Every four years, the media and political analysts dust off the cliche that a presidential nominee's convention speech is "the most important speech in (fill-in-the-blank's) life." While this chestnut is overused, it usually is relatively accurate. For a challenger who is still undefined in the minds of many voters, his convention speech is the first real, sustained exposure he will have to the broader American electorate. Generally speaking, every nonincumbent nominee has something that he needs to prove, and the speech is a vehicle to do that. So as much as I tend to wince when I hear that expression, in John Kerry's case, it is probably true. This is indeed the most important speech in Kerry's life.
As much as many Democrats and virtually all Kerry backers hate to hear this, and disagree with the notion, John Kerry won the nomination in large part because of his ability to borrow $6.4 million in early December when his campaign was dead in the water. He also won in part because the two Democrats with stronger chances at that point, former
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