Democrats on Hill give Kerry hero's welcome on return

The semi-public display of affection, heard through an open Capitol door and later replicated for cameras as Kerry held a news conference backed by a phalanx of senators, highlighted the rapid coalescing of support for Kerry since he knocked off his last major nomination rival last week.

"I think that what has happened to him, as I see it, as a friend and colleague, is that he has the platform now that he's always wanted to have," said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California. "It's made him happier. It's fulfilled him. It's made him better at friendship, at work, every way."

The unity theme was punctuated later in the day as Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, the last major challenger to drop from the nomination race, introduced Kerry to about 100 of his campaign donors in an effort to solicit their support for his colleague heading into the general election. The North Carolinian -- regarded as a potential running mate -- also held a private, half-hour meeting with Kerry that began with Edwards saying "Hey, brother" to Kerry when they met at the door of Edwards's office in the Capitol.

Later, heading into the donors' meeting, Kerry and Edwards paused on the sidewalk outside a hotel two blocks from the White House as photographers clicked away. Asked if reporters were looking at the Democratic ticket, Edwards laughed before saying, "We're not taking questions today."

Edwards then turned to head into the hotel, but Kerry stayed back a step, feigning incredulity. "See that?" Kerry asked with a smile. "He's answering for me."

The handshakes, backslapping, and smiles balanced longstanding criticism that Kerry has pursued his own political agenda in the Senate, aggravating his colleagues and distancing him from members of the Massachusetts House delegation. Kerry's visit to the Senate followed three similar bridge-building meetings on the House side of Capitol Hill, including one held with its Democratic membership in the Library of Congress after Republican leaders refused to authorize meeting space in the Capitol.

Introducing Kerry to his fellow House members, Representative Edward J. Markey of Malden, dean of the Massachusetts House delegation, said, according to one person who was present at Kerry's meetings on Capitol Hill: "The Viet Cong couldn't stop him. Richard Nixon couldn't stop him. George Bush can't stop him. He's going to keep fighting until he wins."

Kerry also met separately with the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus before traveling across the Capitol for his Senate meetings. In each spot, according to the person who was there, Kerry repeated that he wanted help from everybody in the party for his campaign.

In an interview before he escorted Kerry to the Senate luncheon, Senator Edward M. Kennedy also struck the unity theme.

"The party has never, in my time that I've been in politics, come together like it's coming together," the Massachusetts senator said. He chuckled as he recalled the post-primary period in which his brother, John F. Kennedy, won the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination and continued to spar with some Democrats, including his future running mate, then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. "I could talk to you, in 1960, [about] Lyndon's leaking records about my brother, you know," the senator said.

During the meeting of Senate Democrats, Kerry was introduced by Kennedy and Senate minority leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Later, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2008, was unreserved in her support.

"I think he is communicating effectively and he has a lot to say, and the American people are starting to question these very simple, kind of peremptory remarks that come out of the president that often are not accurate, often don't respond to the issue at hand," she said. "I think they appreciate somebody of Senator Kerry's intelligence and knowledge explaining issues and pointing out how things do work."

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.