Kerry criticizes Edwards's record
ATLANTA -- Senator John F. Kerry offered an unusually pointed critique yesterday of his leading rival in today's 10-state Super Tuesday presidential vote, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, describing him as less experienced on key issues that President Bush will use to campaign for reelection this year.
"I have a stronger, longer, broader, deeper record than John Edwards," Kerry told an NBC affiliate based in Albany, Ga., amid campaign stops yesterday in this state and two others -- Maryland and Ohio -- where Edwards is mounting a serious challenge to the Democratic front-runner.
"John Edwards, I respect -- he's been in the Senate since 1999. But there is no showing that he has a stronger record than I do with respect to putting people back to work and what we need to do to show the leadership of the future," Kerry said. "I also believe I have the experience in foreign policy, national security, and military affairs, which is critical if we are going to prove to the nation that we Democrats know how to keep the country safe."
Opinion polls indicate Kerry may face a tight race in Georgia, given Edwards's Southern roots, yet a senior adviser to Kerry said yesterday that the campaign was not overly concerned. The adviser cited an in-house analysis indicating that Edwards must win 63 percent of the vote in every primary and caucus from today until the nomination season ends in order only to catch up to Kerry's current lead in convention delegates.
"We've only won one state with 63 percent of the vote, Nevada, so the mathematical situation makes it very hard for Edwards to win the nomination," the adviser said.
Last night, Kerry drew several hundred people at a rally at Atlanta's Tabernacle theater, where he stuck to his standard, lengthy attacks on Bush and completely ignored Edwards. Kerry praised the progress on civil rights in Georgia and the South, and also picked up a last-minute endorsement from Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta.
Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.
