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This article deals with a current or ongoing event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
This article is about the current and ongoing presidential campaign of John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and the nominee of the Democratic Party to challenge Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election on November 2, 2004.
For information on his biography and background see John Kerry. See also: George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2004.
Prior to the primaries, Kerry collected endorsements from a variety of notable Democratic figures, including:
In sheer numbers, however, Kerry's endorsements were outshadowed by Howard B. Dean III, who was far ahead in the superdelegate race going into the Iowa primaries in February 2004. Going into the primaries, Kerry's campaign was largely seen as in trouble; the key factor enabling it to survive was Kerry's mortgaging his own home and lending the money to his campaign.
The only notable labor union to originally endorse him was the International Association of Firefighters; however, Kerry's support quickly snowballed as he won caucuses and primaries. He received the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters prior to the New Hampshire primary, a first for that organization. He also received the support of each of his former competitors as they lost primaries and dropped out of the race, beginning with Missouri representative Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt. Plenty of other notable Democrats followed, as did many labor unions which had previously backed Gephardt or Dean or stayed out of the race entirely (he won the endorsement of the entire AFL-CIO just prior to his Super Tuesday showdown with Edwards).
Today, as the nominee, he enjoys the support of virtually every Democratic politician and organization in the nation. Two notable exceptions are retiring Georgia Senator Zell Miller, a very conservative Democrat who has endorsed George W. Bush and Ed Koch, the former (12 year) mayor of New York City. All of the former candidates for the nomination have endorsed Kerry.
Kerry's campaign has used many slogans to describe his run for the presidency:
Kerry's campaign began the process of searching for a vice-presidential nominee, sometimes called the "Veepstakes", shortly after Kerry's Super Tuesday victories. Kerry named Jim Johnson, former advisor to Vice President Walter F. "Fritz" Mondale, as the head of a vice-presidential search process.
One of the major criteria likely to be a factor in selecting a vice-presidential candidate is the ability to deliver a traditionally Republican or a swing state in the November election. Every successful Democratic presidential campaign since 1960 has included a politician from a swing state (usually in the South) who helped deliver one or more states for the Democrats.
By the first week of July 2004, pundits and those close to the Kerry campaign indicated that the vice-presidential selection had narrowed to three potential choices: U.S. Sen. John R. Edwards (N.C.), U.S. Rep. Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt (Mo.), and Iowa Gov. Thomas J. Vilsack, all of whom have reportedly been instructed to clear their calendars for a potential annoucement during the second week of July. Edwards, from North Carolina, is a Southerner; the other two, from Missouri and Iowa respectively, are Midwesterners (the Midwest is viewed as a key region containing numerous swing states). As of late June, the charismatic Edwards was the first choice of Democratic voters, according to several polls; some pundits attribute this to high name recognition, due to his runner-up status in the primaries.
On the morning of 6 July 2004, Kerry announced the selection of John Edwards as his running mate. However, at 10 p.m. on the night before the official announcement, the information was leaked by an airport worker who saw Edwards's name being painted on Kerry's plane, which was to be used to announce his choice of running mate. On July 6, The Kerry campaign sent an e-mail message to his supporters at about 8:15 a.m. EDT informing them of the choice, and made the formal announcement for 9 a.m. EDT in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
For the history and discussion of the possible choices that were considered before Edwards was chosen, see John Kerry presidential campaign VP selection process.
Opening his Democratic National Convention speech with ?I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty,? he made his Vietnam War experience a prominent theme for his convention.
Following his official nomination at the Convention, Kerry received only a small bounce in the polls and remained "neck and neck" with his opponent George W. Bush. This is the first time in recent political history that a candidate failed to receive a substantial boost in post-convention poll numbers. Some political pundits attribute this small boost to the unusually small number of undecided voters as compared with previous presidential elections.
On March 13, while at a speaking engagement in Quincy, Illinois site of one of the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates, Kerry challenged Bush to a series of monthly debates. The Bush campaign refused the challenge. U.S. presidential debates, usually three in number, are usually held after the nominating conventions, however, this year's very early selection of the two major candidates has altered the traditional structure of the election.
Kerry, as well as his Republican opponent George W. Bush, has refused, on 23 separate occasions, to respond to Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test.. Kerry's official plan is, however, outlined in his book co-authored by John Edwards, "Our Plan for America - Stronger at Home, Respected in the World" and it is available
Some of Kerry's positions, ideas and experiences with national issues are as follows:
Kerry supports supplementing national service in nearly all aspects of American life, including requiring community service for high school students to graduate, a "Summer of Service" for teenagers (essentially community service during summer breaks from school, with a U.S. $500 grant for college), increasing the Peace Corps to 25,000 members, requiring universities that receive Federal funding to offer a ROTC, and providing more funding for ROTC scholarships.
Kerry supports increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. Kerry believes in "equal pay for equal work." Kerry supported NAFTA and the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act. Kerry also believes in taxing businesses that fire American employees to move overseas to sell their products cheaper.
Kerry voted for the No Child Left Behind Act. He proposes a new "Education Trust Fund" to fully fund K-12 education. He also proposes a "College Opportunity Tax Credit" for "economically vulnerable" students. Kerry promises to increase funding for scientific research, to reduce restrictions on stem cell research, and to facilitate cooperation with foreign scientists by improving immigration and visa practices.
As an assistant district attorney, Kerry personally prosecuted armed robbers, rapists, and mob bosses. He is in favor of putting resources in the community, backing the Community Oriented Policing System Act (COPS), and creating laws that lead to criminals being arrested and convicted. Kerry has advocated expanding the COPS program to place 100,000 police officers in community policing assignments. Kerry supports the Police Corps program. In the Senate, Kerry has advocated laws that punish drug dealers and money launderers.
Kerry has long stated his opposition to the death penalty, but has recently stated that he would support it in the case of convicted terrorists. He had previously opposed the death penalty for terrorists on the grounds that it would make it difficult to extradite suspects to the United States to stand trial. (Many nations refuse extradition requests, on humanitarian grounds, if the suspect faces execution.)
Kerry's proposals to deal with illegal drugs include focusing on keeping drugs out of the country as well as reducing demand for illegal drugs. Kerry supports aggressively targeting traffickers and dealers. Kerry supports funding drug prevention and treatment programs.
Kerry is a gun owner and hunter. Kerry believes that law-abiding American adults have the right to own guns, though he is in favor of certain restrictions. As he has consistently voted against the positions of the National Rifle Association, in 2002 he was given a performance rating of F, their lowest rating. Also in 2002, the pro-gun control Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence indicated that Kerry voted their preferred position 100% of the time.
As a senator, Kerry has supported:
Kerry is against budget cuts that cause cutbacks in Social Security benefits. He opposes privatizing Social Security accounts.
Kerry affiliates himself with "pro-choice" women's organizations. Kerry is against the criminalization of abortion. In the Senate, Kerry has consistently voted against bans on abortions conducted on military bases and military installations overseas, as well as against the ban on partial-birth abortion. He has been given a 0 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee and a 100 percent rating from NARAL
In an interview on July 4, 2004 Kerry told the Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald "I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception." "I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist," he continued in the interview. "We have separation of church and state in the United States of America."
Kerry is in favor of the acknowledgement and protection of civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans. John Kerry is an original cosponsor of the Hate Crimes Prevention bill and supports passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He introduced a very early bill (1985) into the Senate to statutorily forbid sexual-orientation-based discrimination. Kerry cosponsored the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act (CARE) and also sponsored the Vaccines for the New Millennium Act.
Kerry supports same-sex civil unions, though not same-sex marriage. Kerry supported legislation to provide domestic partners of federal employees the benefits available to spouses of federal employees. Kerry voted against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the Senate in 1996 and opposes the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA). He and Senator Edwards were absent for the unsuccessful vote to invoke cloture on the FMA, a procedural move that the FMA's proponents had conceded beforehand would be defeated. In an interview with National Public Radio in February of 2004, Kerry endorsed equal rights for same-sex couples, but commented that "the word marriage kind of gets in the way of the whole debate," because of the religious origin of marriage as being limited to male-female unions.
Kerry opposes the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and is in favor of lifting the ban on gays in the military.
Since 1995, Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay-rights advocacy group, has given Kerry a 100 percent rating for his voting record in Congress.
Kerry states that he supports affirmative action and diversity programs, a claim supported by his Senate voting record. He has, however, expressed reservations about affirmative action in the past, most notably in a 1992 speech in which he reportedly called the practice "inherently limited and divisive," explaining that it "has kept America thinking in racial terms."
Kerry voted in support the Senate resolution authorizing the President to use force against Saddam Hussein if he failed to surrender his weapons of mass destruction and related tools for constructing and distributing them. Kerry, in October 2002, declared his belief that "Iraq has some lethal and incapacitating agents and is capable of quickly producing weaponizing of a variety of such agents, including anthrax, for delivery on a range of vehicles, such as bombs, missiles, aerial sprayers and covert operatives which would bring them to the United States itself.". The U.S. invasion against Iraq, without meeting all of Kerry's stipulation, Kerry reiterated his position and declared the Administration's Iraq policy reckless at best and baseless at worst. He has since been outspoken against the handling of the war and of the Bush Administration's stewardship of occupied Iraq, attacking what he calls poor planning and poor diplomacy on Bush's part, but supports remaining in Iraq until the task of reconstruction and reconciliation is complete. He changed his position on WMDS by saying they were not enough to go to war with Iraq. This has harmed Kerry's campaign in the eyes of some because they believe it has made him seem like a "flip-flopper", changing his position to better suit what is popular.
Kerry has been criticized by Howard Dean and others for his position on the war, which some say is inconsistent. Kerry has since explained his vote authorizing force by claiming that he believed the Senate resolution was intended to be a diplomatic "threat" to Saddam Hussein and not a blank check for war.
Kerry advocates involving NATO, troops from other countries and the United Nations in U.S.-led efforts to achieve the goals of a "stable" and "democratic" world. According to the Harvard Crimson, Kerry said in 1970 that the United Nations should have approval over most of our foreign military operations. "I'm an internationalist. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations." He has since repudiated this 1970 position. Kerry says he has always believed the United States has the absolute right to defend itself.
Throughout his Senate career, Kerry was also a staunch critic of many foreign policy initiatives of Republican Presidents. He opposed and voted against the Gulf War in 1991, and opposed funding the Contras in Nicaragua and similar armed groups in Latin America.
Kerry sponsored the Code of Conduct of Arms Transfers Act, which would prohibit U.S. military assistance and arms transfers to undemocratic nations, human rights violators or armed aggressors.
Kerry cosponsored an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Bill that allows the military to transport families of soldiers wounded while on active duty.
Kerry detailed proposals for homeland security efforts include enlisting the National Guard and AmeriCorps, creating a community defense service, ensuring first defenders and first responders are equipped and ready, improving information technology, reforming domestic intelligence, implementing public health initiatives and improving infrastructure security.
Kerry and fellow Vietnam-era Navy veteran Senator John McCain (R-AZ) have worked together in the 1990s to investigate the possibility that there were still POWs in Vietnam.
Kerry advocates removal of toxins from communities, bolstering the Superfund cleanup program, and reducing sprawl and traffic congestion.
Proposals for "Green and Clean Communities" include a Toxics Task Force at the EPA, fighting air pollution, water pollution and fighting other environmental hazards. Kerry has proposed a "Conservation Covenant." As part of the covenant, Kerry will extend the Endangered Species Act for the benefits of wildlife and habitat protection to public and private lands and reinvest public-land royalties back into land protection.
Kerry wants to participate in the development of an international climate change strategy to address global warming.
In 1998, the League of Conservation Voters gave Kerry an award for having one of the best environmental voting records in the Senate over the previous five years. In 2004, the Sierra Club endorsed Kerry, the first time it had endorsed a Presidential candidate before the party conventions.
Kerry supports cutting the Bureau for Citizenship and Immigration Services' application pending backlog and reducing the lag for the naturalization process. Kerry endorses benefits to legal immigrants. Kerry supports the "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors" (DREAM) Act for undocumented high school students who came to the United States as children, and who seek higher education at in-state tuition rates.
Kerry supports the proposal of legalizing the status of undocumented immigrants, pending a certain amount of working time in the US and passing a background check. Kerry has proposed border enforcement reformation and increases of border enforcement funding.
Much of Kerry's popular support has come from "Anybody but Bush" voters - users who vote for him as a repudiation of the Bush administration's policies. One of the major focuses of his campaign has been to attract voters to his stance on the issues, instead of as a de-facto opponent of the current president.
The official Kerry for President website declares:
The Kansas City Star endorsed Kerry before the Missouri primary and wrote of him:
The Chattanooga Times Free Press endorsed Kerry before the Tennessee Democratic primary and editorialized:
The Washington Post had this editorial comment on Kerry's approaching front-runner status:
In an appearance in Milwaukee, fellow candidate and political rival Howard Dean stated, "When you act like Senator Kerry does, he appears to be more like George Bush than he does like a Democrat."
Critics of Kerry cite Associated Press reports that Kerry made efforts to keep loopholes for special interests. One loophole allowed American International Group to profit from liability insurance coverage it provided for the "Big Dig" project in Boston. AIG later provided the funds for Kerry's trip to Vermont and donated $30,000 (or more) to a group used to set up Kerry's presidential campaign (Company executives also donated $18,000 to his campaigns). Charles Lewis, head of the Center for Public Integrity, stated that "the idea that Kerry has not helped or benefited from a specific special interest, which he has said, is utterly absurd." Kerry has denied any connection between his assistance to AIG and its contributions to his campaign.
Other politicians, such as Republican opponents and conservative foes, describe Kerry as liberal and out-of-touch with their perception of the mainstream of American society. Commentator Pat Buchanan wrote:
Kerry is in favor of free markets, free trade, and fiscal prudence. The Americans for Democratic Action, a prominent liberal organization, rates Kerry's voting record better than that of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), causing Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to joke, "Who would have guessed it? Ted Kennedy is the conservative senator from Massachusetts." (Kerry gets a 93 percent from the ADA, Kennedy an 88 percent.) ADA's rating is based on only a smattering of votes.
On June 21, 2004, 48 Nobel laureates endorsed Kerry as they thought that he would increase the prosperity, health, environment, and security of Americans, attract talented scientists and engineers from abroad; and nurture a business environment that creates quality jobs. They criticized the Bush administration for reducing funding for scientific research, setting restrictions on stem cell research, ignoring scientific consensus on critical issues such as global warming, and hampering cooperation with foreign scientists by employing deterring immigration and visa practices.
On July 22, 2004, campaign staff were opening mail at Kerry's campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C. when white powder fell out of one package at around 5 p.m. on the eighth floor, where the campaign has its fund-raising and human resources departments, along with a financial company unrelated to the campaign.
Unlike the 2001 anthrax attacks, there was no threatening message inside, but police treat such incidents as possible bioterrorism. On the advice of the Secret Service, the campaign called local police, who sealed off the building and surrounding streets. The hazardous materials squad of the District of Columbia Fire Department was also called. An internal email distributed to all campaign workers said:
Though the air conditioning unit was shut down for a half-hour, several aides continued working. After personnel in biohazard suits entered the building, initial tests completed at around 7 p.m. showed that the powder was actually harmless and was possibly some type of garlic powder seasoning. The envelope, which contained two letter-size envelopes, was turned over to the FBI for further testing.
Neither Kerry or Edwards were at the headquarters when this happened. Kerry was campaigning in Michigan at the time, while Edwards was fund-raising in Connecticut.
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