John Kerry’s Stealth Trip to the West Coast – Big Help, or “Big Deal”?

Just in case you thought that John Kerry and his campaign apparatus might have learned something about logistics, communication, or timeliness during the last election fiasco, well, think again. This latest “stealth” trip to the West Coast is just bearing it out.
What’s that you say? You’ve not heard of Kerry’s West Coast trip to boost his presidential aspirations for 2008? Well don’t feel bad. Most people haven’t either. Or, at least they weren’t given much warning.
Political events usually require some lead time if they are to be successful. Even if you have a gaggle of celebrities, a promise of free drinks (well maybe not at a Democratic event!) and whatnot, you still need time to make it a success.
That’s why I’m eyeing Kerry’s supposed generosity and “power” with some suspicion. It sounds more like the Kerry Hype Machine is pushing stories to the press about his supposed “power” while of course, he isn’t doing much. Remember that little case of the $15 million+ “surplus” the losing Kerry campaign ended with?
Today’s LA mediasphere noted that Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa will be having an event with Sen. Kerry, and as usual, I got the obligatory email from the Esteemed Senator. The event is on Saturday. I got the invite today. Now, I’m sure the event will do OK, but it would seem that if Kerry really wanted to help Antonio, he’d have spent less time planting stories about his mythical “network of donors” helping Antonio “win” the election, and might have put the word out about this sooner. Let’s give them some credit – at least they listed the event on Kerry’s site.
This is not the only event, though. On April 15th, I received an email from the Washington State Democratic Party inviting me to an event with John Kerry on May 1st in Seattle, to raise money for Gov. Gregoire’s legal fund.
Nice, sure, but again, if the invites are going out on the 25th for an event on the 1st, that isn’t giving the folks on the ground a lot of time to get things ready. I hate to break it to Kerry & Co., but he’s just not such a big draw that people are going to delay the credit card payments, move their schedule around, and cough up the money just to touch the hand of the man who blew the Presidential race.
Ironically, the only event that had a decent amount lead time and preparation was a fundraiser for Janet Reilly, who is running for the State Assembly in San Francisco. I’d heard about this event several weeks ago, and I have no doubt it will be a success. However, when I went to find the event on John Kerry’s official website, it said that there were no events in San Francisco.
Likewise, Kerry’s media machine isn’t doing nearly as much work ginning up the PR mill as it was for Antonio. To me, that’s cheap and thoughtless. Janet, and her husband Clint were early supporters of Kerry’s campaign and did a lot of work to help his campaign in California – the least Kerry’s crew could do was give her some free PR in advance of the event.
I’m sure there are other events on the Kerry Resurrection Tour, but I will probably not hear about them until just a few days before they happen. After all, this isn’t really about helping Mr. Villaraigosa, Mrs. Reilly, or Mrs. Gregoire. This is about helping John Kerry keep his lifeless presidential ambitions hooked up to political life support.
And frankly, given his mistakes and that darn Presidential campaign surplus, I’d say it’s time to pull the plug. I’m sure that’s something even my most conservative Christian pals can agree with me on.
PS: On an unrelated note: someone has been posting all sorts of nutty comments on blogs, both here at JS and elsewhere, signing other people’s names but using my URL. Whoever it is, please cut it out, willya? It’s lame, and childish, and you’re pissing me off.
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