Get moving: Worried Democrats tell Kerry

President Bush roared out of his New York convention last week, leaving many Democrats nervous about the state of the presidential race and ...

President Bush roared out of his New York convention last week, leaving many Democrats nervous about the state of the presidential race and pressing Sen. John Kerry to torque up what they described as a wandering and low-energy campaign.

In interviews, leading Democrats — governors, senators, fund-raisers and veteran strategists — said they had urged Kerry’s campaign aides to concentrate almost exclusively on challenging Bush on domestic issues from here on out, saying he had spent too much of the summer on national security, Bush’s strongest turf.

As the Labor Day weekend began, Kerry appeared to be heeding the advice with an aggressive attack on Bush’s economic leadership. But many supporters also said they also wanted to see Kerry respond more forcefully to attacks.

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‘‘He’s got to become more engaged,’’ said Harold Ickes, a former political lieutenant to President Bill Clinton who is now running an independent Democratic organization that has spent millions of dollars on advertisements attacking Bush. ‘‘Kerry is by nature a cautious politician — but he’s got to throw caution to the wind.’’

Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania said Kerry ‘‘has got to start smacking back.’’ And Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, an influential Democrat from Connecticut, said his party’s standard bearer had ‘‘a very confused message in August, and the Republicans had a very clear and concise one.’’ — (NYT)

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