Preaching To The Converted

Delivering messages that make your own supporters like you even more is an oft-maligned political activity. Nevertheless, there’s a real value to it. The New York Times describes the way John Edwards is making hard-core Democrats actually like John Kerry, instead of supporting him on ABB grounds. I think that’s an important thing to do, especially in this last month or so before the campaign reaches its final stretch, because your swing voters tend not to be people who pay a great deal of attention to politics themselves. Like everyone else, though, they have friends and know people. And if they get the impression that their Republican friends are all really excited about George Bush while their Democratic friends are holding their noses and voting for Kerry, that can’t help but hurt Kerry. Certainly Al Gore was hurt during the 2000 election by the fact that Democrats clearly didn’t like him very much. At the end of the day, almost all of those people would up voting for Gore, but at cast his campaign in a poor light throughout the year. Positive vibes for Kerry, even from Kerry supporters, will wind up helping him in the end.