Dear Ted Nordhaus and Evans McDonough of KerryMemos.com:

Hello and thanks for your excellent blog. It's very informative and I hope John Kerry is paying attention!



My idea is that the Kerry campaign (or if not him, then perhaps MoveOn) should host a series of "swing parties in swing states." Dick Cheney won't swing (as we learned from his wife's convention speech...) but perhaps American swing voters will! Get a local swing band, some good advertising and food, make it open to families and kids... aside from dancing, there could be folks set up in booths to discuss the hard issues. Not with the intention of "converting" people, just with the intention of finding out what matters to voters. And of course, encouraging them to vote. Get Americans talking to each other... and in a forum that is different from politics as usual. That's what I think Kerry needs to do.



Of course I also think he needs to really fight back--and hard--with rhetoric and symbolism. He could be subtle, and even polite about it. He should take words and phrases directly out of President Bush's mouth and restate them with clear facts. For example, he could say: "In his speech, President Bush evoked 9/11. He said, 'Here buildings fell; Here a nation rose." But, what does it mean for a nation to rise if 43 million of its citizens are without health insurance and 36 million are living in poverty? When most nations of the world have little confidence in the motivations of this nation's leader, towards what future are we rising?'"



Thanks again,

Citizen Kay