There are many reports of Kerry, his campaign, and the Democratic party gettting frustrated and worried about what looks like a good sized Bush bounce comming out of the Republican Convention.
It appears it has manifested itself in a far more aggressive attack aginst Bush by Kerry himself. Here is a link to an article:
Kerry: Bush is "Unfit To Lead"
Here's the whole Kerry quote:
"For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief," Kerry said. "We'll, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq,"
When tough personal attacks are seen in commercials, it turns off the public. But, it's effective. When it's done by the candidate himself, I think it has a very high risk of backfiring.
I think it could be a huge mistake for Kerry to take this approach. He should be letting his subordinates make these types of attacks. By doing it himself, he's could be presenting himself as the type of
person (not candidate or politician) people don't want to vote for.