“Crossfire” host and Georgetown adjunct professor Paul Begala said in a panel discussion Wednesday that the Kerry campaign’s lack of focus and strategy may have cost him the election.

More than 150 people attended the talk entitled, “Bush’s Second Term: The Meaning of the 2004 Election for Judicial Nominations, the Supreme Court and the American Political Landscape,” at the Georgetown Law Center.

Peter Rubin, a Georgetown Law professor and founder of the American Constitution Society, moderated the discussion between law professor John Podesta, former White House chief of staff for President Clinton, Laurie Rubiner, former senior legislative assistant to the late Sen. John Chaffee (R-R.I.) and director of New America’s health insurance program, and Begala, who is also a member of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

“It was really an abysmally run campaign,” Begala said. “It was spectacularly stupid in its lack of any strategy or narrative.”

Begala said that he spent a significant amount of time with Kerry’s campaign officials, giving them strategy suggestions. At one point, Begala said, he went to Kerry campaign headquarters and made a list on a white board of all the “Bushes” Kerry could run against.

“One was `liar.’ One was `in-over-his-head.’ One was `tool-to-corporate-interests,'” he said. “You have to have a coherent, focused critique to fire an incumbent.” He encouraged the Kerry camp to pick one “Bush” and stick with it, Begala said, adding that they never took his advice.

Podesta said that the Swift Boat ads criticizing Kerry’s war record hurt the campaign because Kerry did not contest them. Begala agreed, saying that Kerry should have addressed the attacks publicly and set the record straight.

“People looked at this and said that if he’s not going to stand up for himself, he’s not going to stand up for us,” Podesta said.

Bush won the election by expanding his margin among married women, less-educated voters, Catholics, Hispanics and people in suburbia, Podesta said. The president made terrorism, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and Iraq the main issues of the election and focused on the importance of conviction in leadership, he added.

Rubin said that he expected there would be two or three Supreme Court appointments in the next four years. Podesta and Rubiner said that while the 44 Senate Democrats will probably approve 95 percent of Bush’s appointments, they might resist more readily when it comes to the Supreme Court nominees.

Podesta, however, said he does not believe that Bush will try to nominate highly controversial individuals to the Supreme Court.

“It may be that he will want a fight in the Senate, but I doubt it,” he said.

Begala said that he encouraged Senate Democrats to choose their battles wisely but to filibuster nominations when necessary.

“Be not afraid,” he said. “Stand up and fight them as long and hard as you want.”

The panel also discussed the future of the Democratic Party in light of its losses both in the presidential and congressional elections. The Republicans expanded their margin in the Senate and the House while reelecting their party’s presidential candidate for the first time since 1924.

Begala said that Democrats do not have to jettison the fight over social issues like gay marriage and abortion – they just need to clarify, and perhaps moderate, their positions and then stand up for them.

He also said that Democrats should not allow Republicans to monopolize the moral high ground.

“All the liberals I know believe they’re intellectually superior to conservatives, and all the conservatives I know believe they’re morally superior to liberals,” Begala said. “And I think they’re both wrong.”

Liberals need to recast certain economic issues, especially those related to taxes and poverty, in moral terms, Begala said.

Podesta said that Democrats must “reignite the progressive religious voice in this country.” Republicans are not the only ones who can gain support from a spiritual base, he added.

The panelists agreed that Democrats have to formulate a clear message for 2008 if they want to hold onto their liberal base while reaching out to moderates in middle America.

“I haven’t the slightest idea whom we ought to nominate,” Begala said.

Podesta, who founded and directs the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, cautioned Democrats against nominating New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

“I think that the Republicans are, of course, all praying that Hillary will be the new leader of the party,” Podesta said. “I would say, be careful what you pray for.”