Rediscovering John

Never mind the vote totals or the polls of support. The real indication that John Kerry has arrived, is the increased media attention he's receiving. Having been given more or less a free ride until now, Kerry is starting to become the focus of a media glare. The New York Post weighs in with a wide ranging opinion piece today, effectively painting the populist image of Mr. Kerry as nothing but a sham.

Now the New York Post doesn't strike anyone as a bastion of Liberal thinking, but it does represent a certain portion of the electorate that Mr. Kerry would hope to attract. Having articles portraying the candidate as a man who enjoys his luxuries, has come into his money with a minimum of sweat and is more Brahmin than Bar roomian will surely cause the proletariat to pause.

The radio talk shows in the United States, terribly weighted to the right side of the agenda, will gobble each and every snippet of information up, spewing all as gospel. His charity receipts, his achievements in the Senate, his days in the Mass. Legislature; every vote, every initiative is going to be opened up and examined. American politics is a bare knuckle, knock them down, drag them out of the room kind of affair. But only up to the actual nomination process. In some magical development, once the candidate is selected the muck raking seems to drift off, the two main candidates not wanting to be seen wallowing in mud.

For Kerry these are the danger days, he's sufficiently ahead of his Democratic brethren that he can think a bit long term. From today, until he makes it to Boston, he'll have to handle the coming flood of negativity. Not only from the dis-illusioned of his own party, but from the Republicans and their media agents. Any skeletons will rattle loudly for the next six months, his success or failure will depend on how he faces the heat. Kerry led a pretty sheltered existence in Washington, safely tucked away in his Senate office. No one really paying much attention to anything he might say, an occasional Senate appearance or some face time on Larry King.

Now people are listening, people are watching. They're going to learn more about John Kerry than they possibly would ever want to know. What they discover in the next six months will form their opinion of the candidate for the future, how he appears in the New York Post, is just as important as how he appears in The Atlantic. For every positive view of him will come a negative one, maybe more than one. At the end of the day, he and his handlers need to ensure the positive view, is the one that sticks in the mind of the voter.