Buoyant Kerry wins key endorsements

ST. LOUIS -- The new Democratic presidential front-runner, Senator John F. Kerry, was a candidate transformed yesterday: traveling in an 11-car motorcade to mine votes in this city and winning several coveted endorsements, as he visited Missouri and South Carolina for the first time in months in advance of next Tuesday's round of Democratic primaries.

A day after his 13-point victory over Howard Dean in the New Hampshire primary, Kerry began a six-day tour of the seven states that vote next on Feb. 3, with an increasingly large pack of reporters in tow and exuding a front-runner's confidence, at one point tossing a football around with aides in his chartered airplane.

Yet Kerry insisted, as he did after his Iowa win on Jan. 19, that he would not campaign as the front-runner.

"I expect it to be tough all the way, and I expect to compete with the same underdog mentality, with the same quality of `every vote counts,' " Kerry told reporters on his campaign plane yesterday, a reference to his come-from-behind wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two states that have voted so far. "I'm going to fight for every vote, and I'll be at it every day, every minute."

Kerry also underlined that he would begin trying to broaden his base of voters. At one point on the plane, Kerry said he hoped to woo hockey-mad Michigan voters by lacing up his skates and playing a scrimmage with some members of the Detroit Red Wings before the state's Feb. 7 caucuses. Yet in states such as Missouri, where the citizenry is less rabid about passing the puck, Kerry acknowledged that he needed to come up with some other way to connect with voters.

"I guess I'll ride a bucking bronco or a bull or something," Kerry joked. "I'm game. Whatever they got."

As Kerry landed at St. Louis's airport, the city's mayor, Francis G. Slay, waited for him on the tarmac with a caravan of eight sedans, sport utility vehicles, and minivans, as well as three buses for the media. They headed to a downtown rally that drew about 800 people -- a sizable crowd for a city that knew little of Kerry until now. The senator hasn't visited the state for months, and his campaign only began broadcasting commercials here yesterday.

He picked up endorsements from former US senator Jean Carnahan, 1972 Democratic vice presidential nominee Thomas Eagleton, and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack -- while also announcing an important one in another Feb. 3 primary state. Kerry aides said US Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, an influential leader among the state's African-Americans, had agreed to back Kerry.

In Washington, meanwhile, Kerry's campaign cochairman, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, met with two dozen House members to seek their support, in one of several signs that some leading Democrats are moving to coalesce behind Kerry.

Attempting to create a sense of inevitability for a Kerry nomination, advisers also put out word that the Democratic governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, was considered close to endorsing Kerry. Her support would be a major boost in a state with 128 delegates at stake in its Feb. 7 caucuses, the largest number before California, New York, and eight other states vote on March 2.

"Kerry is clearly moving quickly to lock up the establishment behind him with a string of victories," said Blease Graham, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina. "He took a good win in Iowa and extended it to a double-digit win in New Hampshire. That's making people pay attention, and that's what he wants as he takes this campaign out nationally."

Meanwhile, Kerry backers on Capitol Hill seized on the Massachusetts senator's momentum to troll for endorsements from their colleagues. Representative Ed Markey, Democrat of Malden, was host to about two dozen wavering House members at a home on Capitol Hill, urging them to back Kerry. Kennedy dropped by, and Kerry also called and fielded questions -- mainly about policy issues -- from the lawmakers, Markey said.

By the end of the meeting, "everyone was chanting, `Go John Kerry!' " Markey said, adding that he expected to pick up some endorsements from the effort.

"A lot of people are on third base and are leaning toward Kerry right now," Markey said.

With his arrival in Missouri yesterday, Kerry stepped into the political vacuum created when Representative Richard A. Gephardt dropped out of the race last week. A bounty of 74 delegates is up for grabs here Tuesday, the largest bloc out of the 269 at stake that day.

After campaigning in Missouri, Kerry was heading to South Carolina to spend the night. He said he was feeling confident about the Feb. 3 contests because his pollster Tom Kiley saw momentum in those states, noting that Kiley's polls in Iowa and New Hampshire "were on the money" in closely forecasting the actual results there.

"I think I've got the best polling operation around," Kerry said. Asked for Kiley's numbers on Feb. 3 states, the senator added: "We're going in strong. I mean, we're going in in pretty decent shape. We've got a lot of work to do. Haven't been there, going to fight hard. And we're going in in a competitive position."

At yesterday's rally on the campus of St. Louis Community College, Kerry talked about several themes that were close to Gephardt's heart, promising to create more jobs, look out for labor unions, and crack down on corporate influence in the White House -- at one point drawing applause by saying, "This is the Show Me State, and we're going to show George Bush the door."

Eagleton, standing next to Kerry on stage in front of an enormous American flag, lauded the senator as if he'd already locked up the nomination. "John, you hear that thunderous applause? I'd make a terrific vice president," said Eagleton, who was briefly George McGovern's running mate in 1972 until it was reported that he had been previously hospitalized for psychiatric treatment and electroshock therapy. "Or secretary of the Treasury -- on a commission basis."

Kerry also gave a bit of needling to Vilsack, who remained neutral before the Iowa caucuses, even though his wife, Christie, endorsed Kerry.

"Governor Vilsack, thank you for finally listening to your wife," Kerry said.

Susan Milligan of the Globe staff contributed to this article from Washington. Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.