Posted on 12/05/2002 4:07:35 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, voicing strong support for U.S. Sen. John Kerry's presidential ambitions, yesterday urged former Vice President Al Gore to stay out of the 2004 White House race.
"Gore would lose," Frank said. "I don't think he should run ... His negatives are too high."
As Kerry officially created his presidential exploratory committee, Frank, D-Newton, said Gore lacks the political popularity to topple President Bush - who is riding a wave of favorability as he pursues the war on terrorism.
Frank stressed he wasn't blaming Gore, but simply recognizing a political reality Democrats must confront.
"Gore was the leading opponent of Bush - and then 9/11 happened," Frank said, recalling the terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon. "That made Bush a popular president. Al's been wounded. It's unfair and it's not his fault, but it's reality."
Gore, who lost to Bush in the controversial 2000 presidential contest, has thrust himself into the public spotlight recently with a series of high-profile media appearances as he mulls a rematch.
The former vice president has said he will decide by early next year whether he will run again. Most analysts believe he would become the instant Democratic front-runner.
Kerry, meanwhile, formally launched his presidential exploratory committee yesterday, filing a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. Kerry will transfer all of the $3.1 million in his Senate account to his new committtee, John Kerry for President Inc.
Frank, while cautioning that it is far too early to declare any favorites in the 2004 contest, cast Kerry as the "strongest" Democrat for 2004.
Asked if he would actively support Kerry's candidacy, Frank replied: "I'm inclined to do that right now. At this point, he's the one with the best chance of winning."
Kerry's background as a Vietnam War combat hero and as a prosecutor would make it hard for right-wing Republicans to brand the junior senator as too "soft" for the White House.
"This is a guy who combines combat experience and heroism with a record as a tough prosecutor," said Frank. "As you begin to play that out, Republicans can't go after him as weak on national security issues ... It will just fall flat against Kerry.
"As Kerry has said, he's killed people and he's put people in prison. So it's tough for Republicans to say he's too soft somehow to be president. He is a very strong candidate."
Frank also noted that a recent profile in The New Yorker about Kerry, by "Primary Colors" author Joe Klein, gave the senator's candidacy a lift among political insiders and the media who track the campaign at this early juncture.
Only from the democrats would we see such a thing expressed as a qualification to be President.
A good addition would be Clinton as Cousin "It."
If you want to get a load of the "real" Senator, you have to read the article about his relationship with his goofy wife. He said that he isn't haunted by Vietnam while she is simultaneously talking about what he does and yells during his nightmares. "Da plane! Da plane! Watch out for the plane! Zoom, zoom, zoom!" Maybe instead of having the VP candidates debate, we can get the wives to debate. Laura Bush against this ditz would be an incredible treat.
Funny...the DemonCrats have to gauge their candidates by the "NEGATIVE" impact...LOL...they don't have anyone available with a POSITIVE benchmark...
That's the theme line from a series of ads for Mazda. Maybe John was just dreaming about driving a nice Japanese sedan.
When all the dem nominees for governor attacked Romney by saying he wasn't a real MA resident... Fwank told them to drop it.
They didn't and came away with egg on their faces.
From a dem perspective, it would be smart to give Al the bums rush.
Could that be defined as a bitch slap?
Or possibly bowel-pokers?
Well....that was Clinton's history too, before he got in office.....
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