Teresa Kerry warns of 'four more years of
hell' under Bush
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
04 August 2004
Opinions polls differ over how much "bounce" the Democratic candidate John
Kerry has obtained from his convention last week. There is no argument
however about the different kind of bounce his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry is
providing to his campaign.
Breaking yet again with the unwritten protocol that actual and potential
presidential spouses play a mostly decorative role on the hustings, Mrs
Kerry made no bones about what she thought of George Bush and his
intelligence, as she introduced her husband at a rally in the key swing
state of Wisconsin.
"They want four more years of hell," she replied as a Bush-supporting
heckler in the crowd at a park in Milwaukee interrupted her with the
traditional incumbent's refrain of "four more years". Mrs Kerry then gave a
time frame of her own. "Three more months," she declared, referring to the 2
November election date.
A few moments later, she was even more outspoken, addressing the situation
in Iraq and the Bush administration's refusal to admit even the smallest
mistake in the conduct of the war, and seemingly casting an aspersion on the
President's judgement and intellect. "It's vital for anyone with
intelligence to acknowledge mistakes and change positions," she said.
The forthright language of Mrs Kerry she last week launched one of the
political quotes of the year when she told a pestering conservative reporter
to "Shove it" only underlines how she has become a loose cannon in the
campaign. Though her frankness appeals to many women and independent-minded
voters, it also offers the Republicans bountiful ammunition which might help
them in a neck-and-neck race for the White House.
Even geography underlines how little there is to choose between the two
candidates, as they crisscross the handful of battleground states where the
election will be decided. If their schedules hold, both Mr Bush and Mr Kerry
will be campaigning today just three blocks apart in Davenport, a river-town
in Iowa, a state narrowly carried by Al Gore in 2000, but which the
Republicans hope to capture this time.
The signs are that in an unusually polarised electorate, most voters have
already made up their minds, and the outcome may be decided less by a small
pool of undecided voters in the centre, than by the ability of the two
parties to get their committed supporters to the polls.
Despite what was generally considered a successful gathering in Boston last
week, capped by a powerful and well-received acceptance speech, Mr Kerry has
failed to secure a candidate's usual post-convention boost at least so far.
Polls in Newsweek, and by The Washington Post/ABCNews suggest the Democratic
ticket gained a mere three or four points, to lead Mr Bush and Dick Cheney,
the Vice-President, by 49-42 and 50-44 per cent respectively.
Though a more than useful gain in so close fought an election year, the "bounce"
is meagre compared with previous elections. The Bill Clinton/Al Gore ticket
for instance soared almost 20 per cent after the 1992 Democratic convention
in New York, and never fell behind again.
But a CNN/Gallup poll at the weekend found that Mr Kerry actually slipped by
1 per cent and Mr Bush advanced slightly during the week in Boston. The
survey was dismissed by the Kerry campaign as "an aberration". But
Republicans argued that it showed the limits of the Massachusetts senator's
appeal to ordinary Americans, boasting that their man would do much better
when the Republicans hold their own convention in New York in four weeks'
time.
Democrats, however, say that Mr Bush is such a known quantity that whatever
happens in New York will change few minds.
