Stranger than fiction. -- Sen. Kerry’s attempt to play kingmaker met with reactions from polite courtesy to private derision among lawmakers & aides.

On 11-13-04 I did the following post:

I'm with The New Republic on this call, Part II. -- John Kerry is a reminder of our 2004 failure to retire a president with a very vulnerable record.

Part I: 11-10-04 post: "Let me make this perfectly clear. I will never vote for John F. Kerry again, not for Pres., not for Head Janitor, not for anything."

The New Republic, which endorsed Kerry, wants him to move onto other things, get out of the headlines, off the public stage, etc. Excerpts:

He's back. Actually, he never even left. John Kerry, according to reports in The Boston Globe and The Washington Post [and the Cracker Squire blog according to a Nov. 10 post -- I wish], plans to have a prominent role in the Democratic Party. Apparently he's contemplating a political action committee and think-tank to help define the party's future. And, according to those around him, he's also considering another presidential run in 2008.

Kerry's inner circle has come away from the election apparently convinced that he represents the aspirations of nearly half the country...

It is certainly true that the election saw an enormous outpouring of activism on Kerry's behalf. That activism, though, was motivated by opposition to Bush rather than by support for Kerry. He was merely a vessel for righteous outrage over a failed and dangerous presidency. And not a very potent vessel, either. . . .

If the Democratic Party is going to get off its back, it needs spokesmen who can clearly explain its positions without leaving even its own partisans bored or confused. It needs someone who can connect with the economic and moral values of the middle class. And it needs to be able to discuss foreign policy without invoking the word 'alliances' like some kind of irrepressible verbal tic. The longer Kerry overstays his welcome, the harder it will be for such spokesmen to emerge.

Kerry certainly does deserve to retain a role within the party. That role ought to be the same as it was before he ran for president: second-most influential senator from Massachusetts.
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I got several emails that, while supportive, hinted that I might have done the above post to kick the man when he was not only down but dead politically.

Read the following, and this isn't coming from Ripley's Believe It or Not (although to me it almost defies credibility; what does it take to get it in his selfish head that he is history, over, and time for him to disappear from the public scene as we are regrouping).

From The Hill, 11-24-04:

Members believe Kerry preparing for 2008 run. His fight over DNC is seen as signaling continued ambition

Many Democratic lawmakers are interpreting Sen. John Kerry’s active participation in selecting the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as the strongest signal yet that the defeated presidential candidate is keeping his options open for a bid in 2008.

Last week, Kerry contacted nearly every elected member of the House Democratic leadership, and other powerful lawmakers, on behalf of Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa. On Monday, Vilsack issued a statement that he was no longer pursuing the chairmanship.

But Kerry’s aggressive support of Vilsack has convinced many key House Democrats that Kerry wants to install a chairman who would be in Kerry’s debt and would not attempt to dissuade the Massachusetts senator from seeking the highest office again.

Lawmakers and top House aides say that Kerry’s involvement in the DNC race is the latest of several clear signals that he does not plan to fade into the political horizon. They speculated that Kerry could depend on Vilsack’s loyalty, noting that he was on Kerry’s short list as a potential vice-presidential running mate and that Vilsack’s wife publicly campaigned for Kerry in the Iowa caucuses.

Kerry sang Vilsack’s praises in his first meeting with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the new Senate minority leader, Harry Reid (D-Nev.), two weeks ago, according to Pelosi’s public statements. Kerry has also contacted caucus Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, in addition to several other lawmakers who did not want to be named. It was unclear if he had any conversations with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

Word of Kerry’s staunch backing of Vilsack, and Kerry’s intent to stay involved in internal party politics, has spread throughout the caucus.

“Obviously, Senator Kerry, notwithstanding his loss, is still very much in the mix and cares about where the DNC is heading in the future,” said a key member of the caucus who was contacted by Kerry.

“He has contacted me, and he has shared his opinion. He wants to be part of this process,” Cummings said.

Kerry’s attempt to play kingmaker was met with a range of reactions, from polite courtesy to private derision, among lawmakers and aides.

Some lawmakers said they were taken aback by Kerry’s aggressiveness on this issue.

“He not only lost, he lost badly,” said a key member of the Congressional Black Caucus who did not want to be identified.

Members of Congress do not have a direct say in who becomes the next chairman of the party, though leaders in both the House and Senate are seeking to influence a decision that will have an immediate impact on their midterm elections in 2006. In the absence of a clear national leader who could tip the race in one candidate’s favor, the decision on the next chairman will be more diffuse than in previous years, harking back to the state-by-state, county-by-county process that made Ron Brown chairman in 1989.

Reid had all but offered a public endorsement of Vilsack, shoring up Senate support for Kerry’s candidate. But with Vilsack out of the hunt, the race appears to be even more wide-open, and potential candidates are furiously reaching out to congressional leaders and asking for their support.

The next chairman of the party will be elected by the national committee, which consists of some 447 members. Some of those voters will get a preview of the potential candidates later in December, when state leaders will gather in Orlando.

Simon Rosenberg, the chairman of the New Democrat Network, who is often mentioned as a possible chairman, said Democrats should engage in a long internal conversation at the grassroots level on how the party can return to majority status.

“It would be bad for our party to have someone anointed from Washington,” Rosenberg said.

Garnering support from congressional heavyweights appears to be part of the strategy of many of the potential candidates. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has been aggressively courting congressional supporters for several weeks. His prospects seemed to improve when Vilsack said he wasn’t interested in the job, according to Democratic strategists.

Dean has run into opposition among some congressional leaders who are demanding that he foreswear running again in 2008. Dean has been coy in his response to those lawmakers who want an assurance that he won’t mount another bid, lawmakers say.

Doubts about Dean’s own ambitions appear to be hurting him in the House. “It’s just an obvious conflict of interest,” said Rep. Al Wynn (D-Md.).