Charting a future as Senator Kerry
2004 nominee rejects 2d run, seeks to end war
WASHINGTON -- A tearful Senator John F. Kerry launched the next phase of his Senate career yesterday with a vow to hasten an end to the Iraq war, as the man who spent the past four years gunning for the presidency turned his attention to building a statesmanlike legacy in the Senate.
Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, choked back tears on the Senate floor as he bowed out of the 2008 presidential race and said he would run for a fifth Senate term next year. He said his mission would mirror the one he brought to Congress with his famous Senate testimony in the midst of the Vietnam War: to end an unpopular war.
"I've concluded that this isn't the time for me to mount a presidential campaign," Kerry said. "It is the time to put my energy to work as part of the majority in the Senate . . . to change a policy in Iraq that threatens all that I have cared about and fought for since I came home from Vietnam."
Kerry's announcement could freeze in place a host of ambitious Massachusetts Democrats, including several members of the congressional delegation, who had been actively preparing runs in anticipation of a Kerry run for the presidential nomination.
Kerry aides and advisers said the senator's decision came down to a political calculation that he would face long odds in capturing the presidential nomination for a second time, given his diminished public standing after his 2004 defeat by Bush.
The senator had worked hard to prepare for another run, logging more miles and spreading more money than any other Democrat in the last election cycle. But he found himself shunned by much of his party after joking shortly before the November elections that poor students would "get stuck in Iraq" -- a comment that Kerry called a "botched joke" but that revived memories of his 2004 verbal missteps.
With Democrats now controlling Congress, Kerry decided he can best serve the causes he believes in by not running for president, because that frees him to pursue legislative solutions without regard for national political consequences, said Alan Solomont, a prominent Democratic fund-raiser with close ties to Kerry.
"He has a very large megaphone and a very large platform, both as a US senator and as our past nominee," Solomont said. "He decided he could best serve his country in the United States Senate as opposed to entering a crowded field in the presidential race."
Kerry aides maintained that his $13 million in campaign cash and wide name recognition left him with the flexibility to make a late presidential announcement, even with other big names in the race. His fund-raisers had prepared a plan to re launch quickly his financial operations with a series of house parties around the country.
But a growing number of Democratic operatives, including some key Massachusetts supporters in the past weeks, counseled Kerry publicly and privately to stay on the sidelines. Early polls suggested that Kerry was badly trailing other Democrats in the field -- particularly Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, as well as Kerry's 2004 running mate, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina.
Kerry, 64, has never been a prolific legislator, and his challenge now will be to shift gears after a career spent trying to become president. Though few failed presidential nominees have gone on to long careers in Congress, Kerry advisers said he sees one man who unsuccessfully sought the presidency as a trailblazer on the type of path Kerry hopes to follow: Senator Edward M. Kennedy, his fellow Massachusetts Democrat.
After failing to defeat Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential primaries, Kennedy recommitted himself to the Senate and became a leading liberal voice on social and economic policies.
In a video message e-mailed to supporters yesterday, Kerry said he would run for the Senate again to "galvanize grass-roots action" to force the president -- and the Democratic Party -- to change the course of the war. He launched a new website, setadeadline.com, to try to force the president to withdraw most troops from Iraq within a year.
"The fact is that what happens here in the next two years may irrevocably shape or terribly distort the administration of whichever candidate is next elected president," Kerry said in his speech.
Except for a highly competitive 1996 race against then-governor William F. Weld, Kerry has cruised to reelection in Massachusetts. Yet, Kerry will return to the state's voters with deep scars from his 2004 presidential run. Some in Bay State political circles say he could face a Democratic primary challenge, though probably not from a member of the Massachusetts political establishment.
Peter Torkildsen, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said yesterday that Kerry can expect an aggressive GOP challenge next year.
"John Kerry's record is inconsistent and out of step with Massachusetts," Torkildsen said. "The people of Massachusetts are ready for change. We look forward to taking this case to the voters over the coming months."
Kerry made his political announcement in an unusual forum -- the Senate floor -- toward the end of a 34-minute speech that blasted the president for his war policies and dwelled on the ancient roots of the current Iraqi ethnic conflict.
Kennedy was one of a handful of senators on the floor for the entire speech. The senior senator, who had vowed to support Kerry if he decided to run for president again, commended his colleague's decision to stay in the Senate.
"Now John has decided to continue to devote his passion, his interests, his energies, toward bringing our troops home from Iraq safely," Kennedy said.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, was next up offering praise. "The mere fact that he announced that he's not running for president speaks well of this gallant man, this heroic man," Reid said.
Turning to Kerry, who was seated silently two rows behind him, Reid added: "I say to John Kerry: I love you John Kerry, and I'm so sorry that things didn't work out for our country."
Kerry then gave Reid a bear hug and walked out of the chamber alone. 