Second Comeback Victory for Kerry Appears as Sweet as the First
nytimes.com
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
The New York Times
Published: January 28, 2004
MANCHESTER, N.H. — He strode in at 9:30 p.m., pumped his fists, threw a salute, clapped his hands and whooped. And 1,000 of his loyal followers hollered back.
"Kerry! Kerry!" they thundered.
For Senator John Kerry, his second comeback in nine days was just as sweet.
"Well, I love New Hampshire," he said, his voice breaking. "And I love Iowa, too. And I hope with your help to have the blessings and the opportunity to love a lot of other states in the days to come."
"You stayed the course here in New Hampshire," he told the crowd at his victory celebration here. "And because of you this has been a successful and a happy campaign. And I make this pledge to you tonight: I have spent my whole life fighting for what I think is right and against powerful interests. And I have only just begun to fight."
"Bring it on!" they thundered, again and again.
Mr. Kerry, the decorated Vietnam warrior turned antiwar leader turned lifelong politician, reached back into his past for support in his drive to victory in Iowa and New Hampshire. Tonight he thanked the veterans "who marched with us and lifted us up from the lowest points to where we stand tonight.
"In the hardest moments of the past month, I depended on the same band of brothers that I depended on more than 30 years ago," he said.
"We're a little older, and a little grayer, but I'll tell you this: we still know how to fight for our country," he said, as Max Cleland, the former senator and a triple amputee, raised his hand in exultation.
"When I am president," he said, "I pledge that those who wore the uniform of the United States of America will have a voice and a champion in the Oval Office."
By the time Mr. Kerry wakes up Wednesday at his home in Boston, his television commercials will be airing in all seven states with primaries on Feb. 3.: South Carolina, Missouri, Delaware, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and North Dakota.
"It's expensive, but — while you never have enough money — our fund-raisers are saying we've had a lot of momentum out of Iowa, we're hoping for very good momentum out of tonight, and his profile is, he can play in any of these states," said Steve Elmendorf, Mr. Kerry's deputy campaign manager, who was until last week Representative Richard A. Gephardt's communications director.
From Boston, Mr. Kerry is to fly to St. Louis, where Mr. Gephardt's withdrawal from the race abruptly put Missouri and its 47 delegates into play. Mr. Kerry has quickly put together a list of high-profile endorsements and experienced ground troops. Besides Mr. Elmendorf, the Kerry campaign has hired Kim Molstre, Mr. Gephardt's spokeswoman, and its Missouri operation is being run by Roy Temple, the former chief of staff to both the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and his widow, former Senator Jean Carnahan.
Mr. Kerry, who formally announced his candidacy outside Charleston, S.C., last September, has not returned to the state since that month, and nearly fell off the charts in voter surveys there. His poor standing also led rivals, including Senator John Edwards, to ridicule Mr. Kerry's potential for carrying the South.
Mr. Kerry has often said that he does not believe a Democrat has to carry the South to win in the general election, and cites Al Gore, who would have been elected in 2000 had he carried West Virginia or New Hampshire. But he also says he expects to fare well in states like Georgia, Louisiana and Arkansas.
For Mr. Kerry, who likened his rock-jawed profile to the Old Man in the Mountains, New Hampshire's icon, the comparison was unhappily apt in 2003: just as the rock formation broke away and collapsed, Mr. Kerry's standing in the polls here plummeted with his campaign missteps and the rise of Howard Dean.
Mr. Kerry's stunning turnaround in New Hampshire occurred, mainly, in Iowa, where he encamped in December, after shaking up his campaign.
His strategy was to exceed expectations in Iowa and ride a wave of momentum into New Hampshire. It could not have worked better: Mr. Kerry won 38 percent of the delegates in the Jan. 19 caucuses, blowing away the former Vermont governor by 20 points. Overnight, Mr. Kerry was minted the front-runner here. |
