Isn't it sad:Kerry Watches Presidential Parade Go By
July 6, 2007
By ANDREW MIGA
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dashed White House ambitions, John Kerry has learned, can be humbling.
The Massachusetts Democrat is the first failed presidential nominee since George McGovern in 1972 to return to his day job in the Senate, surrounded by White House wannabes.
Kerry insists it hasn't bothered him to watch from the sidelines as current and former colleagues - including his 2004 running mate, John Edwards - gallop past in pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination that was his four years ago.
"Life goes on and people get too fixated on those kinds of things," Kerry, 63, told The Associated Press in an interview. "I feel young enough that there's a lot of future ahead. I don't know what will happen. I haven't said no to (running for president) forever, but it's the right thing for now."
Still, 2004 flares up every now and then.
He turned a sleepy confirmation hearing into a campaign flashback when, from his perch on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he subjected President Bush's nominee for ambassador to Belgium - Republican fundraiser Sam Fox - to a grilling about the "politics of personal destruction."
"I'm not trying to play some kind of 'gotcha' game here, I assure you," Kerry began.
Such references to the past are diminishing.
"My guess is now, more than anything, he's trying to grapple with what comes next," said Dante Scala, a University of New Hampshire political science professor. "Inevitably, and it's already happening, the spotlight has left him."
Kerry hardly missed a beat after his 2004 loss to Bush, hoping to use his Senate seat as a springboard for another run. That plan fizzled with a botched Iraq joke during the close of the elections last fall. For many Democrats, his words revived bitter memories of his missteps in 2004.
Kerry announced in January that he would not run again, briefly choking up during an emotional Senate floor speech. Since bowing out, Kerry has prodded Democrats to take a stronger anti-war stance, pushing for troop withdrawal deadlines. He has backed environmental causes.
Borrowing a page from Al Gore's playbook, Kerry began a 20-city tour to promote "This Moment on Earth," a book on environmental issues that he co-authored with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. He has kept his 3 million-name campaign e-mail list intact, and he recently raised about $100,000 for Democratic Senate hopefuls.
But Kerry stands on a smaller stage now. His speeches draw scant media coverage. |
