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Kerry's aides said that he would spend most of the Republican convention week relaxing at his family's seaside sanctuary on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts but that he would not miss the chance to speak to the veterans' group, a quadrennial ritual for presidential contenders. President Bush, who has spoken to the Legion every summer since 2000, has also been invited but has not yet confirmed an appearance..
"He's doing it because the American Legion is scheduled at that time," said Tad Devine, a top adviser to Kerry. "If it was the week before or the week after, he would do it then. We weren't looking for an opportunity to campaign during the Republican convention.".
For Kerry, whose own Democratic nominating convention last month showcased his combat credentials to bolster his case for being a commander in chief, the veterans in Nashville represent a critical constituency. His speech there will come two weeks after the one scheduled for Wednesday at the convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cincinnati, where Kerry plans to respond to Bush's global military realignment plan, which would pull 70,000 troops out of Europe and Asia..
"He's a member of the American Legion," said Kerry's communications director, Stephanie Cutter. "He was invited to come address the group, and we felt like it was an important speech to give and an important time to give it.".
Campaigning during the other candidate's convention is unusual but not unheard of: Cutter pointed out that Bob Dole, the Republican nominee in 1996, had also broken the unwritten protocol by flitting between rallies and the beach during a "working vacation" in California, and Bill Clinton, in 1992, had barnstormed across Michigan as Bush's father made his convention speech..
Charlie Cook, who edits a prominent political newsletter in Washington, said Kerry's move was unsurprising, considering how close both sides believe the election will be..
"That's why all the rules get chucked out the window," Cook said..
"Nobody wants to be sitting in the chair the rest of his life thinking about the 500 things they could have done differently. Is it a break from tradition? Yes. Could someone argue it's in bad form? Yes. Are we surprised? No.".
Kerry is scheduled to speak to the Legion veterans on Sept. 1, when Vice President Dick Cheney plans to be in New York accepting his renomination to the No. 2 post. Kerry has responded in this campaign to attacks by Cheney by contrasting his own service in Vietnam with Cheney's draft deferments..
As Cheney was during the Democratic convention in Boston, Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, will be on the campaign trail throughout the Republican convention, though Cutter said she was unsure of his schedule. The Democrats also plan a rapid-response operation in New York, as the Republicans had in Boston, but Jenny Backus, who is leading the effort, said Tuesday that she was not ready to discuss its details..
Kerry plans to pass most of the convention week on Nantucket. A four-term Massachusetts senator, Kerry spends far more time on Nantucket than at his wife's retreat in the Idaho resort town of Ketchum, but it is in Ketchum that he has spent 72 hours recovering from three weeks of nearly nonstop campaigning. Three bike rides, four restaurant meals, morning Mass and a stop for a snack made up Kerry's mini-vacation..
Kerry said this was only his third visit to Sun Valley in summer, though he spent a week skiing and snowboarding in Ketchum in March. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, has been vacationing in Ketchum since 1966; in 1987, she and her first husband, Senator H. John Heinz III, imported a 15th-century English barn to be their vacation home's centerpiece..
Throughout the weekend, Heinz Kerry greeted townsfolk by name and with hugs as the couple went to Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church and dined at Ketchum hot spots..
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