Both Bush and Kerry Share One Thing: Both Lost Their First Race
Maria L. La Ganga, in the LAT (Aug. 16, 2004):
They lost at politics at an early age. Since then, they've rarely made the same campaign mistakes twice.
Sen. John F. Kerry takes nothing for granted. He doesn't underestimate the power of the media. And he is ready for a fierce fight as an election nears, because he knows that politics generally saves the very worst for the very last.
President George W. Bush hasn't let a rival beat him at being a man of the people for a quarter of a century. He's learned to harness his famous family when it helps — and distance himself when it doesn't. And he will not meet a nasty charge from a political rival with civil silence.
They learned to fight, learned to lose, learned to get up and try again, all at the sharp knee of the same harsh teacher — youthful, and unsuccessful, races for Congress.
The vestiges of their early defeats can be seen today as Bush and Kerry battle for the White House. The unremitting pace of this year's campaign, its tough tone and the pattern of every charge answered by an often stronger comeback can all trace their roots, at least in part, to the two men's first political failures.
Kerry stumbled in 1972, when he sought a House seat in Massachusetts' 5th District, fresh from leading Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a role that had placed him firmly in the national spotlight.
Bush, as biographer Bill Minutaglio put it, was "blown out of the desert" in the 19th District in arid West Texas six years later, despite the efforts of his already well-known father to help him get elected.
Kerry is generally publicly mum about his first and only electoral loss. But historian Douglas Brinkley said the experience "devastated his psyche."
Bush, for his part, rarely addressed a rally during the 2000 presidential campaign without mentioning that he "came in second in a two-man race" back in 1978, and how he realized that he had to directly ask for support.
The reference to his sole election defeat is absent from his current campaign speech, but its legacy lingers. As he did during a swing through Ohio this month, Bush often tells his audiences: "I think you have to ask for the vote, and that's what I'm here doing."
Said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas: "There's a theory in our business: The first political success is huge. I would add to that the first defeat. Those who come back — like these two men — take to heart some very significant lessons."
They lost at politics at an early age. Since then, they've rarely made the same campaign mistakes twice.
Sen. John F. Kerry takes nothing for granted. He doesn't underestimate the power of the media. And he is ready for a fierce fight as an election nears, because he knows that politics generally saves the very worst for the very last.
President George W. Bush hasn't let a rival beat him at being a man of the people for a quarter of a century. He's learned to harness his famous family when it helps — and distance himself when it doesn't. And he will not meet a nasty charge from a political rival with civil silence.
They learned to fight, learned to lose, learned to get up and try again, all at the sharp knee of the same harsh teacher — youthful, and unsuccessful, races for Congress.
The vestiges of their early defeats can be seen today as Bush and Kerry battle for the White House. The unremitting pace of this year's campaign, its tough tone and the pattern of every charge answered by an often stronger comeback can all trace their roots, at least in part, to the two men's first political failures.
Kerry stumbled in 1972, when he sought a House seat in Massachusetts' 5th District, fresh from leading Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a role that had placed him firmly in the national spotlight.
Bush, as biographer Bill Minutaglio put it, was "blown out of the desert" in the 19th District in arid West Texas six years later, despite the efforts of his already well-known father to help him get elected.
Kerry is generally publicly mum about his first and only electoral loss. But historian Douglas Brinkley said the experience "devastated his psyche."
Bush, for his part, rarely addressed a rally during the 2000 presidential campaign without mentioning that he "came in second in a two-man race" back in 1978, and how he realized that he had to directly ask for support.
The reference to his sole election defeat is absent from his current campaign speech, but its legacy lingers. As he did during a swing through Ohio this month, Bush often tells his audiences: "I think you have to ask for the vote, and that's what I'm here doing."
Said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas: "There's a theory in our business: The first political success is huge. I would add to that the first defeat. Those who come back — like these two men — take to heart some very significant lessons."