No Way to Run a Campaign - Hindsight 20/20

OK - let's not get too carried away with Bush's victory.

The fact of the matter is that the result of the election hung on just 68,000 voters in Ohio. That's just 1.25% of the total Ohio vote. If 68,000 people in Ohio voted for Kerry instead of Bush - then we would have had a dead heat and the Ohio ballots would be in the courts today - giving us the 2000 election all over again.

John Kerry came within 68,000 votes of possibly winning the Presidency. Let that sink in for a moment.

Personally, I think John Kerry screwed up in a big way. His campaign was an embarrassment of poor decision making. Looking back - here are the 10 things Kerry should have changed which would have won him the election.

1. Swift Boat ads: Kerry ignored the ads when they first came out. The ads were seized upon by the right and the book Unfit for Command became a number 1 best seller. Kerry handled this all wrong.

First - let's assume that Kerry didn't want to release his military records for a reason. He easily could have dismissed this matter by signing his 180 release form. The fact he did not is pretty good evidence that his military record is not what he was cracking it up to be.

Still, all Kerry had to do was release a statement saying something along the lines of, "As a Vietnam veteran and as an American, I acknowledge both the service these men gave to our country and their right to voice their opinions. Obviously - we disagree about many things and I am resigned to the fact that I probably won't be getting John O'Niell's vote. What I won't do is re-open old wounds that would serve no purpose other than further dividing this nation."

That statement would have turned the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth into just another partisan group instead of a group of US veterans that Kerry was hiding from. The whole episode left many with the idea of "If he can't stand up to 270 elderly veterans - how is he going to stand up to Osama bin Laden and those who wish us dead?"

2. Kerry got nothing but trouble from his foreign policy advisors. Sandy "document burglar" Berger, Robert Rubin suggesting giving Iran nuclear fuel, Joe Wilson of questionable veracity - all trouble. Most people didn't know who these people were until they brought negative press to the campaign. Then to top it off Madeline Albright and Richard Holbrooke? Yuk.

Kerry would have been so much better served by trying to keep answers to questions on foreign policy short and focusing much of the attention of the campaign on domestic issues like jobs. Foreign policy was not where the votes were for Kerry in this election. Americans really are insular and care about what's happening here. Kerry got in trouble because of his focus on global tests instead of domestic ones.

3. "Reporting for Duty." That was awful. Someone pointed out that real heroes never point out the fact that they are heroes because they don't have to. Instead of saluting the crowd and reporting for duty - Kerry should have gone after Bush.

4. Bush was vulnerable on Homeland Defense - especially our porous borders. Kerry could have pounded home the idea that "How can Bush say he's keeping us safe if he hasn't even secured our borders?" The Texas border counties from Laredo to Brownsville all voted for Kerry. Any of the major networks could have done features on the boarder that would have been much more damaging to Bush than the phony Reserve documents.

5. Kerry was all over the place on where he stood on Iraq. He should have had a simple story and stuck with it. I would have suggested, "I don't agree with how the President got us into Iraq but now that we are there we have to do everything possible to make sure we win. The men and women of Iraq deserve our support. They want to be free and under my leadership - we'll make sure that happens."

Doesn't that sound much better than "Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time"?

6. John Kerry was on the campaign trail instead of in Washington for the historic visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. This was a tremendous lapse in judgment. Allawi was here to say "Thank you" to the American people.

7. Stop equating everything with Vietnam. Enough was never enough for Kerry but this turned off many people. You never hear John McCain mention that he was a Vietnam veteran unless he is asked about it.

8. John Kerry should have stayed away from throwing a football or baseball. If he knew he couldn't reach home plate (even from in front of the mound) he should have declined offers to throw out the first pitch. Campaign pictures of him playing catch football just made him look goofy.

9. Kerry should have not only kept his distance from Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore - he should have distanced himself from them. Nobody says "failed President" better than Jimmy Carter. Nobody longs for the good old days of the Carter Presidency. The people who like Carter and Moore were voting for Kerry anyway (because mainly Kerry isn't George Bush) - associating himself with Carter and Moore was a negative for Kerry for the middle of the road voter (both Democrat and independent).

10. Kerry never should have mentioned Dick Cheney's daughter at the final debate. Kerry won the final debate but all anyone will ever remember is Kerry mentioning Dick Cheney's daughter "who is a lesbian". At the time I said that who ever suggested this as a campaign strategy should have been fired on the spot.

If Kerry had done just a few of the above the way I suggest instead of the way he did handle it - then we may have had a new President of the United States today. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Kerry lost - very glad Kerry lost. The way he bungled the campaign day after day showed that he was incapable of running the country.

I firmly believe that historians will look back at the way Kerry ran his campaign and shake their heads. I'm shaking my head now (and have been since August).

68,000 votes. 1.25% of the total Ohio vote. The truth is John Kerry lost this campaign just as much as George Bush won it.