WEST PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) - Democratic Senator John Kerry`s White House bid has become more combative, more open to reporters and delivered a more focused message recently which observers have attributed to the influence of former Bill Clinton administration staffers.
Under advice from the `Clintonistas`, according to US media reports, the veteran Massachusetts senator`s campaign has clicked into a higher gear just 41 days before Amercians go to the polls on November 2.
The Democratic presidential hopeful interrupted his campaigning across Florida on Tuesday to hold a press conference, his first in more than seven weeks, at which he lambasted President George W. Bush`s credibility over Iraq.
Kerry last spoke took questions from the press on August 9, despite the growing number of reporters who are following the Democrat around the country.
Kerry criticized Bush who has also kept his distance from the press. The current president has given the least press conferences of any president in the past 50 years. Kerry has pledged that if he becomes president he would hold a press conference a least once a month.
Under the guidance of former Clinton era White House spokesman Joe Lockhart, and other former high-powered `Clintonistas` including James Carville, Paul Begala, Doug Sosnik and Stanley Greenberg, the Democratic candidate has become more combative and less nuanced.
Kerry has notably increased his attacks on Bush, concentrating his fire on Bush`s handling of Iraq in clear-cut language.
Citing the "chaos" and "colossal errors" in Bush`s decision to go to war against the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in March 2003, Kerry laid into Bush in a speech on Iraq this week at New York University.
According to Michael McCurry, another former Clinton spokesman who has joined the Kerry campaign, the speech was "exactly what you`d expect, many people have said this was a speech that you needed to give."
The Democratic candidate, who has pulled back of late in some polls, has said he always performs better as he approaches the finishing tape in political campaigns.
"Tonight I`m going to talk softly, but carry a big stick, the guys have got me in a fighting mood," Kerry told thousands of supporters at an Orlando rally late Tuesday.
"There is a time for everything and it was time for him to take off the gloves," Kerry`s wife Teresa told a New York audience at a fund-raising dinner for her husband.
Kerry has not hidden the fact that Bill Clinton`s seemingly inexhaustable energy might be rubbing off: "He is probably the best observer of American politics, the only Democrat who`s won twice in 50 years or more, he is worth listening to," Kerry told CBS talk-show host David Letterman earlier this week.
Explaining the recent ramping up of his campaign, Kerry said "a campaign grows, a presidential campaign is an enormous undertaking, suddenly you`re building a multimillion dollar corporation.
You grow and there are stages in it, we have fabulous people in place, nobody was fired, we just hired more people and brought in more talent," he added.