Ferrablog

I know it's rarely done when running against an incumbent President, but there might be something in it for Kerry to run against Cheney to some extent, too. At the end of a Washington Post article this morning chronicling his entry into the fray, it's noted that Cheney's favorability rating is a scant 35 percent. Given these strong negatives, it might be wise for Kerry (or the independent groups) to run some "contrast" ads featuring Cheney (preferably in black and white and hovering over the shoulder of Bush) that will play up Halliburton, Chalabi, the Plame scandal (which centers around Cheney's office), etc. It could even tap into the whole perception of Cheney pulling the strings, ending with a "Who's really running the show?" tagline. This would have two effects - it would play up Cheney as the evil puppet master, and make Bush look like his puppet.

After all, running against Newt Gingrich worked in 1996 and 1998.