Not Your Sweetie

The New York Times's bimonthly Democratic hand-wringing report

http://www.needlenose.com/pMachineFree2.2.1/comments.php?id=P1268_0_1_0_C

When I glanced at the headlines in the New York Times online yesterday, the title of this story caught my eye:

Democrats Wonder if Kerry Should Stay on Careful Path
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
I didn't bother to read the article. When it comes to elections, this sort of moment-to-moment microanalysis doesn't interest me much; I prefer to take the long view.

But it did strike me that I'd seen Nagourney's name under a similar headline before. And then it occurred to me that I'd had this same thought before as well -- so he must have some kind of habit of writing gloomy articles about Democrats' 2004 prospects.

So, I figured it was time for a little research.




MORE...

Searching the New York Times website for Nagourney's byline from early 2003 to today produced the following results related to overall Democratic prospects (as opposed to the ins and outs of primary results, individual candidates' pre-primary strategies, etc.):

May 27, 2004
Democrats Wonder if Kerry Should Stay on Careful Path
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

May 2, 2004
KERRY STRUGGLING TO FIND A THEME, DEMOCRATS FEAR
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

April 8, 2004,
Battles in Iraq Bring Problems for Bush And Kerry as Well
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and CARL HULSE

April 1, 2004
Political Memo; Bad Timing as Kerry Slips Out of Picture
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JODI WILGOREN

March 21, 2004
Political Memo; Some Democrats Say Kerry Must Get Back on the Trail
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and ADAM NAGOURNEY

March 13, 2004
Political Memo; Testing, Testing. Shrewd Politics or Kerry Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome?
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
These were preceded by a brief two-week "honeymoon" as Kerry swept the primaries:

February 9, 2004
Democrats See Unified Party For November
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

January 29, 2004
THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: DEMOCRATS; Party Leaders Express Relief at the Emergence of Kerry
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Before that, though? For the most part, nothing but trouble:

January 9, 2004
THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: IOWA; Tide of Second Thoughts Rises Among Democrats
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and CARL HULSE; Michael McElroy contributed reporting for this article.

January 1, 2004
THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: THE DEMOCRATS; Democrats' Plan for Early Nominee May Be Costly
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

December 29, 2003
THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: POLITICAL MEMO; Stumping Gamely, the Democrats Fight Against Most Voters' Holiday Indifference
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

December 18, 2003
Candidates in Presidential Contest Are Failing to Move Democratic Primary Voters, Poll Shows
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JANET ELDER

December 10, 2003
Democrats Wrestle With the Gore Factor
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and EDWARD WYATT

August 31, 2003
THE 2004 CAMPAIGN; Worried Democrats See Daunting '04 Hurdles
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

July 29, 2003
Centrist Democrats Warn Party Not to Present Itself as 'Far Left'
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

July 18, 2003
Political Memo; Tug of Constituencies Strains Democrats
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

July 9, 2003
Campaign Memo; Tricky Question for Democrats: When Is Open Season on One Another?
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

June 15, 2003
A Fund-Raising Sprint by Bush Will Put His Rivals Far Behind
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and ADAM NAGOURNEY

May 25, 2003
THE DEMOCRATS ARE RUNNING, BUT WHO'S WATCHING?
By Adam Nagourney

May 17, 2003
Kerry Introduces Health Plan, Pointing Up Divisions Among Democratic Contenders
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

May 4, 2003
Democrats' First Presidential Debate Shows Party Fissures
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

May 4, 2003
Listen Up, Democrats: Why 2004 Isn't 1992
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

April 16, 2003
Looking at Postwar Bush, Glum Democrats Ponder How to Win in 2004
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

March 19, 2003
Divided Democrats Concerned About 2004
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Now, I don't entirely blame Nagourney for this (though it is kind of suspicious when you pile the articles up like that) -- he's got to write about something, after all, and I'm sure each of his stories has quotes from kibitzing Democrats backing up his thesis.

But it does confirm, as I said at the beginning, that you shouldn't take these stories too seriously.