Kerry Challenged by Harsh Campaign

Instead, by the time the Massachusetts senator finally made it to his vacation home in the Idaho mountains late last week, he had spent two weeks mostly on the defensive, confronted by an aggressive opponent who didn't give him a chance to catch his breath and began pummeling him with hard-hitting ads.

Kerry also contributed to his problems as he switched from fending off Democratic rivals to gearing up for the general election campaign against President Bush. He suggested at one point that foreign leaders preferred him to Bush, and later called Republican critics "crooked" -- offhand remarks that have since haunted him.

"I would give him a B," said Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who ran former Vice President Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. "He's hit a couple of potholes, but he's still on course."

The bumps speak to the new political landscape Kerry must traverse as he takes on Bush directly.

"You're exhausted, and the campaign is exhausted and worn out," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic consultant based in Los Angeles. "And you're taking on the White House, the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee all at once -- all highly developed operations that have been sitting around for a year waiting for this."

After Kerry emerged as his party's presumed nominee in early March, he continued to campaign in the Southern and Midwestern states that had not yet held their primary contests -- in part to hone his message for the general election. He stressed his belief in "mainstream American values and common sense," and lambasted Bush for "broken promises" on policies ranging from education to the Iraq war.

But his message was overtaken by the suddenly fierce firefight between the two camps. The president's campaign quickly launched television commercials challenging Kerry as weak on defense and charging he would raise taxes by $900 billion.

"I don't know who was happier the day [the Democratic race ended]: John Kerry or George Bush," said Dan Payne, a Boston-based media consultant who worked on three of Kerry's Senate campaigns. "It signaled that George Bush could campaign all-out against Kerry."