Getting the megaphone back
- 1 Nov 06, 05:34 PM
Republicans are already giving their verdict: the is helping to turn the tide.
"On Halloween, John Kerry reappears like a Democratic bogeyman, and potentially scares swing and GOP non-voters into showing up at the polls on Tuesday" - that was the message in my inbox this morning from one Republican pollster.
Republicans recognise that the Democrats "won" October, as they put it.
The did have a serious impact - not because it depressed enthusiasm among conservatives (there is little polling evidence to show that party stalwarts decided to stay home as a direct consequence of Mr Foley's sexual proclivities) but rather because it deprived the Republicans of what political operatives call the megaphone.
Well, in the last 48 hours the Republicans feel they have got the megaphone back.
Going on the offensive on Iraq was a risky strategy given the unpopularity of the war, but it's getting the party the lead on the front pages. It was the first time in a month that the GOP message was starting to break through.
Mr Bush may be unpopular but his stump speeches still get airtime.
Then along comes Mr Kerry with his botched joke (You can hear it here) and Mr Bush is relishing the chance to relive his 2004 victory.
Republicans are hoping that if nothing else Mr Kerry's remarks will remind those who voted for Mr Bush in 2004 why they didn't support the Democrats, while also raising questions about whether a Democrat can be trusted to support the troops at war.
Mr Kerry made a mistake (not the first of his political career) and all the Democrats want to do now is push him off a cliff, or, far more importantly, out of the headlines. Iraq is their big trump card.
The feeling is that if the senator had made a joke about anything but Iraq it wouldn't be so bad.
This is unlikely to change the minds of any Democrats, or even those independents for whom hatred of Bush is the prime motivator, but at the very least it knocks the Dems off message for a day or two.
And with only six precious days to go, that's long enough.
Katty Kay is a presenter on
