Kerry Gets Key Endorsements in S.C., Mo.
Jan 28, 4:30 PM (ET)
By DAVID ESPO
(AP) Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., waves while boarding his campaign...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Kerry lined up fresh endorsements from the Democratic establishment on Wednesday and launched campaign commercials in the next round of primary states as he sought to capitalize on a smashing victory in the New Hampshire primary.
One-time front-runner Howard Dean, his campaign buffeted by defeat and internal division, considered a staff shake-up as he vowed to contest the Massachusetts senator for delegates in every state.
"I still have the same underdog mentality," Kerry said as he left Boston for Missouri, the first of seven states on a campaign itinerary leading to next week's round of balloting.
The undisputed front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, Kerry said he would stress health care and the economy. And in a jab at President Bush, said, "the administration owes us a full explanation" for the war in Iraq.
(AP) Ballot clerk Dorothy Matthews gives a ballot paper to a New Hampshire voter at the Pelham Memorial...
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Kerry finished first in the New Hampshire primary, with Dean second and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Joe Lieberman farther back.
A total of 269 pledged delegates are at stake next week in primaries in Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona and Delaware as well as caucuses in New Mexico and North Dakota.
After single-state contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the candidates' travel schedules reflected the changed nature of the race. Kerry went first to Missouri, where Dick Gephardt's recent departure from the race created a wide-open race. Edwards started in South Carolina; Clark and Lieberman in Oklahoma.
After staying off the air last week except to advertise to New Hampshire voters, Kerry's campaigned opened its checkbook to pay for commercials in each of the Feb. 3 states.
His primary victory reaped immediate dividends in the form of endorsements from former Sens. Jean Carnahan and Tom Eagleton in Missouri.
(AP) New Hampshire voters walk to the ballot box at the Pelham Memorial School in Pelham, N.H. on New...
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Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the dominant black politician in his state, also intends to endorse Kerry, according to campaign and other officials.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, too, signed on after remaining neutral in his state's caucuses earlier this month. "He's the Democrat best positioned to provide President Bush with the strongest debate and the best chances for success in the fall," he said of Kerry.
Electability has emerged as a key issue this year for Democrats, many of whom rate ousting President Bush their highest priority. In interviews as they left their polling places on Tuesday, one in five New Hampshire voters said the quality that mattered most was a candidate's ability to defeat Bush. Kerry won the support of 60 percent of those voters.
Carnahan, the widow of former Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, lost her seat in the 2002 elections. Eagleton retired from the Senate rather than seek re-election in 1986. Still, their decisions to stand with Kerry underscored the extent to which his candidacy is beginning to draw the support of well-known Democrats from around the country.
Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey, who holds a key party fund-raising post as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, announced his support on Tuesday.
Clyburn's decision, in particular, was a coup for Kerry and a setback for Edwards, who has said he must win the South Carolina primary.
"Representative Clyburn is a leader in the African-American community," said Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts senator. As many as half the state's primary ballots next week may be cast by black voters.
But Ike Williams, on a leave of absence as Clyburn's chief of staff and now a paid Edwards adviser, called the endorsement part of a "bandwagon" effect after Kerry's early successes.
"I'm not for this bandwagon thing because there was a bandwagon behind Dukakis and we went through a train wreck," Williams said - a reference to the 1988 Democratic campaign that ended in defeat for then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Dean, who once dreamed of sweeping the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, withdrew to Burlington, Vt., for a day of reassessment after his second-straight defeat.
Rejecting advice from some aides, Dean told The Associated Press he would not concede any state to Kerry. "We've got a strategy and a good organization to win everywhere and we're going to try to get as many delegates as we can everywhere," he said.
But Dean also said he is considering revamping his staff. "I'm not asking anybody to leave," he said. "There may be some additions, but nobody is leaving, at least I hope they're not leaving."
Edwards turned aside a question of accepting the vice presidential nomination on a ticket headed by one of his rivals. "No, no. Final. I don't want to be vice president. I'm running for president," he said on NBC's "Today" show.
Clark flew to Oklahoma, where he stressed that he has spent a lifetime out of politics. "I should tell you up front, I am not a career politician," the retired four-star general said in prepared remarks. "I haven't spent years holding hearings and cutting deals with high-priced lobbyists."
Lieberman, who finished fifth in New Hampshire, followed Clark into Oklahoma after rejecting the advice of some of his aides to drop out. |
