Written by: Beck

Mark Shields: "This is the last chance [Kerry]... has to speak to the American people... He's already passed the threshold test to whether he's intelligent enough and experienced enough to hold the office... What remains is to convince people he can serve as commander in chief."

Personally, I'm getting sick of all the speeches directed towards convincing us of Kerry's ability to lead the military. Also, I remain completely unconvinced that being a good soldier is somehow synonymous with being a good leader.

Shields: "He's not going to out-charm George Bush."

David Brooks: "This is the only time he can talk about himself. He still has the debates to discuss the issues... I think he has to show that he's comfortable with himself... He needs to show some self-knowledge." "This is going to be a campaign about the future, but he hasn't said what the product is... People want to know what they're going to get out of their next president."

Brooks believes Kerry needs to find four things that he stands for and that he's going to do and deliver on that. Something tangible.

Shields, paraphrased: Kerry trails by 15 points among the 40 percent of Americans who go to church every week. Gore lost that vote by 20 percent. Kerry needs to convince those people that he shares values in common with those people.

Yep.

Brooks: "Democrat foreign policy seminars use the word "alliance" like it's some sort of pixie dust, like it's going to solve everything. While alliances would be nice, I'd like to hear what exactly he's going to do with them. Some specifics would be nice."