Advice to the Kerry Campaign

Here are the five things that I think John Kerry should do to try and salvage his campaign.

1. Make sure he solidifies his union support. Most people ridicule Kerry's Senate record but one thing he can point out is his unwavering support of unions. The campaign should highlight this and make sure the unions know that he was loyal to them for 20 years and he expects them to be loyal to him this November.

2. Go after the Jewish vote. Kerry can't just expect the Jewish vote because he's a Democrat. Bush has been very vocal in his support of Israel and the Jewish vote will shift over to Bush if Kerry is not pro-active. Come out strongly in favor of the security fence in Israel. Make sure people know he's part Jewish.

3. Homeland security. The Kerry campaign has so far been going about attacking Bush the wrong way. Stay away from Iraq. If asked about it simply say, "we are there now and we will have to see it through - the important thing is to insure we all support and protect our troops." The way to attack Bush on homeland security is via our porous borders. At every speaking opportunity Kerry should talk about how the security fence in Israel has helps dramatically reduce the terrorist attacks (suicide bombings). Point out that three years after 9/11 the US still has porous borders and as president Kerry would do something about this. (The borders are the fear most Americans have in regard to homeland security - not some Embassy of ours being bombed in a foreign land or something.)

4. Campaign in Ohio with Bernie Kosar in Cleveland and in Cincinnati make a strong plea to re-instate Pete Rose. At Fenway Park before the DNC - Kerry was wishy-washy on Pete Rose. Strong support of Rose may give Kerry the edge he needs to carry Ohio (which could go either way right now).

5. Come out with a digital rights / file sharing policy that is very favorable to the college students and young voters. Nobody is speaking out on this subject and it could give a large number of young voters a reason to make sure they hit the polls. The war in Iraq is abstract to many of these people who get their news from Jon Stewart but their MP3's are a serious matter.