New Kerry ad touts war record and plan for jobs

KETCHUM, Idaho -- John F. Kerry's ski vacation shifted yesterday into a kind of "winter White House" operation, as the presidential candidate and his aides in both Idaho and Washington attempted to blunt Republican attacks on Kerry as a tax-and-spend liberal.

Kerry's mix of behind-the-scenes political activity -- following four hyperathletic days of snowboarding, skiing, and hiking -- has provided some insight into this year's Democratic standard-bearer and his political campaign operation. Neither Kerry nor his chief aides have slipped into the kind of get-away-from-it-all mode that President Bush often enjoys on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Kerry campaign officials announced that they will begin airing a major new television commercial today in 17 states, many of which Bush won or Al Gore narrowly took in 2000. The commercials are designed to introduce the Massachusetts senator to a national audience before Republicans can weigh him down with labels like tax-and-spend liberal. The 30-second spot, in an ad buy expected to cost more than $2 million, is more explicit than previous Kerry ads in touting his war record in Vietnam, his concerns about children's needs, and "a new plan" to create jobs.

"The American people want to know how we're going to get the nation back on track, and there are certain things that John Kerry can talk about that George Bush can't -- fixing the economy, improving health care, and making the nation more safe and secure," Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

With the news of the ad buy, and counterattacks on Republican criticism that his tax plans leave a spending gap of $1 trillion, Kerry showed that Ketchum was not merely a getaway spot but could serve as a full-scale base for political operations. In a wealthy winter playground replete with movie stars and celebrities -- where Kerry bumped into actor Treat Williams on a sidewalk and hugged singer James Taylor's wife, Kim, at 9,000 feet atop Bald Mountain -- Ketchumites say they are beginning to realize that Kerry would bring energy and world media attention here if he triumphs in November.

"The attention comes with the territory if you're going to do things like run for president," said Williams, star of the WB family drama "Everwood."

Kerry dipped from public view for the first time in his six-day vacation, helping coordinate his campaign's counterattack from his and his wife Teresa's home by the Big Wood River. He will return to the campaign trail Thursday.

Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the senior Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, stood in for Kerry publicly yesterday and charged, using the GOP's accounting rules, that Bush had $4.5 trillion in "secret spending" compared to Kerry's alleged trillion-dollar gap. Conrad said the $4.5 trillion represented unaccounted costs for Social Security, the war on terror, and tax cuts that Bush wants to make permanent, among other items. "Their depiction of John Kerry's plans, his budget plans, is a complete concoction and fabrication," Conrad said yesterday.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt fired back, saying Kerry's new ad -- entitled "Fought for His Country" -- showcased him as a leader on health care and the military when the Democrat has failed to spearhead and pass major legislation on those issues during his 19 years in the Senate. "This ad is another example of his campaign-trail rhetoric being totally disconnected to his voting record," Schmidt said.

Yesterday's aggressive partisan parrying was a striking contrast to the last few days for Kerry, when his energies seemed devoted to exercising, photo opportunities, and reintroducing himself to Ketchumites who now have to get used to him as the likely Democratic nominee.

The senator had barely arrived at his Sun Valley ski resort home when he took to the slopes Thursday for a half-day of snowboarding, followed by a two-hour mountain hike Friday -- in which he trudged knee-deep through snow at times -- then snowboarding down the poorly packed powder and snowshoeing, with evident strain on his face, to base camp.

Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.