Saturday, 11 September 2004 - 10:30 AM EDT

Name: Sean

I might as well pile on more examples of Kerry floundering from Slate. After many months of good poll numbers and noticeably absent Shrumian rhetoric, and after Shrum's star presumably fell in favor of the Clintonistas, the bad penny turns back up.

"this time he punctuated his critique with an allusion to the rhetoric of Al Gore's "forbidden" campaign: "I'll tell you why: because this administration exists for the purpose of serving the powerful and the moneyed, and we need to restore ? the voices of America, the real Americans who built this country and make it strong. We need to step up and fight."

This is after the Post Profile of Shrum, natch.

Monday, 13 September 2004 - 12:22 PM EDT

Name: Marc

Bad timing for this little nugget in that Post story:

Shortly after Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention last month, Shrum -- who helped with, but didn't write the speech -- was holding court in a bar at the Four Seasons hotel in Boston. He was sitting with a group of friends and sipping white wine, his face flushed. The room was populated by a roster of media and Hollywood A-listers such as Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, Charlie Rose and Rob Reiner, many of whom visited Shrum's table to congratulate him.

Wow, I hadn't really thought of this, but KKT's 2002 debacle is suddenly looking eerily reminscent:

"He's someone who puts things on the table, and ultimately that is helpful in the heat of battle," says Alan H. Fleischmann, the chief of staff for former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who worked closely with Shrum on her unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2002.

Rich, out-of-touch candidate, completely lacking in charisma, muddled or non-existent message, no particular reason for running for office except "it's my turn"...