Iowans shed early reserve, warm to Kerry, Kennedy asserts

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Rallying to shouts from the crowd of "carpe diem!" ("seize the day!") and "J.K. all the way," the junior and senior senators of Massachusetts spent yesterday trying to fire up the presidential campaign of the duo's younger half, John F. Kerry.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, making his second trip to Iowa on behalf of Kerry, nine days before Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, threw himself into his sidekick role with gusto, stoking the crowds and drawing out his vowels like a political Ed McMahon: "Jooooooooohn Kerry!"

Kennedy repeatedly forgave Iowans for rejecting his own 1980 White House bid, on the condition they support Kerry, and expressed confidence they would do so. "People are ready to goooooooooo in Dubuque!" Kennedy said at an afternoon rally here.

"Tonight, the New England Patriots are playing the Titans to see who's going to be the Super Bowl champion -- might take another game or two, but tonight's gonna be the key. But I said, `Oh no, I want to be in Dubuque, Iowa,' " Kennedy said to the audience's delight. "I want to be in Dubuque, Iowa, and I'm telling you I want to see every one of you show up at those caucuses, or I'll never forgive you. For the rest of my life, I'll never forgive you!"

Kennedy's last visit to Iowa was in September. Then, as now, Kerry has been plowing hard for votes, hoping for a third- or even second-place finish in the Jan. 19 caucuses.

In an interview, Kennedy said he noticed a change in both Iowans and Kerry from his last trip.

"The last time I was out here, I thought he still had pretty good crowds, but people were sort of looking, and they were listening, but they were studying and watching," Kennedy said after the first of three rallies, in Davenport yesterday. "It was entirely different in that crowd. You can watch these people react to John -- there's connection, there's enthusiasm, there's some spontaneity and easy humor."

Kennedy said Iowa was "of such importance" to Kerry, who is trailing Howard Dean badly in New Hampshire and is betting on a strong showing in Iowa to benefit him in the Granite State.

Kerry, at the Davenport rally, referred to old stories about Kerry-Kennedy tensions, which his campaign sought to undermine with a three-page, illustrated page memo about their "40 years of support & working together."

"[Kennedy] was out there, and someone asked me what it felt like, whether it was really hard to live in the shadow of Ted Kennedy. He asked me what it was like to know that in all of my life, I would never have an amazing legislative record like Ted Kennedy. He asked me if I was jealous of the fact that I was working with a living legend," Kerry said. "And it was Teddy who asked me that!" Kerry added.

Kennedy stuck mostly to laugh lines, but at points underlined Kerry's virtues as a candidate and his "quality of character."

"You keep at it and struggle at it and keep at it 'til it gets done," Kennedy said of Kerry's work ethic. "I want to tell you, those are the qualities that I want in my Democratic nominee."

While two other big names, Al Gore and Tom Harkin, were campaigning for Dean elsewhere in Iowa, Kerry and Kennedy appeared to delight in each other's company. There was no sign of disappointment from Kerry that, after a year of campaigning, he didn't have Gore's and Harkin's support.

Indeed, his campaign trumpeted a Kerry endorsement yesterday by the Iowa City Press-Citizen editorial board. It came a day after the Quad City Times backed him. The Hawk Eye in Burlington also has endorsed Kerry, according to the Associated Press.

Kerry's press secretary noted that the wife of the editor of the Quad City Times is an energetic Dean supporter.

Kerry sought to score points with labor unions. "George Bush is so quick with all his friends to talk about those heroes in New York City. A lot of speeches. I'd like to see him go back to that rubble, stand on that mound today and ask those first defenders if he kept his promise," he said.

"What they forget conveniently is that every single one of those firefighters, every single one of those police officers, every single one of those emergency medical professionals, who ran up those stairs and gave their lives so others might live -- every single one of them was a member of organized labor and they believed in the right to organize."

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