly inevitable for Kerry once Howard Dean did it--look desperate when it's not, really.
Now that we're getting close to some real action in Iowa and New Hampshire, the pace of the campaign, which junkies have been following for nearly a year, is picking up. It's nearly as much fun watching this as it is watching the NFL on Sundays.
John Kerry fired his campaign manager last night and replaced him with a veteran Democratic operative. This kind of thing often happens in a presidential campaign, even successful ones--didn't Ronald Reagan fire one of his campaign managers in 1980?--but it signals bad news for Kerry in one way. The story about the sacking is the first one I've seen about Kerry containing the phrase "invigorate his lagging campaign." In one sense, that's lazy reporting. Kerry's campaign is not lagging compared to the real laggards like Lieberman and Edwards--he's running second in New Hampshire and third in Iowa--but in the media echo chamber, perception is more real than reality. And it makes the decision to forego federal matching funds for the campaign--which became nearly inevitable for Kerry once Howard Dean did it--look desperate when it's not, really.
Now that we're getting close to some real action in Iowa and New Hampshire, the pace of the campaign, which junkies have been following for nearly a year, is picking up. It's nearly as much fun watching this as it is watching the NFL on Sundays.
