WASHINGTON (AP) — A beleaguered president seeks re-election. His challenger, a candidate with Massachusetts roots and a presidential demeanor straight out of central casting, has to fight through a primary contest fending off charges of flip-flopping. In the end, the challenger’s strength also proves his vulnerability.

Election 2012 is looking a lot like the presidential race of 2004.

Democrats in and around President Barack Obama’s campaign are preparing to run against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — the man they believe likely to emerge from the Republican contest — by borrowing from the playbook George W. Bush and Republicans used to defeat Sen. John Kerry seven years ago.

As candidates, Kerry and Romney are remarkably similar.

While continuing to cast doubt on the credibility of Standard & Poor’s, several Democrats on Sunday said there is an even greater culprit in the downgrade of the nation’s credit rating: the tea party.

“I believe this is, without question, the tea party downgrade,” Sen. John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, a day that also saw mounting anxieties in world markets over the downgrade among myriad other economic woes worldwide.