A former Bush backer endorses KerryIacocca praises plan for new jobsSAN JOSE -- Senator John F. Kerry won the coveted endorsement yesterday from a onetime supporter of President Bush, former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, who praised Kerry's proposals for creating 10 million jobs across the country and assailed the Bush administration's economic record.
The endorsement by Iacocca, who said Kerry would make ''one hell of a CEO," sent spirits soaring in the Democrat's camp. Kerry and his advisers said it helped show that the Massachusetts senator was a safe bet for Republicans and independent businessmen who backed Bush in 2000 but may have second thoughts because of job losses, particularly in manufacturing, during the first years of the Bush administration. In the 2000 presidential race, Iacocca appeared in campaign commercials for Bush. In the 1980s, he rallied business leaders behind Ronald Reagan. His legendary role reviving the US auto industry in the second half of the 20th century has made him a ''god," as Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter put it, in the political battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. ''All of my best friends are Republicans, and they ask me, 'Are you crazy or something? Why are you doing this?" Iacocca told an audience of several hundred at San Jose State University, as Kerry grinned, nodded his head, and applauded. ''Well, it's simple. I tell them the world is changing. Our country is changing. And we need a leader who understands that change that's taking place. And most important, we need a leader who will level with us about how we can adapt to that change and make things change for the better." Kerry beamed as he took the microphone from Iacocca, and said he would use the executive's success at Chrysler as a guide for his goals as president to bring America ''record profits, new jobs, new leadership, and a revived reputation."
The Bush team downplayed Iacocca's decision to cross parties for Kerry. Campaign manager Ken Mehlman said in a conference call with reporters that many high-tech executives were supporting Bush, including Michael Dell of ''Obviously, different business leaders make different decisions. Mr. Iacocca has made a different decision this time, and it's up to each business leader to speak for him or herself," Mehlman said. For a second day, Bush advisers hammered Kerry's campaign swing through California as a ''pessimism and misery tour," putting a negative cast on the Democrat's criticisms of the president's economic record. On their campaign website, Bush aides also began broadcasting a video, titled ''Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-Eyed," that featured harsh remarks or theatrical moments by allies like Al Gore, Howard Dean, and others that were intended to make Democrats appear out of control and, as Mehlman put it, filled with ''rage." It included a sound bite from the primary season in which Kerry tells voters that Bush's economic plans would ''kick your" rear end. At San Jose State yesterday, sprinkling his speech with references to Iacocca's technological and management priorities, Kerry promised a Silicon Valley audience that he would create 1.2 million high-tech jobs if elected president by connecting all of America with high-speed Internet access. He said he would provide part of the US broadband spectrum to firefighters, police officers, and other first responders by the end of 2006. Connecting first responders to high-speed Internet, Kerry advisers said, would help them communicate instantly during a terrorist attack or other emergency when normal communication systems are failing or destroyed. ''We need a leadership that says if Bangalore in India can be completely wired, then so should all of America," Kerry said, referring indirectly to US companies that have moved jobs abroad to India and other sites that offer high-tech facilities and a lower-cost workforce. Kerry said he would provide $2 billion in tax incentives over 10 years to businesses and communities to extend broadband technology nationwide. He argued that improved Internet access would boost productivity and spur creation of tens of thousands of jobs. He also cast the technology initiative in terms of educational equity, saying it would give all children and students the same tools to prepare for jobs in science, high tech, and other fields. ''It's about a little boy or a little girl in some city in America or some rural community in America, rural Florida or somewhere, who can access the same research for their science project as the child from the wealthiest suburb in the country," Kerry said. ''It's about fairness -- it's about who we are as a nation." ''Amen," said a woman in the back of the college auditorium. Last night, Kerry was scheduled to attend a gala fund-raiser at the Disney concert hall in Los Angeles, headlined by Barbra Streisand and attended by Willie Nelson, Billy Crystal, and other celebrities. The event, which had been postponed from earlier this month after the death of President Reagan on June 5, was expected to raise $5 million, bringing Kerry's two-day total at California fund-raisers to about $10 million.
Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
|
