Kerry Fires Back at Dean Charges of Cronyism
Jan 31, 7:55 PM (ET)
By Lori Santos
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Reuters) - Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Saturday rejected charges his votes in the U.S. Senate were influenced by campaign contributions, saying he had spent his whole career battling special interests.
Speaking to reporters after accepting the endorsement of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Kerry said he would put his record up against any of the Democratic candidates seeking the chance to run against President Bush in November.
Michigan holds a primary next Saturday. Kerry is now making a seven-state campaign swing in advance of the Democratic contests on Tuesday.
But the reports that he had accepted thousands of dollars in contributions from lobbyists dogged him through the day, which he began in Missouri before a boisterous rally, launching his own attack on Bush for allowing "lobbyists and special interests" to influence White House policy.
"I've spent a career fighting against special interests," Kerry said. "I'll take a second seat to nobody in this race with respect to my lifetime fights against special interests and my efforts to run campaigns on a high standard."
He said he had accepted no money from political action committees or "special interests" and that no vote of his was ever influenced by a campaign contribution. "No one has even suggested that I've done other than to take them on," he said.
Kerry was responding to comments by his main rival, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who was the front-runner in the Democratic race until Kerry won the first two contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Dean said the four-term senator from Massachusetts was beholden to special interests after The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that he had accepted more than $600,000 in donations from lobbyists over the course of his 19 years in the U.S. Senate.
Criticizing Kerry, Dean told reporters in Tucson: "It turns out we've got more than one Republican in the Democratic race. I've already said I thought (retired Gen.) Wes Clark was a Republican and now apparently John Kerry has the same financing habits."
Referring to this remark, Kerry said the outspoken former governor had previously made comments for which he had had to apologize. "I would respectfully suggest that that may be just one more of them."
The controversy at least temporarily interrupted Kerry's efforts to keep the debate focused on Bush, who he earlier blasted for pandering to special interests and for a failed foreign policy.
In Kansas City, Missouri, Kerry said, "The only people that have contributed to my campaigns to the U.S. Senate are individual Americans. Now are some of those individual Americans lobbyists? Yeah, sure.
"And if anybody in America thinks that a $1,000 contribution against 14 million in a campaign is somehow going to sway my vote they're, there's a level of cynicism about this."
Both stops for Kerry were in states that are among the seven holding pivotal Democratic contests on Tuesday. Kerry is mounting a non-stop effort to score additional wins and cement his standing as front-runner.
The other five are Arizona, Delaware, New Mexico, South Carolina and North Dakota.
The latest Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released on Saturday showed Kerry holding a 33-point lead in Missouri, the biggest prize on Tuesday with 74 delegates at stake.
In Oklahoma, Kerry gained 5 points on Clark to trail 25 percent to 22 percent. |
