For Some Kerry Fans, No Joy in Mudville

A colleague got a note the other day from Kerry campaign intern Karim Logue, who reports: "I (and others) have become increasingly frustrated by the disconnect between the candidate and his campaign." Logue said he is a staunch fan of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), but "I feel that we are not playing to win, but are rather playing not to lose, and fear that this risk-averse approach and the 'vetting' bureaucracy severely limit our effectiveness."

So he put his concerns in the form of a poem, a follow-on to "Casey at the Bat." "Perhaps you would be able to publish it before the Democratic National Convention. Perhaps it might serve to wake us up a little."

Well, Karim, we can't run the whole thing. For that, go to www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/looppoem.html. But here's a bit of it:

We don't recall what happened next. Truth told: We do not care

Whether Casey hit a homer or slugged right on through the air.

For these are simple details which quickly escape our senses,

But in our mind lives Casey and he's pointing to the fences. . . .

Yet while we grumble on about what Karl Rove has done

George Bush is busy claiming God, patriotism and the gun.

While we depend on polls to find out where the country's going

We, dizzy, follow the weather vane which the GOP is blowing. . . .

They say we're flip-floppers. We say that we have better hair.

Bush has a room divided. We have one that doesn't care.

For every Monday morning we come out with a new slogan