COME BACK IN THE FALL:

Bad Timing as Kerry Slips Out of Picture: At the very moment that President Bush has launched his battleship of a campaign, Senator John Kerry is keeping rather a low profile. (ADAM NAGOURNEY and JODI WILGOREN, 4/01/04, NY Times)

Some Democrats said that should Mr. Kerry lose in November, he might well remember this month as the time when he seriously undermined his hopes of defeating Mr. Bush. A few invoked one of Mr. Kerry's least-liked comparisons, noting how another Massachusetts Democrat who ran for president, Michael S. Dukakis, stuck close to home in August 1988, in what turned out to be a foolish strategic move in his campaign against Mr. Bush's father.

"The Bush people have seized the vacuum," said Carter Eskew, a senior adviser to Al Gore in the 2000 presidential campaign.

Referring to the Kerry campaign, Mr. Eskew said, "It's a fair criticism to say they've been a little slow to do the same." Mr. Eskew said the Gore campaign drifted through the spring before finally settling on a theme to use against George Bush.

Really? The problem seems quite the opposite. For the few who are following the race this early, Senator Kerry managed to step all over the Clarke story--which is already fading--by doing things like attacking Dick Cheney and cussing out fellow snowboarders. He should really take several months off--it's April, not August. One problem though, he can't afford to report to work in the Senate and start casting votes that Karl Rove will hammer him with.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 1, 2004 9:01 AM