Down, Kerry far from out

First, a quick story about John Sasso.

Shortly after Jim Kerasiotes was very publicly fired in 2000 from his job running the Big Dig, his phone rang with Sasso on the other end of the line.

Keep in mind, Kerasiotes and Sasso were in opposite corners in the most bitter political feud in recent state politics, the blood rivalry between Mike Dukakis and Ed King. Sasso was with Dukakis, Kerasiotes with King. The operatives for the two governors were destined for a lifetime of mutual disdain.

But there was Sasso, who had been very publicly fired from the Dukakis presidential campaign in 1988, offering Kerasiotes a dose of hard-learned advice: Get on with your life.

''He said the real victims are the wife and kids, that they can take it harder," Kerasiotes recalled yesterday. ''He said that getting on, getting over it, will help your family."

After that, Sasso quietly helped Kerasiotes professionally. ''I love the guy," Kerasiotes said. ''There was no reason for him to be helpful to me when he was."

I bring this up today in regard to John Kerry, who has asked Sasso to join him on the plane as his most prominent political adviser through the rest of the campaign.

People learn. People grow. People change. Kerry did in his humiliating collapse from front-runner status in the Democratic primaries, and Sasso did in his hugely publicized downfall 16 years ago. This union has the promise of being a good one.

Indeed, I've always thought that if Kerry comes into Labor Day with a lead in the polls, then he's all done. But if he trails by six points or more to President Bush, then you should assume that he has a very strong chance to win.

That's the way it's always been with this often maddening campaigner who has no sense for the political jugular, yet is like a caged animal when he's about to lose a race.

When the polls are friendly, Kerry's worst tendencies are revealed in all their duplicity. He becomes cautious and hesitant. He trips over his meager ideas and convoluted message. He tries to say all things to all people, and consequently ends up saying nothing at all.

This is the John Kerry of affirmative action, or the John Kerry of teacher tenure, or the John Kerry of Iraq. This John Kerry projects an air of impatient entitlement. The race, in his mind, isn't about the voters, but himself, and he's never realized how limited his offerings are in that regard.

But when he's staring at defeat, he is a man apart.

That John Kerry is focused in his thought, clear on his agenda, and pointed in his speech. There is none of the languid navel-gazing that has typified too much of his political life. It is then that he understands what Bill Clinton made clear: Voters are more concerned with their problems than with the biographies and idiosyncrasies of the candidates they elect.

This is the John Kerry who roared back against Bill Weld in 1996, and the underdog John Kerry who clawed back to the top of the Democratic field in Iowa.

This, too, is the John Kerry who has tapped Sasso to be on the plane, who has brought in former Clinton advisers Doug Sosnik, Joe Lockhart, and Joel Johnson, and who will lean on advice from Clinton strategists Paul Begala, James Carville, and Stanley Greenberg.

As one senior aide told me yesterday, the Clintonistas don't mark a cultural change as much as a stylistic one. They bring a greater sense of urgency and a penchant for attack.

A second senior aide outlined a strategy focused on ''leadership and character." No more dwelling on Vietnam service. Rather, they will highlight Bush's decisions, define the results, and identify what Kerry would do differently.

''George Bush has made big decisions, and we're going to show what John Kerry would have done instead," the adviser said.

The bad news for Democrats may be the good news as well: The campaign has begun, and Kerry is an underdog again.

Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com.