The Missing Bounce

There have been a number of stated reasons why Kerry did not receive the expected bounce after the DNC. The main explanation has been that most voters have already made up their minds, so not much of a shift either way is expected. Other explanations have been that he received the bounce when he won the nomination at the beginning of the year, he didn't look comfortable giving his acceptance speech, etc. Charles Krauthammer has a much simpler explanation

The explanation that respects the intelligence of the American people is that Kerry had nothing to say. Well, one thing: Vietnam.
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Yes, Vietnam service gives Kerry a credential for high office. But beyond that, what is there? His biography, as presented to the world, was this: He was born, went to Vietnam and is now running for president. Just about his entire adult life is a 30-year void.

He goes on to say that the only other part of the convention, outside of Viet Nam, was attacks on President Bush. Despite the press talking up the supposed civility and restraint of the Democrats, the negative campaigning persisted.

But the themes were transparently negative: We are not the party that misleads you into war. We are not the party that trashes the Constitution. We are not the party that acts unilaterally. And my favorite, because of its Escher-like yogiism: We are not the party that divides the country -- as opposed to those lying, Constitution-trashing, unilateralist Republican cowboys.

None of this is out of bounds, mind you. It is simply politically stupid. It does not work. Why? Because the political market has, as they say on Wall Street, already discounted these negatives. The people have already registered all the bad news of the past six months that has sent Bush's approval ratings plummeting.

So in effect, the DNC produced no bounce because no one said anything interesting. Of course, it probably didn't help that the TV ratings for the convention were horrible - the DNC was beaten out handily by Paris Hilton's the Simple Life 2. But perhaps that was exactly because most people expected nothing to be said, except of course more demagoguery about the evils of George W. Bush.