WASHINGTON (AP) - Was it his campaign's slow response to the swift boat advertisements or the remark that he voted for Iraq war money before he voted against it that John Kerry regrets most from his failed bid for the White House? Neither, according to Kerry's reflection Sunday on what he considered his biggest mistake when trying to wrest the presidency from George W. Bush in 2004.
"I think the biggest mistake was probably not going outside the federal financing so we could have controlled our own message," the Massachusetts senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
The Kerry campaign opted to accept federal money—and federal spending limits and other rules—after he won the Democratic nomination. The nominating convention in Boston occurred more than a month before the GOP renominated Bush, forcing Kerry to begin spending under federal rules much earlier than Bush.
"We had a 13-week general election, they had an eight-week general election. We had the same pot of money. We had to harbor our resources in a different way and we didn't have the same freedom," Kerry said.
"I think the most important thing would have been to spend more money, if we could have, on the advertising and responding to some of the attacks," he said.
As for other missteps, Kerry said: "I made some mistakes. I know what they are, and I take responsibility for them."
Some political observers believe the Kerry campaign should have acted more quickly in countering an anti-Kerry group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, that attacked his Vietnam War record.
The Bush campaign criticized Kerry relentlessly for his remark about voting for and then against an $87 billion bill for the military and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. The GOP used Kerry's own words to support the contention that he flip-flopped on issues.
As for a run in 2008, Kerry said Sunday he would make a decision by the end of the year.
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WASHINGTON (AP)—House Majority Leader John Boehner calls it a "rough year" for the GOP. Just not rough enough to turn off most voters.
"I believe that when Americans see the stark differences between the two parties, that our members will do well in the November elections," Boehner said Sunday.
On the Ohio Republican's short list of party woes are Iraq, the response to Hurricane Katrina and the shadow cast "on all our work" by the troubles of his predecessor, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas.
"Listen, we've had a rough year," Boehner said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." "We've had a tough time. I'm not going to deny it."
Yet, he said, Republicans have an agenda to offer.
"I think House Republicans are committed to making sure that we keep America prosperous, that people have access to health insurance, that we spend their taxpayer funds wisely, and to make sure that we increase our border security and our national security," he said.
Republican lawmakers may have a harder climb ahead of them than Boehner acknowledged as they prepare for the 2006 elections. An AP- Ipsos poll found last week that fewer than one out of three people approve of the job performance of the GOP-led Congress.
When asked which party should control Congress, the public favored Democrats over Republicans by a 49-33 margin, the largest advantage the Democrats have enjoyed in AP-Ipsos polling.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., and the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the Republicans were merely putting "new rhetoric on their old agenda."
"This Republican Congress has done nothing but rubber-stamp Bush's priorities giving us a wage-less recovery and an endless occupation. This November, the GOP is only offering more of the same while Democrats are fighting to bring change to Washington with new priorities," Emanuel said in a statement.
