Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry has begun to question President Bush’s National Guard service record personally in the past few days as he finds himself drawn deeper into charges and countercharges with the Bush campaign.
But Democrats say they are amazed to find themselves outflanked on the issue of Mr. Kerry’s military service — an issue they think should be a clear winner for them — and see no alternative other than to fight each charge — “hit or be hit,” as one Democratic strategist put it.
The Kerry campaign yesterday released a list of questions challenging Mr. Bush’s service record, a day after Vice President Dick Cheney attacked Mr. Kerry’s voting record on defense spending.
The campaign questioned Mr. Bush’s initial entry into the National Guard — “How does he explain the fact that he jumped ahead of 150 applicants despite low pilot aptitude scores?” — as well as how he spent his time.
“Why does the White House say Bush was on base when Bush’s superiors had filed a report saying he was gone for a whole year?” the campaign asked.
For the second day in a row, Mr. Kerry himself continued that line of attack, telling the Dayton Daily News while campaigning in Ohio yesterday: “I think a lot of veterans are going to be very angry at a president who can’t account for his own service in the National Guard and a vice president who got every deferment in the world and decided they had better things go do, criticizing somebody who fought for their country and served.”
On Monday, Mr. Kerry made a similar argument on ABC’s “Good Morning America” when asked whether he actually threw away his medals or just his ribbons on the Capitol lawn in protest of the Vietnam War. He said the story comes from “a Republican Party that can’t even answer whether or not [Mr. Bush] showed up for duty in the National Guard.”
The Bush campaign said Mr. Kerry lacks a message on national security and is trying to obscure the issue by attacking the president. In doing so, he is breaking his promise to campaign on ideas, the president’s camp added.
“Instead of explaining his record, John Kerry has turned to political attacks on the president. John Kerry is doing exactly what he said he would never do, ’divide America over who served and how,’ ” said Nicolle Devenish, communications director for the Bush campaign.
The administration released Mr. Bush’s Guard records two months ago, hoping to quash growing questions from reporters over whether the president had been present for service in the early 1970s.
The records showing Mr. Bush’s service have been backed up by some witnesses, including a woman he dated in 1972, who remembers him reporting to Montgomery, Ala., to fulfill a commitment in the Air National Guard that year.
For their part, Democrats are trying to understand how press attention has switched from Mr. Bush’s record to that of Mr. Kerry, who won a Bronze Star and Silver Star and earned three Purple Hearts in Vietnam.
“I’m still trying to figure out how we as Democrats got in the position of Senator Kerry defending his war record from charges of the president, vice president and others who didn’t serve in Vietnam,” said one Democratic strategist, who requested that he not be named.
Morris Reid, a Democratic communications consultant who worked in the Clinton administration, said Mr. Kerry’s campaign blew a “no-brainer” response.
“His folks have fumbled this issue. They have allowed a slam-dunk issue like his military record to be turned on its head. This is really where people have anxiety about Kerry,” Mr. Reid said.
“It doesn’t bode well for the future for the Democrats if George Bush is able to take a week like this where he should be down in the polls, and turn it into a victory,” Mr. Reid said. “The good news is we’re talking about this in April. This presidential election is like having a baby — we’re in the first trimester. If this were after the convention and we’re having this much trouble, I’d be concerned.”
After the 2002 election, Democrats promised to draw distinctions with the president on every issue and to answer every charge Republicans made.
That has become a full-time job for Mr. Kerry lately, and Michael McKenna, a Republican pollster, said Democrats have given Republicans a wonderful opportunity to keep Mr. Kerry off message.
“The Kerry guys have made a point about how they’re going to react to every charge. Early in the campaign they said, We learned our lesson from the Dukakis campaign: a charge unreplied to is a charge confirmed,” he said. “It’s seems to me that the real lesson of the Dukakis campaign was: be prepared to explain your shortcomings if they become obvious.”
Democrats, however, said Mr. Kerry can do little else but respond to the charges. Otherwise he faces the fate of 1996 Republican candidate Bob Dole, who never recovered after allowing President Clinton to define him for voters during the spring.
“I think a response is absolutely essential,” said House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, but added that Mr. Kerry and his surrogates in the House and Senate also must take care to go on the offensive about his message.
Mr. Hoyer said the campaign will get a big boost in staying on message in the next few weeks: “I believe that you are going to see about $45 million worth of ads stating his message that are going to be on for the next 30 days or so.”
“Given the 24-hour news cycle we’re currently living in, with cable news networks, I don’t see a way out of it,” added the unnamed Democratic strategist. “Democrats learned from the attacks [in 2002 on Georgia Senator Max] Cleland — you have to hit or be hit.”
Republicans also have the advantage of having Mr. Cheney as a surrogate, while Mr. Bush remains above the fray. Mr. Kerry is still searching for a vice-presidential nominee.
But Mr. Reid said that on the issue of his military record, Mr. Kerry was right to get personally involved, because the issue at stake is what the senator said years ago, and in particular because news networks have been showing videotape of Mr. Kerry himself saying those things.
Not all Democrats are willing to go as far as Mr. Kerry has in his recent charges about Mr. Bush.
Asked yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said those “are matters that others are going to have to discuss and come to some conclusion about. I think it’s important that we stick to the issues.”
• Amy Fagan contributed to this report.
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