Massachusetts' junior senator has decided to blow off tomorrow’s South Boston St. Patrick’s Day breakfast roast [“Kerry's Southie snub no lucky charm”]. He needs time to heal from his recent prostate cancer operation. However, the healing process won’t keep Kerry from a St. Patrick’s Day event in Manchester this week and it didn’t stop Kerry from jaunting to California to pick up $900,000 in campaign contributions or hobnob with the elite party faithful on Friday [“Kerry courts California boosted by polls, minus computer”]. But who cares in the scheme of things when you have a significant lead on your rivals in the NH primary prize: [“Kerry is favorite, poll shows”]. And let's not forget the latest gossip about Chris Lehane's lost computer and the supposed lack of a southern strategy: ["John Kerry to South: Drop Dead"].
Al Gore proved that you can win the election without a single Southern state, if he'd only won New Hampshire,' Kerry told a group of San Francisco supporters.Oh John, don't start this. It isn't going to work. Any political idiot knows that you have to win at least something in the south. And the only way the Democrats can do that is if they start talking about the issues that are important to the working class people who voted for Bush. It really is that simple. But Kerry – a corporate Democrat who can’t challenge Bush on any of the working class issues – is going to have a hard time getting these voters to identify with his voting record. Wayne Woodlief’s Boston Herald piece on Kerry pretty much nails it down. Why blow off the breakfast? Did they cut Kerry’s stones off too? If you can’t handle the criticism of your local brethren, what are you going to do when you have to face the DC press corps at their roasting dinner during your first term? However, Kerry’s absence almost guarantees that the Southie breakfast will be a grand old time. In the past, the coverage has always been very homemade, beginning on spotty cable access and then upgrading slightly to NECN. This year, thankfully, the WB56’s Jon Keller is in control. The roast will be broadcast Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
