John Kerry

It's still almost three years till the next Presidential election but the talk continues to go up another notch. Heck some political pundits started talking less than a day after the 2004 election was over.

TFM is going to keep the speculation to a minimum for 2006 like I did last year. There is an
article today on John Kerry. The former Knucklehead winner and loser in the 2004 Presidential election is keeping his options open for 2008 acocording to AP. Kerry has continued raising money for the Democratic party and its candidates since his 2004 loss.

Some would say Kerry hasn't made up his mind. What I say is and I made this prediction two days ago, is that Kerry will announce before year's end that he won't run in 2006. I'll even go one step further saying Kerry won't run for re-election to the Senate in 2008. With his life ambition destroyed, I don't see him continuing to toil in the Senate. I'd say the odds are at least 50-50 for this. Defeated Presidential candidates have a long history of fading into obscurity.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Open Post- Third World County, Bloggin Outloud, Committees of Correspondence,

WASHINGTON - It's almost as if Sen. John Kerry never stopped running for president. He still jets across the country, raising millions of dollars and rallying Democrats. He still stalks the TV news show circuit, scolding President Bush at every turn.

His campaign Web site boasts of an online army of 3 million supporters.

The Massachusetts Democrat, defeated by Bush in 2004, insists it is far too early to talk about the 2008 race, but some analysts assume he has already positioning himself for another shot at the White House.

"Obviously, Kerry has all but said he wants another crack at the thing," said Neal Thigpen, a political science professor at South Carolina's Francis Marion University. "He's going to make a second try."

While most losing presidential nominees quickly fade into the political landscape, Kerry has worked hard at maintaining a high public profile.

"He's continuing the fight he began in 2004," said Kerry spokesman David Wade. "He wants to make it very clear he's a fighter who is going to continue to fight for his agenda."

Borrowing a page from Republican Sen. John McCain's 2000 postelection playbook, Kerry has kept much of his presidential political organization intact. He has also used his fundraising prowess to aid Democrats across the country, collecting chits that could be called if he seeks the party's White House nomination.

"He believes in his heart and soul that he came just a whisker away from being president," said Ronald Kaufman, a veteran GOP operative with Massachusetts roots.

Traveling extensively since his 2004 loss, Kerry generated nearly $5.3 million for dozens of Democratic candidates, state parties and charitable causes, according to aides.

He gave more than $200,000 to help Washington state Democrats prevail in Christine Gregoire's gubernatorial recount.

Kerry has expanded his campaign's e-mail supporter list, a vital organizing tool if he runs again. He has bought TV and newspaper ads promoting pet issues such as children's health care and his opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also reunited several members of his campaign policy team.

"No other past presidential candidate, with the exception of McCain, has done what Kerry has done in terms of converting his presidential campaign into a grass-roots political and legislative operation," said Wade. "He's dedicated to electing Democrats."

Despite such political spadework, Kerry can expect an uphill fight in 2008.

"He is going to have a difficult time overcoming his last campaign and explaining to the party regulars how and why he lost," said Dan Payne, a longtime Democratic consultant and former Kerry strategist. "There's only so much that the Democrats can blame on (senior Bush adviser) Karl Rove."

Kerry will also be bucking history. Adlai Stevenson was a two-time Democratic nominee nearly a half-century ago. He suffered back-to-back losses in 1952 and 1956 to Republican Dwight Eisenhower.

"Democrats are less prone historically to turn to a defeated nominee again," said political scientist Thigpen.