More coverage of John Kerry in Seattle today…
Kerry Rallies Democratic Lawmakers in Seattle
By Austin Jenkins
OLYMPIA, WA 2005-08-19 – Massachusetts Senator John Kerry spoke in Seattle Friday, rallying the Democratic troops attending a national legislative conference. He said despite his defeat, and his party’s losses in Congress, Democrats have made headway in state governments across the country.
Idaho remains a Republican stronghold. Bert Marley is a Democratic Senator from Pocatello. He says his party needs to craft a message that better fits the West, in order to win more votes:
Bert Marley: I think things like healthcare, education come to the forefront as issues I don’t think the Republicans are doing a good job on and that we can do a better job than they’re doing. I think that’s the area where our message is going to have to come from.
Senator Kerry added that national Democratic strategists need to listen more to state and local lawmakers in order to understand the issues their constituents are dealing with.
“Kerry is trying to build the party’s ground game by electing more Democratic state legislators across the country.”
UPDATE:
Kerry says Democrats don’t need extreme makeover
Referring to his ill-fated 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry says President Bush and the Republicans have used the terrorism issue to divert attention from issues that favored the Democrats. He also accused the G-O-P of engaging in “nastiness and partisanship.”
Related Post: Coverage of Kerry in Seattle: Kerry blisters Republicans
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Liking the cake for the frosting, or reading the book for the pictures, I so love more stories with Kerry photos and changes for my desktop.
That’s my denial and coping mechanism. Wake me after the impeachments. Then I open up to look at internet news and what a jolt.
cfk
Marjorie
Glad to oblige. Nice flame war on DU with this post and Ron’s.
Nuts. Here JK was right here in my own back yard today and I didn’t make it over to hear his speech. Oh well. Saw him in May when he was here to raise funds and whip up the troops.
Of course it was a great speech….He wore his lucky pink tie…
Nick, where ever you are, I answered your questions as best able on the “State By State, They No Longer Approve of Bush” blog.
Battlebob!
We’ve missed you!
Good to hear Democrats speaking up…but I do disagree with J Kerry on one main issue…we most definitely need an extreme makeover. One thing the GOP does and does well is to galvanize it members. Maybe their more intrinsically fanatical natuer makes it easier, or maybe its that 75% of US citizens aren’t “very intellectual” and are put-off by “lofty ideals” as being crap. Whatever it is, it works for them and not for us. We’d win more if more quasi-neutral Dems would get up off’n their butts and vote rather than click the remote!
http://geodude.home.mchsi.com/bush_blues.html
(for a good laff)
DV
Good points. We need a makeover, that’s a given, Kerry understands that, I believe. In recent months he’s talked in terms of a makeover and referenced our “values”. I believe that was what he meant yesterday.
Hey, Old Buddy Battle bob!
It’s the Kerry Finger! And it’s coming again!
Teresa
The Kerry Finger… the Scrappy Kerry Finger! We love the finger…
I was there for the event and Kerry was on message with a big bright spot for the Democrats, state legislators. Republicans have been gaining legislative seats for the past 20 years until 2004. I think Kerry realizes that the Party is growing from the bottom up and as that base grows so do Democratic chances at the higher levels. Democrats were able to win in Blue and Red States including Montana, Colorado and North Carolina. We need to harness those grassroots connections if any candidate hopes to be win in 2008.
Scott
Thanks for filling us in here. It’s always great to get first hand reports from people.
We all know that JK knows a lot more, than some give him credit for. Harnessing the grassroots connections is definately imperative. Getting them all on/or close to be on message… oh we have a lot of work to do on some levels.