2004 is not 2008 and this country was not facing a financial crisis nor the extremely poor results of the Bush presidency. In 2004 fear, color codes security warnings- always high- and gotcha politics ruled.The war was still seen as necessary by some people and Bush had to nothing more than run on being the security president. The character assinations against Senator Kerry, the lies and the manipulation started early in August and was manifested in the media- who seemed to carry the water for the Republicans by playing the lies against Senator Kerry over and over again resulting in some of the public actually believing the lies to be the truth. Senator Kerry faced a tough uphill battle that he fought well and may have come just a little short but with his integrity and honor in tact. We lost an opportunity to have elected a great leader in 2004. I hope Mr. Obama can fill his shoes and excell.

Margie V -While I agree that Sen Jerry had many lies told about him and he should have come back and socked those people in the mouth. I did vote for him because of my true dislike of the GOP however, Sen. Kerry never did inspire me, I tried, I listen, I read all that I could and still I never made the connection with him. Sen. Obama is a completely different story and I am so excited about him. Dubya will go down and the worst president in the history of America.

Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with 3 more execrable characters. Yet let the McCain campaign raise the issue, and the mainstream media begin fulminating about dirty campaigning tinged with racism and McCarthyite guilt by association. But associations are important. They provide a significant insight into character. They are particularly relevant in relation to a potential president as new, unknown, opaque and self-contained as Obama. With the economy overshadowing everything, it may be too late politically to be raising this issue. But that does not make it, as conventional wisdom holds, in any way illegitimate.

McCain & Sarah 2008 - sounds much better than Kerry & Obamacon.

Don't Panic. Mac Coming Back!

As a member of the Panic Brigade, I'm guilty as heck of panicking. I'm a dignosed panic-disorder case with anger-management issues and low frustration tolerance. So this is written to myself as to anyone else. There's a lot of anger and frustration as it seems that a candidate who would be disqualified from holding office for a variety of reasons is winning, and we can't seem to make traction.But bear in mind McCain swung ten points when he picked Palin as Veep. Obama swung 10-12 points when the economic catastrophe in which he had a starring role broke through to dominate the public's mood. It looks bad now. It also looked bad before the convention. One never knows when the next breakthrough event will occur. But when they do occur, they can swing 10 or 15 points in a matter of days.

Anonymous,I am not trying to discredit Senator Obama- he certainly has an appeal that resonates with many Americans. I like him and intend to vote for him, I just feel Senator Kerry was a more well rounded candidate whose history shows what an inspring patriotic leader he is. He ran at a tough time and wasn't as lucky as Senator Obama has been. You have to admit that it was this financial situation that made more people wake up and take notice of Senator Obama. The financial situation is bad, but it has benefited Senator Obama. Now, people are reading about and listening to his unique and inspiring life story. They know how much he has achieved from humble beginings and they have had an opportunity to see his calm in the face of a storm. I am certain Senator Obama will be a great leader too- just as Senator Kerry could have been as president and still is in the capacitity of being a Senator. Many of their ideas are very similar and I am sure there will be times when they can count on each others support.

Anonymous 11:31 With Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and Nixon in the race, Dubya will have some compelling competition for worst president in my lifetime, let alone worst president ever.

In four years we'll be adding Obama in there, if we survive.

The swift boating of Sen Kerry could have ended when it started, If senator Kerry had signed a form authorizing the Defense Department to release his military records. But evidently Senator Kerry had been lying about his supposedly acomplishment, so didn't want the truth known.

RC You must be from another planet. The swift boat lie was there for investigation. Kerry's problem was that he really thought the public was above believing such rubbish and he didn't respond quickly enough. Period.
But UT would vote Republican even if Bush was running again.

Senator Kerry's military records- all of them - were available on his web site in 2004. Anyone really interested in finding out the truth could have easily found out this information. Also, the Boston Globe went through all military records with a "fine tooth comb" and found everything in order - delcaring that Senator Kerry was in fact a highly decorated war hero.
Senator Kerry did fight back against the attacks- two times- in April of 04 and again in August. The difficultly in August was a lack of available money to challenge the attacks and fight back using major media time. Kerry's hands were tied behind his back in trying to fight and denounce these Swift Boat lies. The media played a major part in re-inforcing the lies and could have done a better job at reporting the truth. They did the people of this country a great disserves by allowing themselves to get caught up in a game of gotcha and smear politics.