Kerry 2008 Watch

Some very early 2008 speculation from the Washington Post:

Kerry Sets the Stage for a Second Act

• Campaign '08 Watch Begins: We solemnly vowed in November not to start ginning up stories about the next presidential election until at least March, and mirabile dictu: An enticing invitation crossed our desk just in time. "Thank you for your interest in joining John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry at their home on March 7 in Washington, DC for a special meeting to discuss the formation of Senator Kerry's political action committee, Keeping America's Promise."

Woo-hoo! It's not every day that a defeated '04 Democratic nominee sets up a new PAC. "This is the kind of thing he has to do" to run for prez again, Dan Payne, a Dem media consultant and longtime Kerry acquaintance, told us yesterday. "It seems to me that candidates have been forming PACs before they made a run for president for a long time."

The senator's camp wouldn't comment on whether Keeping America's Promise is an effort to maintain and invigorate Kerry's base for 2008, stressing instead his "focus on strengthening the Democratic Party," as spokeswoman Katharine Lister put it.

Kerry is supposedly eager to help out new DNC Chairman (and former rival) Howard Dean, but Lister's official statement to us seemed more Kerry-centric than anything else. "Keeping America's Promise, a leadership PAC which will officially start raising funds in the second quarter of this year, will be the vehicle that helps Kerry transform the infrastructure, energy and excitement from his presidential campaign into a permanent grass-roots organization that promotes the causes Kerry advocated on the campaign, and supports candidates up and down the ticket across the country," she said.

And, of course: "Keeping America's Promise will also help amplify and promote Kerry's leadership agenda in the Senate." His friend and loyal campaign operative John Giesser is running the PAC.

Last week the '04 candidate came in second, with 16 percent vs. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 32 percent, in a Zogby poll on potential Democratic contenders. Al Gore came in third with 12 percent. Not that anybody pays attention to such meaningless early speculation. We certainly don't.