If ever there was a somnambulant campaign using a good button it was Sen. John Kerry's 2004 effort. The Massachusetts blue blood had the benefit of an unpopular president, an unpopular war and a voting base intent on righting what they saw as wrongs weighed upon them in the 2000 election.
Kerry, instead, let himself be cast as a sometimes effete, flip flopper, husband of money who didn't sympathize with the Everyman. And so he lost, but this button is a winner, even if it does recall Puerto Rico's flag.
The junior senator from the Commonwealth, Kerry aspired to follow in the footsteps of the Kennedy clan, but was portrayed as a man more of the Senate than of the people. His campaign will be noted as the one that benefited from the Howard Dean implosion, "I voted for it before I voted against it," the term "swift boating" and a really bad salute at the Democratic National Convention.
As bland as many people found the man and his campaign, he came close. The general election totals showed a narrow victory for President Bush. The electoral college count also proved to be a narrow one.
Since 2004 Kerry has been solidifying his reputation as an elder statesman in the party. He's still serving in the U.S. Senate and reportedly still enjoys windsurfing, another of those unfortunate images that haunted his campaign.
The URL on the button is still active as the senator's web site, one of the many sentences that couldn't have been uttered about such a button a generation ago.