Kerry bolsters Obama's fund-raising clout
Says senator has best chance of forging change
Bringing his fat fund-raising Rolodex and foreign policy gravitas, John F. Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, endorsed Barack Obama yesterday, declaring that the Illinois senator has "the greatest potential to lead a transformation, not just a transition."
The junior US senator from Massachusetts was joined in the Obama camp later in the day by Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota and veteran Representative George Miller of California. After Obama's surprise defeat in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, the flurry of big-name endorsements may help him pick up steam again heading into a hard fight with Hillary Clinton in Nevada and South Carolina later this month, and then in 22 states that vote on Feb. 5.
Kerry dwelled on Obama's inspirational power, saying Washington will have "no choice but to listen." He scoffed at the idea - which Clinton has promoted - that Obama is offering false hope and is too young and inexperienced for the Oval Office. Thomas Jefferson was just 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, and Martin Luther King Jr. only 26 when he led the Montgomery bus boycott, Kerry noted.
"My friends, when we choose a president, we are electing judgment and character, not years on this earth," he said at a rally in Charleston, S.C.
Kerry has an unparalleled list of three million supporters from 2004, a rich resource for Obama's fund-raisers. He sent an e-mail to them on Obama's behalf yesterday, and Obama is expected to send an appeal today.
Kerry, who lost narrowly to President Bush in 2004, passed over his running mate, John Edwards - all the more stinging because Kerry made his endorsement public in Edwards's native state of South Carolina, which Edwards won in 2004 and where he needs to vault ahead to revive his flagging campaign.
The two men have been on less-than-close terms since Edwards contended after they lost the White House that Kerry would not let him fight back against the "Swift Boat" attacks on Kerry's record of service in Vietnam. Kerry retorted that it was Edwards who refused to wade into the fight.
Edwards issued a statement yesterday that was by turn gracious and dismissive. "Our country and our party are stronger because of John's service, and I respect his decision," he said. But he added, "I continue to believe that this election is about the future, not the past."
Kerry and Clinton also have bad blood going back to 2006, when Kerry made a gaffe when he suggested that young people who don't do well in school get "stuck in Iraq." Although Kerry aides said he had misspoken and meant to poke fun at Bush, not the troops, Clinton quickly deemed the remark "inappropriate."
By contrast, Kerry did an important favor for Obama by asking the young Senate candidate to be the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, giving him the national platform to begin establishing his reputation as a rising star.
The two men began getting to know each other better over dinner in March, and then in subsequent meetings and phone calls where they talked in-depth about policy matters, according to a Kerry adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
When Kerry visited Africa in November, he came home captivated by the idea that Obama would be a powerful spokesman abroad for the United States, the senator said at the rally. Kerry, who came of age during the 1960s antiwar movement, was also moved by Obama's grass-roots appeal, the adviser said.
Alan Solomont, a top fund-raiser for Obama who served the same role for Kerry, said the Obama campaign was thrilled to have Kerry's support.
"He has a national platform, expertise in foreign affairs and national security, and a following in a number of communities, notably the veterans community. He has fund-raising ability," Solomont said.
The endorsement will also help Obama "with voters concerned about his youth, and will provide some comfort to voters who see most of the Democratic establishment with Clinton," said Jack Corrigan, a Boston political organizer who supported Kerry in 2004 and would have again had Kerry run this time. But now Corrigan is neutral.
While Kerry's support may hurt Obama if it turns off voters who are still angry at Kerry for losing in 2004, Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University, said he believed it could only help in the struggle against Clinton, who has the endorsements of 10 fellow senators.
"The plus is that it may help to undermine Hillary's claims about her superior experience," Abramowitz wrote in an e-mail. "If those who have worked closely with both of them in the Senate are endorsing him, it doesn't look good for her."
Susan Milligan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com. 