Powell defies Kerry to list world support
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell criticized John F. Kerry yesterday for suggesting that foreign leaders want him elected president, and he challenged the presumptive Democratic nominee to name names.
"I don't know what foreign leaders Senator Kerry is talking about. It's an easy charge, an easy assertion to make. But if he feels it is that important an assertion to make, he ought to list some names," Powell said on "Fox News Sunday."
"If he can't list names, then perhaps he should find something else to talk about."
Powell also labeled "offensive" Kerry's assertion that the United States delayed, for political reasons, a recent deal with Libya to destroy its weapons of mass destruction.
"It's absurd. I don't know what Senator Kerry is talking about," Powell said. "It was not held up for any campaign or political purpose."
Speaking at a fund-raiser last Monday in Florida, Kerry said: "I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but, boy, they look at you and say, `You got to win this. You got to beat this guy. We need a new policy,' things like that."
The Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee have argued that such unverifiable comments raise questions about Kerry's truthfulness. The committee has begun sending out e-mails entitled "John Kerry: International Man of Mystery," challenging his assertions.
During a town hall meeting here in Lehigh Valley yesterday, Kerry was also challenged by a sign-maker who later acknowledged he was a registered Republican and prior Bush voter.
"Did you meet with any foreign leaders?" asked Cedric Brown, 52, as the audience of hundreds rose up against Brown as he continued interrupting the senator.
"I've met with lots of foreign leaders, but let me just say something to you, sir. Just a minute. Just a minute," Kerry said. "I'm not going to betray a private conversation with anybody and get some leader -- they have to deal with this administration."
Kerry later said the issue was not whether he met face to face with foreign leaders or spoke with them by phone or through third parties. Rather, he said, the issue was whether the Bush administration's foreign policy has isolated it from allies and other foreign nations, leaving some leaders yearning for a change in the White House. Nonetheless, Kerry appeared to concede some imprecision in his statements.
"Sometimes as a candidate you may pick an inartful way of doing that that isn't as effective as other ways," he said during a news conference. "I'm going to make sure as I go forward here, and I am very careful to pick ways that nobody will misinterpret what I'm saying, and I think that's important, obviously. But what I've said is true, what I've said has been documented in any number of ways, and what I've said is a central issue for our nations."
Kerry was campaigning in two general-election battlegrounds, Pennsylvania and Ohio, before he returned to Washington for a national security speech and meeting today with one of the two other remaining presidential contenders, Al Sharpton of New York. According to an Associated Press tally, Kerry gained the necessary 2,162 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination during Saturday's Kansas caucuses. An aide said Sharpton was coming in to talk about ways he could support Kerry. Also scheduled to attend is Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which formerly backed Howard Dean. Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street is also expected to attend. No formal endorsement was expected today, the aide said, but Kerry was interested in having Sharpton help him with outreach to minority audiences. The other Democrat still in the race, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, has vowed to remain a candidate until the convention.
As has been his practice since Iowa, Kerry held a lengthy town hall meeting with voters, this time in Bethlehem, which has been devastated by job losses at two former industrial powerhouses,
The senator was being questioned on an array of topics when Brown stood up and interrupted him as he talked about rebuilding the country's standing in the international community. As Brown kept challenging Kerry, the senator asked the audience for quiet.
"This is democracy, this is the way it works. This is fine, I have no problem with it," Kerry said. Later, as Brown continued, Kerry challenged him, asking, "Are you a Democrat or a Republican? What are you? . . . Did you vote for George Bush?"
Brown replied, "I voted for George Bush, but . . ."
Kerry then interrupted him, saying, "Thank you. See, democracy works both ways." Aides later remarked on the similarity between Brown's criticism and that leveled by Powell during his earlier talk show appearance.
Kerry later opened his news conference by accusing the Bush administration of failing to adequately fund and provide necessary flexibility in its landmark "No Child Left Behind" education overhaul. Kerry voted for the measure in 2002, but has since lambasted the administration for failing to provide the necessary money to implement it. Yesterday Kerry said the administration was $8 billion short of its promises.
Education Secretary Rod Paige renewed the debate in a story yesterday in The New York Times. Paige said the administration planned to soften teacher certification and mandated student participation rates on standardized tests required by the law. Legislatures across the country, including many controlled by Republicans, have branded the law an unfunded mandate and insufficiently flexible.
"For two years or more, the Bush administration remained inflexible and did not provide the funding. They chose to walk away from the reform effort that we have made," Kerry said. "Now, suddenly, in the heat of an election race, they've decided to try to work some of the flexibility, but it's still not enough and they are not providing funding."
Kerry later flew to Akron, Ohio, for a rally attended by a crowd of more than 500.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. 
