Unbelievable! Kerry Will Accept the Nomination at the Convention!

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCCVIII

When it's news that the presumptive nominee will, indeed, accept the nomination at the nominating convention, you know somebody's been down the rabbit hole for a while.

It started back on May 21, with this story:

John Kerry is considering delaying his acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's July convention so that he can keep spending the millions of dollars that he raised during the primaries, The Associated Press has learned.

If Kerry were to delay acceptance of his nomination for a month, he would even the playing field with President Bush, who is planning to accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention five weeks later. The party convention would still be held at the end of July, but Kerry would officially accept the nomination at a later date under such a plan.

Kerry and Bush are expected to use federal funding for their general election campaign and will be limited to spending the roughly $75 million in federal funds given to each candidate once they accept the nomination. At that point, neither candidate would be able to raise or spend private funds....

Your Humble, Faithful Blogster didn't bother taking note of this at the time, because we all know that any idea floated by John Kerry & Campaign is likely to be changed within days. If not hours.

As recently as Monday, though, it was still being reported that the idea had its defenders (brackets in original):

John F. Kerry yesterday defended the idea of leaving the Democratic National Convention in July without a formal nomination as his party's presidential candidate, saying that there is ample political precedent to support it and that Republicans are complaining about the move because "someone might have a way of neutralizing their advantage."

The Massachusetts senator told the Globe: "One thing I can tell you is that on Wednesday night, the [candidate for] vice president of the United States will be nominated and give a speech, and on Thursday night I will give my speech."

Asked if it would be a nomination acceptance or merely a party address, Kerry winked and leaned back in his seat as his campaign charter jet flew from Hanscom Field to Dulles International Airport outside the nation's capital....

So, John "F" Kerry has a tic. Who knew?

Only the next day, though, the amazing news broke:

Bowing to pressure, John Kerry decided Wednesday to accept the nomination at the Democratic presidential convention in July, scuttling a plan to delay the formality so he could narrow President Bush's public money advantage.

He turned quickly to his backup plan, issuing a statement with a blunt appeal for campaign donations that could go to national and state party organizations.

"Boston is the place where America's freedom began, and it's where I want the journey to the Democratic nomination to be completed," Kerry said in a statement released by his campaign. "On Thursday, July 29, with great pride, I will accept my party's nomination for president in the city of Boston. From there we will begin our journey to a new America."

The statement ended six days of controversy over an idea that was supposed to remain secret for several more weeks.

Some Kerry advisers had wanted him to forego the nomination at the convention in late July and wait five weeks until Bush accepts the Republican nod. Once nominated, each candidate gets $75 million in public money for their general elections. With his decision, Kerry now will have to spend the same allotment over the longer period of time.

The Associated Press reported the plan before Kerry had decided whether to adopt it, causing an uproar in his home town of Boston — site of the July 26-29 convention — and among Democrats who feared voters would view the tactic as too political.

"I just want to get on with it. It's just a distraction," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told CNN shortly before the decision was announced.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who had lobbied to bring the convention to Boston long before Kerry wrapped up the nomination, is "obviously pleased the matter is settled," said spokesman David Smith.

Republicans mocked Kerry, saying only the Democratic candidate could be both in favor of the nomination and against it....

Here is the rest of the story (ellipsis in original).

What did Tom Menino and the Democratic Party know and when did they know it?

It is nothing short of precious to go back and read the stories from Nov. 14, 2002, the morning after Boston won the Democratic National Convention, or "the political Super Bowl" as we called it then. It was an affirmation of "the New Boston," our moment on the world stage, a chance to pump $150 million into the local economy. Finding enough work space for the media near the FleetCenter qualified as a dicey issue.

Now we know. Now we know that we will have to close down much of the city because Menino, Ted Kennedy and the rest of them sold the Democratic Party on an impossible venue in this post 9/11 world, the FleetCenter, ground zero for the city's transportation network. Our best hope for avoiding complete gridlock is to scare the pants off 250,000 daily commuters and persuade half of them to stay home. Some plan.

In November 2002 Menino, Kennedy, & Co. were taking bows. Now they deserve the heat.

Menino and Kennedy got it wrong on the Democratic convention for the same reason George Bush got it wrong in Iraq, and Steve Case and Gerald Levin got it wrong with their AOL-Time Warner merger. In each case, the architects of these train wrecks saw what they wanted to see. They spent too much time focusing on what could go right and not nearly enough time focusing on what could go wrong.

In Boston, we had both the warnings and the options to do something different. But Menino and the others didn't want to hear it.

Last spring — a full year ago — both Gloria Larson, the chairwoman of Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and Jim Rooney, the authority's director, were telling anyone who asked that it was a sure thing the new $850 million South Boston convention center would be ready in time if the FleetCenter looked unworkable. Wrong answer. This convention, like all political conventions, is about television, and the new convention center doesn't have the stadium-style seating and the luxury boxes favored by network anchors.

By last fall, this disaster-in-the-making was becoming clear. Julie Burns, executive director of Boston 2004, told the Globe's editorial page last week the Boston police in October were already suggesting the Democrats consider abandoning the FleetCenter because of security concerns. Transportation officials say that by January it was obvious both Interstate 93 and North Station would have to be closed, assuring a commuter Armageddon. The same officials say the Secret Service was more than open to moving the show to the new convention center.

It didn't matter. Menino and Kennedy had sold the party on the FleetCenter, and they had to deliver. Moving the convention to South Boston would have involved trade-offs. How daunting is building stadium seating compared to rerouting 200,000 cars a day? Maybe Dan Rather would not have his skybox. But maybe the rest of us could get to work. The message, as they say in politics, of who counts and who doesn't couldn't be clearer.

Menino calls the carping so much Monday morning quarterbacking. "We made the right decision," he said yesterday. "I can't run. That's what mayors do. They take the hit." As well he should.

In November 2002, three days after Boston won its booby prize, Jacqueline Lapidus of Brighton authored the most prescient 100 words on the topic that have yet been written. Said Lapidus in a letter to the editor: "Just when I thought Boston might become livable in a year or two for those of us who actually reside here, Mayor Thomas Menino, in cahoots with big business, goes and sells our congested city to the Democratic National Convention. Of course, Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy don't have to take the Green Line to work or sit in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic... God help Boston because these guys certainly won't." Boy, do I wish I had written that.

Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist.

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 05/28/04 09:35:28 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode.