When you running against an incumbent in any race, what sort of image does it project that your current full time job is trying to convince people that you should have the full time job of your opponent?  It seems like there is a potential for a natural perception that the incumbent might be better qualified simply because while they are also running a campaign, they are still performing the duties of the job in the first place.

I remembering watching Primary Colors recently where the lead character ends up running against a candidate who is using his campaign as a blood drive and it struck me as a brilliant thing to do.  I know that it's a little crazy to copy a movie for a real life political maneuver, but I like the idea that while a candidate is running their campaign that they also took on something that they turned into a sort "job" that they could get their volunteers to help out with.  So even if they lose their race, they've managed to find a way to contribute something to society, not to mention possibly eliminated the perception that all they are doing is competing for a job with someone who is already doing it.

Like for instance, imagine the kind of juice Kerry could get by visiting and working with disabled American veterans of this and other wars and encouraged the people who volunteered for his campaign to do the same thing.  It obviously wouldn't be about politics, it would be about working for a cause that he really has to believe in (and hopefully does) while he has the spotlight to do it, but the politic gains from volunteering 10-12 hours a week from his campaign could be very real, and if nothing else, the campaign will have done something good for the country no matter what happens in November.

Yeah, I was a Deaniac.