Much is being said about Sen. John Kerry’s effort to reinvent and redefine his image for the American public. Various polls indicate Kerry is viewed as being soft on terrorism, willing to waffle on issues according to what he thinks will win votes and being less likely to stand firm in the face of serious issues.

Millions of dollars will be spent in this effort to sell him to the public.

Shortly after the last Democratic presidential primary, when Kerry had wrapped up the nomination, a Journal-World staffer asked a veteran U.S. senator how his fellow senators viewed the Massachusetts Democrat. This was the response:

“If, two years ago, someone had asked all Senate members what they thought about Kerry being the Democratic nominee, most of them would have laughed and said, ‘You must be joking.’ Kerry was looked upon as being one of the dullest speakers of the Senate. He put people to sleep with his speeches, and he is an elitist.”

Members of the Senate probably know Kerry better than 99.9 percent of the potential U.S. voting pool, and if this appraisal by a fellow senator is accurate, or even partially accurate, those in the image-changing business have a lot of work to do.

Unfortunately, in today’s campaign atmosphere, spinmasters and others are frighteningly skilled in selling their “product.” Some years ago, one of the nation’s most prestigious public relations and marketing firms handled the campaign for a man seeking one of the nation’s top elective political positions. They were successful, but after the election, they said, “never again.”

If it was as easy to “sell” a candidate as it was to get the public to buy a certain brand of cereal or bread or car, they didn’t want to get into the business of selling a political product. It is so important for the public to know as much as they can about a candidate, good or bad, and what the candidate actually thinks about certain important matters.

Apparently, Kerry insiders are worried about the image their man projects, and they are going to spend millions of dollars to try to package and sell the public a different and more attractive model. Change the packaging and promotion and hope for better sales.

Hopefully, the public will be smart enough to know the real thing rather than a well-scripted, attractively packaged candidate. In the retail business, there is a slogan, “buyer beware.” This also applies to the political elective process.