Posted on 07/26/2004 10:06:22 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BOSTON - With Bill Clinton (news - web sites) getting a moment in the spotlight Monday at the opening of the Democratic convention, John Kerry (news - web sites) pressed his case in Florida on why voters should put him the White House in place of President Bush (news - web sites).
"We need to push the curve of discovery," Kerry said while meeting with workers at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites) at Cape Canaveral. "We need a president who believes in science and who's prepared to invest America's efforts to cure Parkinson's and AIDS (news - web sites) and diabetes and Alzheimer's, and do stem cell research."
He appealed to Republicans and independents to "stop and think" about who they will vote for in November. There's nothing conservative about "piling debt on the shoulders of our children and driving the deficits up as far as the eye can see," he said.
Kerry praised Clinton for balancing the government's budget, reducing its debt and creating 23 million new jobs. "I also want to create better jobs."
Convention delegates in Boston readied for an evening of speeches focused on Kerry's stated vision for America: a strong economy, a growing middle class, affordable health care and a beefed-up military.
Clinton, the Democrats' last occupant of the White House, dismissed any idea he might overshadow Kerry.
"I feel good about the way he relates to voters," Clinton said Sunday. As for himself: "I'm going to give a talk and get out of town."
In route to the key state of Florida, Kerry stopped Sunday night in Boston for a surprise appearance at the Yankees-Red Sox game, where he threw out the first pitch. Boston won, 9-6. He returns Wednesday, the eve of his acceptance speech.
Clinton's wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites), was to introduce the former president, after speeches from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former President Carter and Al Gore (news - web sites), who lost to Bush in 2000 after a drawn-out ballot recount in Florida.
Kerry said a team of lawyers is examining voting problems to try to prevent a repeat of that dispute.
The convention is the first since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and police and military authorities were on alert. Camouflaged military police kept watch from elevated rail lines overlooking the FleetCenter, the sports arena where the 4,350 delegates are gathering through Thursday. Helicopters circled overhead, and bomb-sniffing dogs and officers with guns patrolled nearby streets.
Metal barricades about 7 feet high ringed the FleetCenter, directing foot traffic and limiting access. Some 40 miles of roads in and out of the city will be closed during the convention, but expected traffic gridlock failed to develop Monday morning. Many commuters apparently heeded the urgings of city officials to stay home.
Despite the looming terrorism threat, the convention's message was relentlessly upbeat, underscoring the unity behind Kerry as the man Democrats hope will drive Bush from office.
No platform fight loomed, and the relative lack of Bush-bashing was a strategy conceived in part because of polls indicating Kerry's Democratic base is solidly behind him. The relatively small portion of undecided voters instead wants to hear more about him and his plans.
"Our objective is to show the personal side of Senator Kerry — his character, his Vietnam service, his leadership qualities," Richardson, the convention's chairman, said Monday on CNN's "American Morning."
"The reality is that the American people don't focus on who they are going to vote for entirely until the conventions period," he said. "What you want to do is draw them in with a message of what we're going to do."
Protests remained mostly scattered Sunday. Two groups — about 3,000 protesting mainly against the Iraq (news - web sites) war and about 1,000 abortion opponents — exchanged angry words blocks from the FleetCenter on Sunday. A few anti-abortion protesters lay in fetal positions in the street as fellow protesters drew chalk outlines around them. Two people were taken into custody.
"This is just the beginning of a week of protests," said Larry Holmes, spokesman for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, the coalition of activist groups that staged the anti-war march.
Among the rallies, parties and receptions scheduled Monday was one featuring filmmaker Michael Moore, whose Bush-bashing "Fahrenheit 9/11" recently became the first documentary to top the $100 million mark domestically.
In keeping with tradition, Bush is spending the next several days out of the public eye at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
But Republican strategists are in Boston, tucked away at a building near the FleetCenter where they will answer Democratic criticisms and focus on painting Kerry as a liberal.
"The one thing you won't hear John Kerry talk about this week is the record that earned him the ranking of the Senate's most out of the mainstream member," said Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Bush's re-election campaign.
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On the Net:
Kerry-Edwards campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com
Bush-Cheney campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com
Democratic National Convention: http://www.dems2004.org
Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-MA, speaks at a campaign stop at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites) in Cape Canaveral Fla. Monday, July 26, 2004. Behind him are Sens. Bill Nelson, D-FL, left, and Sen. John Glenn, D-OH, both former astronauts. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
"Our objective is to show the personal side of Senator Kerry — his character, his Vietnam service, his leadership qualities," Richardson, the convention's chairman, said Monday on CNN's "American Morning."
Curve? Does he know that a constant curve results in a circle?
So... Kerry goes and stumps in front of a bunch of people whose livelihoods depend on the space program... and the science he talks about revolves around stem cell research.
John Kerry is not a rocket scientist.
Film director Michael Moore reacts to reporters as he tours the convention floor at the FleetCenter in Boston Monday, July 26, 2004, before the start of the Democratic National Convention. Moore directed the controversial documentary 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' a condemnation of President Bush (news - web sites)'s actions following the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Wanna bet Clinton goes way over his time limit? This is what he's been waiting for since the day he left the white house: center stage with all his adoring public drooling!
Mr. Kerry, there's nothing conservative about supporting partial-birth abortion, denying funding to US troops, and having a voting record more liberal than Ted Kennedy...
I'm always surprised he's not stuck dead by lightning when he says stuff like that.
There was an earlier report that Hillary's introduction of bill would run 15 minutes!
Big deal. I fought in Korea.
Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-MA, walks with Sen. John Glenn, D-OH, right, past a Mercury Atlas rocket, similar to the one that Glenn rode as the first American to orbit the Earth, at the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites) in Cape Canaveral Fla., Monday, July 26, 2004. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
I am disappointed they are not putting Michael Moore, Whoopi and the rest up there to remind the country of what the real libs are like and what we will really get if Kerry was Pres which he won't be.
Cape Canaveral......................
What a GREAT place to stump on...... "Parkinson's, AIDS, diabetes and Alzheimer's, and do stem cell research."
I guess Kerry saying we should go to MARS would fall flat.......
If only he'd done that eleven years ago, the Nation would have been spared a great deal of grief.
He's got that BoToX stare into space thing going on..
Does his appearance at the Kennedy Space Center indicate his support for President Bush's space initiative to return to the moon and then on to Mars?
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's super-dork! A little too much fake tan today Mr. Kerry?
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Pushing a Kerry ping.
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