He has negative baggage left over from his Senate campaign and his later work in Sen. John Kerry's hopelessly inept presidential bid.
Not to distract from the issue at hand, but the constant bashing of the Kerry campaign is really starting to get old. His campaign was so "hopelessly inept" that he came within one state of victory against a wartime President in an election that observers a year before thought he had no shot at even making competitive. Sure, he made mistakes, many, but he was no Mondale, and no Dukakis.
