11/03/2004
Bad night
As any Red Sox fan can tell you, it's the close losses that hurt the worst.
The error-in-extra-innings kind of loss. The kind that magnifies every mistake of the season. The fact that the team was good enough to make it close doesn't matter. You still wake up in the middle of night seeing the replay of the ball going between Bill Buckner's legs.
Up and down the ballot, 2004 held those kind of defeats for Democrats and moderates. Theapparent defeat of Betty Castor, although about as close as it can get, still sends a message: the guy who goes negative the hardest wins. Castor won decisively among self-described moderates, but they aren't a majority anymore. They don't even matter anymore.
Despite an energetic campaign that was everywhere in the state and did well in the I-4 corridor, Kerry still didn't do as well in Florida as Gore did. The South Florida margins had to be a disappointment to both Kerry and Castor.
These are not the kind of victories that make for a mandate. Not that that will stop anybody. These are not home-run-in-the-ninth victories. These are error-in-the-10th victories.
The error-in-extra-innings kind of loss. The kind that magnifies every mistake of the season. The fact that the team was good enough to make it close doesn't matter. You still wake up in the middle of night seeing the replay of the ball going between Bill Buckner's legs.
Up and down the ballot, 2004 held those kind of defeats for Democrats and moderates. The
Despite an energetic campaign that was everywhere in the state and did well in the I-4 corridor, Kerry still didn't do as well in Florida as Gore did. The South Florida margins had to be a disappointment to both Kerry and Castor.
These are not the kind of victories that make for a mandate. Not that that will stop anybody. These are not home-run-in-the-ninth victories. These are error-in-the-10th victories.
