Last month, Howard Dean was supposed to run away with the Democratic nomination. But then a political pack of wolves descended on the Vermont doctor and gutted his campaign in less than a week. Now, the beneficiary of that assault was John Kerry, who began marching effortlessly toward the Democratic nomination.
And while that was happening, the wolf pack was busy savaging George Bush. And in the process of dropping his approval ratings to an all-time low, they made this race tight. But, Wednesday, the political wolf pack seemed to pick up the scent of John Kerry. Old pictures and old letters started surfacing, trying to paint Kerry as a 60s radical. Democratic candidates even began whispering explosive rumors to reporters, predicting the implosion of John Kerry‘s campaign.
Now, we all know that running for president is a vicious process, but a required evil that candidates have to bear before they become the most powerful leader in the world. And those who suggest that recent campaigns are the most negative in U.S. history are simply ignorant of U.S. history. Besides, the 2000 campaign turned George Bush from a candidate who looked like he had been stung by a taser gun one time too many, to a leader who rallied Americans together during one of their greatest domestic crises since the Civil War.
The political battlefield John Kerry and George Bush are going to face in the coming months is going to be hellacious, but it will once again test the candidates‘ character and it will show the rest of us whether John Kerry really is the “Real Deal.”