Saturday, June 07, 2008

John Kerry Faces Multiple Challenges – The Obama Factor

John Kerry will face opposition from within his own party in the September primary. Edward O’Reilly secured 22.5% of the votes at today’s convention. Baltimore Sun story here.
As noted in the Sun article, Kerry has run without opposition for the past 24 years. Although it was expected he would easily pass the convention as the sole Democrat on the ballot – O’Reilly succeeded in securing more than the necessary 15% of the delegates to place his name on the primary ballot. The press is playing the fact that Kerry voted for the Iraq War as the primary cause of his woes (not to mention his virtual absence from Massachusetts the majority of the time). The main reason for the sudden shift is Kerry’s backing of Obama over the wishes of the majority of his constituents. Although Hillary Clinton made a lovely speech today regarding party unity, it is doubtful that those who understood the relentless anti-feminist rant of the press and her peers in the Senate will easily forget and forgive. This is especially true for of an incumbent, like Kerry, who is vulnerable.

Photo NY Times


Kerry will most likely succeed in the primary (then again, he was supposed to easily sweep the convention today), to face a solid grassroots Republican, Jeff Beatty, who secured 17,000 plus signatures from Republicans and Independents (and possibly a Democrat or two) in order to place his name on the ballot. Noting that the Democrats seem to focus lately on how charismatic a candidate might be (rather than say qualified), Kerry might be in real trouble here, in the heart of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.

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