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Kenneth Baer

Kenneth S. Baer, former senior speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore, runs Baer Communications, a Democratic consulting firm.

Recent Articles

What I Learned in Tel Aviv

Kenneth BaerSep 10, 2004

Most people travel to Israel to see the past. I went there last week and glimpsed the future.

In a country where more than 920 people have been killed since the second intifada started in September 2000, life goes on. People go to work. Like in the U.S., the high-tech sector that powered economic growth in the late 1990s, while smaller, is still humming along in the office parks of Herzilya Pituach and Kiryat Atidim. Israelis shop at the mall, their corner store, and the outdoor souk. Last week, the country celebrated its first Olympic gold medal (in the unlikely event of windsurfing) -- and celebrated that the school year was beginning without a teachers' strike for the first time in memory.

When Incumbents Attack

Kenneth BaerAug 19, 2004

On Monday, the Bush campaign released its latest campaign ad, called “Intel.” Looking at its name, one would think the ad lays out the president's plans for intelligence reform or touts his administration's record on preventing terrorist attacks. But it doesn't.

Rather, the ad attacks John Kerry for allegedly missing 76 percent of the hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and proposing to slash the federal intelligence budget by $6 billion. It ends on a personal note, declaring that, “there's what Kerry says, and then there's what Kerry does.”

When Incumbents Attack

Kenneth BaerAug 19, 2004

On Monday, the Bush campaign released its latest campaign ad, called “Intel.” Looking at its name, one would think the ad lays out the president's plans for intelligence reform or touts his administration's record on preventing terrorist attacks. But it doesn't.

Rather, the ad attacks John Kerry for allegedly missing 76 percent of the hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and proposing to slash the federal intelligence budget by $6 billion. It ends on a personal note, declaring that, “there's what Kerry says, and then there's what Kerry does.”

When Incumbents Attack

Kenneth BaerAug 19, 2004

On Monday, the Bush campaign released its latest campaign ad, called “Intel.” Looking at its name, one would think the ad lays out the president's plans for intelligence reform or touts his administration's record on preventing terrorist attacks. But it doesn't.

Rather, the ad attacks John Kerry for allegedly missing 76 percent of the hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and proposing to slash the federal intelligence budget by $6 billion. It ends on a personal note, declaring that, “there's what Kerry says, and then there's what Kerry does.”

The Big Bounce

Kenneth BaerAug 05, 2004

More than 24 million viewers, 100,000 balloons, and one 50-minute acceptance speech later, the results are in: The Democratic Convention has given John Kerry the “bounce” of a bowling ball. The Democratic ticket is now running even with or behind George W. Bush, and Republicans note with glee that the last presidential candidate not to enjoy a post-convention bounce was the hapless George McGovern in 1972.

Most commentators chalk this up to the dwindling number of undecided voters this year (one recent poll by the New Democrat Network found the number of those truly persuadable at a remarkably low 15 percent), leaving fewer available to win over with a convention speech. As we've all heard so many times now, the electorate is incredibly polarized.

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