John Kerry officially announced his candidacy today. To compare, I went back and read Howard Dean’s. Now, Dean’s was a couple months ago, and is lacking in specifics. Kerry’s was today and is pretty darn specific on the big issues. After watching his Meet the Press appearance yesterday, I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for on February 24th (the day of the Democratic Primary in Virginia).
John Kerry has years of experience at the national level. We’ve elected governors the last two presidents, and maybe it’s time to see how a Senator does (you have to go back to, I think, Kennedy to find another President who went straight from Senator to President – LBJ was VP first, Carter – Bush II were all governors, right? Correct me if I’m wrong). John Kerry, like Dean, strikes me as a reasonable man who uses a sharp intellect to make decisions based on facts. This is an advantage over Bush. Kerry has military experience. Kerry is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and therefore has some foreign policy experience, which Dean doesn’t.
I still like Dean’s fire. I love the grassroots support he’s built up. I like his honesty, but Kerry impressed me. They both have until February to win me over. Honestly, I’m happy to have two quality candidates to choose from, both with a solid chance of beating GW in 2004. I’ll be happy to support either one against GW next year.