Kerry Watch
There's been a lot of worry in the progressive/Democratic camp over the past couple of weeks regarding John Kerry's campaigning: his message is unfocused... he's not hammering Bush like he should... in the midst of Abu Ghraib, he should be talking about Iraq and not domestic economics. Obviously, a lot of this is legit. David Corn, one of my favorite political writers at The Nation, has a very good overview of where the campaign stands now, and where it could (and should) head.

Seems to me, one of the things is to streamline (or actually fully foment) the campaign's message. From the article, here's a Kerry quote:

"I've heard some people say, well, what's the message?…The message is clear, folks: We're going to make America stronger at home by being fiscally responsible, investing in health care and education, becoming energy independent, and we're going to make ourselves stronger in the world by restoring America's respect and influence with a better foreign policy. It's that simple."

While I truly believe that the citizens of this county can handle more than a 5-word campaign message, even the above seems a bit sprawling. But we live in complicated times with a lot of nuance. It'll be interesting to see if the voting populace at large can get a handle on that.

That said, I'm hoping that the energy independence angle continues to get more play. That was the theme in Seattle yesterday (before the campaign switches gears to national security for the next week or so), and here's a wrap up of his views via the JohnKerry.com blog:

Kerry will move our country towards energy independence and create jobs by investing in new technologies and alternative fuel, and by providing tax incentives for consumers to buy and manufacturers to build the efficient vehicles of the future. His plan will provide $10 billion in new incentives for the American automobile industry to lead the world in building Advanced Technology Vehicles and make them affordable through a $4,000 tax credit for consumers who buy them.