And they’re off…

The 2008 political season is already underway and it appears that Senator John Kerry is eyeing another run for the Presidency. The Boston Globe’s Brian Mooney has written a substantial article outlining Kerry’s current activities in addition to some of the obstacles that he’s up against should he jump in the race.

From the Globe:

With a frenetic pace of barnstorming and fund-raising on behalf of Democratic candidates, Kerry’s moves over the last several months have convinced his inner circle that he intends to launch another run for president.

Kerry himself insisted he has not decided whether to run. But more than a dozen longtime loyalists interviewed for this story said they had no doubt that Kerry would attempt what a host of Washington doubters think unimaginable: become the first Democrat in half a century to lose a general election and be renominated four years later.

“My impression is there’s no way he’s not going to run,” said a confidant who speaks with Kerry regularly and asked not to be identified.

Kerry, who will spend at least 18 of the next 29 days campaigning for Democratic candidates, said in an interview Friday that he is concentrating his energies on the 2006 elections, in which the Democrats are increasingly optimistic that they have a chance at winning a majority in the House and possibly the Senate.

There has also been recent press on Kerry’s tough-talk regarding the Swift Boat crowd and his desire to fight them harder should there be another try at the Presidency.

From the AP:

DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., lashed out Sunday against a group that campaigned against him during his last run at the White House.

Kerry said he is concerned that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is again resorting to “the politics of fear and smear.”

The group, financed by Texas conservatives, ran commercials questioning his Vietnam record _ the centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2004. Those same conservatives have formed another group this year _ Economic Freedom Fund _ to campaign against Democrats across the country.

“We’re not going to give them an ounce of daylight,” said Kerry, who is considering another run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

The senator said his response to the commercials in 2004 was not strong enough.

“We thought the fact that the truth was out there was enough,” he said. “Clearly it wasn’t.”