Democrats split on a 2d run by Kerry

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry has intensified his quest to regain the Democratic presidential nomination with a sharp move to the left, presenting himself in high-profile speeches and Senate debates as an unfettered lawmaker and would-be presidential candidate who learned from his 2004 loss that he must fight harder for what he believes.

In passionate remarks on the Senate floor and before party faithful last week, Kerry spoke directly to grass-roots Democrats, many of whom remain angry over his defeat in an election they believe Kerry was capable of winning.

``I think I'm a much better candidate at this point in my life than I've ever been before -- much more knowledgeable, much more confident, much clearer and brief, to the point, and highly focused," Kerry said in an interview, noting that those campaign skills would apply equally to a 2008 run for the Senate or the presidency.

While many Democrats remain wary of Kerry, there were signs last week that party activists were welcoming his defiance of the Bush administration -- and some leaders of his own party -- on the war in Iraq, the makeup of the Supreme Court, and on environmental policy.

``They like an aggressive Senator Kerry," said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga , the influential Daily Kos Internet blogger . ``A lot of the hostility is dissipating. The first step is to have people not hate you anymore."

But, he added, ``I don't see that translating into support in 2008. If he's going to be a credible 2008 candidate, he's got a long way to travel to regain trust."

Some party officials and Democratic lawmakers said in interviews that they are seeing in Kerry some of the same loser-liberation that has attracted people to former vice president Al Gore.

After a 2000 campaign in which he spoke rarely about the environment, Gore has become an advocate for measures to battle global warming; Kerry, who sometimes appeared to contradict himself on Iraq in 2004, last week became a key leader in the movement to withdraw troops.

``There tends to be a sense of emancipation. You're free to talk about issues in ways you really would have liked to during the campaign," said Chris Lehane, a senior staff member on Gore's 2000 campaign who briefly worked for Kerry in 2004.

Today, as if to underscore the comparison with Gore, Kerry is scheduled to give a major Faneuil Hall address on the environment and global warming.

``My belief is if you speak your mind and you tell the truth and you fight for principle -- and people know what you're fighting for and where you stand -- they're smart enough to make a decision," Kerry said during the interview at his Senate office last week.

Many Democrats said in interviews that they wished Kerry had shown such nerve in 2004. The Massachusetts senator was vilified during the presidential campaign for finessing his position on Iraq -- saying he voted for funding the war before voting against it. And many Democrats were furious with Kerry in August 2004, when he announced he still would have voted to give President Bush the authority to invade Iraq, even knowing the intelligence leading up to the attack was flawed.

But last week, Kerry displayed a frankness and relentlessness on Iraq he has also shown in recent months on other issues. Kerry led a failed filibuster against Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr., against the wishes of his party's leaders, and has threatened to lead a filibuster on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if Republicans bring it up again.

Democratic leaders, mindful of GOP charges that Democrats want to ``cut and run" from Iraq, are upset about Kerry's efforts last week to pull out of Iraq quickly, and he knows it. And he doesn't much care. Relegated by Democratic leadership to a less prominent, late-evening time slot to argue for his amendment last week, Kerry delivered a lengthy defense of his binding proposal to begin moving troops out by mid-2007.

``It's not the first time around here somebody's been uncomfortable with a vote, myself included," Kerry said in the interview, referring to his proposal. The measure received 13 votes in the 100-member Senate.

``But you don't make things happen by backing down on a matter of principle," Kerry said. ``I believe that those of us who did share responsibility in giving the president an option" to go to war in Iraq ``share a responsibility for now trying to resolve it. "

Kerry's recent moves have been accompanied by fierce rhetoric before liberal audiences. And many grass-roots Democrats -- who have disproportionate influence over the presidential nominating process -- have given him a cheering response.

His address calling for troop withdrawals earlier this month before a liberal audience in Washington was hailed, while Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton -- a New York Democrat and potential 2008 rival who opposes setting a date for troop withdrawal -- was booed by the same crowd.

Yesterday, Kerry issued a terse statement against the Bush administration, after weekend reports that General George Casey is predicting a major troop withdrawal by the end of 2007:

``Will the partisan attack dogs now turn their venom and disinformation campaign on General Casey? What will the Republican Congress say to Prime Minister Maliki? Will they label them the `cut and run' military and the `cut and jog' Iraqi government? Enough is enough."

Before this month, ``I felt like it was unlikely he would be able to make a comeback," said Representative Ted Strickland , an Ohio Democrat running for governor. But recently, ``he seems to have made a decision to be more candid and transparent in his willingness to talk about issues," Strickland said.

But colleagues and activists question whether Kerry can persuade his party to give him another try at the presidency in 2008.

``The position [on the war] he took in '04 was really forced, and led to all the verbal gymnastics he went through. I don't know if he can erase that," said Dan Payne , a Democratic consultant who worked on Senate campaigns for Kerry but who was not involved in his presidential run.

Privately, senior Democrats wince at the prospect of another Kerry run for the presidency. One called it ``delusional" that Kerry could win the nomination, while another Democratic member of Congress said Kerry ``blew" the race.

``Maybe it's unfair, but the feeling is he lost, and that was his shot, and he can't win and we don't want to run losers," said the lawmaker, who asked not to be named so he could speak frankly about a colleague. ``We need a fresh new face."

Kerry said he has not made a decision about whether he will run for president again, but he has been laying the groundwork for a potential national campaign. Kerry has been making regular appearances on behalf of Democrats running for office this year and has raised millions for his Capitol Hill colleagues and Democratic candidates for non federal offices.

Kerry regularly e-mails about 3 million grass-roots supporters and noted that his leadership PAC has raised or contributed some $8.8 million to nearly 150 Democratic candidates.

He noted that he has made appearances in 33 sates, but said the majority of them are part of a team effort to help Democrats win more seats this fall.

Still, his exertions are widely seen by Democrats as an attempt to reposition himself for 2008 by winning back core Democrats.

``There are probably plenty of Democrats who think he had his shot, it's time to move on," said Jim Ruvolo , a Toledo-based Democratic consultant who was Kerry's Ohio campaign chairman in 2004. ``But 2008 is wide open. Somebody like Kerry, whom people know, has a chance to build on it, to repair it."