2004 Tip Sheets
Sen. John Kerry (D)
Last updated: Oct. 29, 2004
Democrat John Kerry is a four-term senator from Massachusetts, decorated Vietnam veteran and lawyer. For more on Kerry's road to the nomination, see below.
• BORN: Denver, Dec. 11, 1943
• RAISED: Boston, other cities
• HOME: Lives in Washington and has a home in Boston
• FAMILY: Wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry; daughters from previous
marriage, Alexandra and Vanessa; stepsons, John, Andre, and
Christopher
• RELIGION: Catholic
• EDUCATION: Yale University, B.A. political science, 1966;
Boston College Law School, J.D., 1976
• MILITARY: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, 1966-70; Naval
Reserves, 1972-78
• CAREER: Assistant district attorney, Middlesex County,
1977-79; practicing attorney, 1979-82; lieutenant governor of
Massachusetts, 1982-84; U.S. senator from Massachusetts,
1984-present
• PERSONAL: Spent part of his early childhood at a Swiss boarding school. Earned a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts in Vietnam. Enjoys skiing, ice hockey, acoustic guitar. Rides a Harley. Favorite books are Flags of Our Fathers, by James Bradley and Ron Powers, and Undaunted Courage, by Stephen E.Ambrose.
Latest Polls
For more numbers on the 2004 presidential race, see Poll Track.
|
| Kerry (D) |
 |
| Bush (R) |
 |
|
A Zogby poll; conducted 10/28-31/04; surveyed 599 likely voters in Florida; margin of error +/- 4.1% (release, 10/31).
|
Campaign Ads
For more White House 2004 radio and television ads, see Ad Spotlight.
•
Issue Groups Pound Out Final Spate Of Ads (Nov. 1, 2004)
•
Candidates Make Last-Minute Appeals To Patriotism (Oct. 29, 2004)
•
Hawaii Says 'Aloha' To Renewed Advertising Interest (Oct. 28, 2004)
•
Candidates' Closing Spots Speak To Lessons, Leadership (Oct. 27, 2004)
•
Put 'Em Up: Candidates In Closing Battleground Showdown (Oct. 26, 2004)
•
Animals Star In Security-Focused Ad Campaigns (Oct. 25, 2004)
•
Florida Ads Target Enviro- & Health-Conscious Voters (Oct. 21, 2004)
•
Both Sides Seek To Appeal To Security Moms (Oct. 19, 2004)
•
White House Ads Ask Which Candidate Can Combat Terror (Oct. 18, 2004)
•
Kerry & Media Fund Tell Voters: Don't Be Fooled (Oct. 15, 2004)
News From Hotline
The latest coverage of John Kerry:
Search the Hotline archives for all coverage:
NOTE: To expand your search to include the National Journal,
CongressDaily and Technology Daily archives, click here.
On The Issues
For a side-by-side comparison of where each candidate stands on 200
different topics, see National Journal's Bush-Kerry Issues Guide.
Or, see where John Kerry stands on these key issues:
The Economy ·
Health Care ·
Iraq & Foreign Policy ·
Homeland Security ·
Education
Social Security ·
Tax Cuts ·
Social Issues ·
The Environment ·
Judicial Appointments
|
|
THE ECONOMY
Offers economic plan that he says would restore jobs and
rebuild the economy:
| • |
Proposes worker-training tax credits and loan programs. |
| • |
Wants to make small businesses growth engines through tax credits that would be reinvested into the company. |
| • |
Supports providing unemployment benefits for all unemployed Americans. |
| • |
Would cut so-called corporate welfare. |
Would provide more financial help to the states.
Proposes greater investment in schools, road construction,
and health care; expansion of broadband Internet access in rural
areas.
|
|
|
HEALTH CARE
Would allow all Americans to buy into the health care plan
used by members of Congress.
Proposes that the federal government pay for the 20 million
children in Medicaid if states will expand coverage of children
and families above poverty level and of childless adults below
poverty level.
Wants federal government to pay 75 percent of catastrophic
costs over $50,000 for those company insurance plans that cover
all employees. Says switch would lead to 10 percent reduction in
health insurance premiums.
Estimates his health plan would cost $72 billion a year; he
would pay for it by repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Would mandate electronic health records by 2008.
|
|
|
FOREIGN POLICY
War In Iraq
Voted for resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq,
but criticizes Bush administration's lack of "diplomacy" in not
establishing more of an international coalition.
Wants a global coalition, which includes U.N. involvement, to
take charge of rebuilding.
Says "achieving the peace" should be the goal and that
failure would undermine the war on terrorism.
Calls for gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Has formed a war council to guide his criticism of Bush
administration's handling of postwar Iraq.
Middle East
Calls for multilateral diplomatic effort to move the region
away from Islamic fundamentalism.
Afghanistan
Says the United States needs to ask allies and the United
Nations to help secure a lasting peace.
|
|
|
HOMELAND SECURITY
Would enlist National Guard in homeland security.
Would expand AmeriCorps and make security a core mission.
Would call on private sector to put technology to better use
in the war on terrorism.
Would provide federal funds for first responders' gear and
other resources.
Wants to fund programs for 100,000 additional police officers
and 100,000 additional firefighters.
Urges development of basic national standards for
preparedness.
Proposes modernization of identification systems to prevent
falsification of IDs.
Wants to reform domestic intelligence-gathering.
Supports creation of a detection system that can immediately
alert health officials about disease outbreaks.
Calls for training health care providers to detect
bioterrorism.
Wants improved security at ports, bridges, tunnels.
|
|
|
EDUCATION
Opposes school vouchers.
Supports increased funding for No Child Left Behind law.
Would expand early-childhood education programs.
Supports using federal funds to rebuild crumbling schools.
Calls for fully funding special education.
Would increase the maximum Pell Grant and supports "super" Pell Grants to provide additional assistance to students in the top 10 percent of their class.
Calls for a community service requirement for high school
students.
Proposes a "Service for College" initiative:
| • |
Would provide the equivalent of four years of tuition in exchange for two years of community service. |
| • |
Hopes to enroll 500,000 participants over 10 years. |
|
|
|
SOCIAL SECURITY
Proposes "payroll tax holiday" to exempt workers' first
$10,000 of income from Social Security taxes.
Opposes privatization of Social Security.
|
|
|
TAXES
Would repeal some of Bush tax cuts, keeping the ones for the
middle class and working poor.
|
|
|
SOCIAL ISSUES
Abortion Rights
Vows to block the nomination of any Supreme Court justice who
would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision
recognizing a right to abortion
Gay Rights
Supports civil unions but opposes gay marriage.
Calls for benefits for the partners of gay federal workers.
Supports enacting a federal ban on job discrimination based
on sexual orientation.
Supports expansion of hate crimes legislation to more fully
cover anti-gay violence.
Affirmative Action
Supports affirmative action.
Would work to expand federal hate crimes laws and to end
discrimination in the workplace and racial profiling.
|
|
|
ENVIRONMENT
Proposes a "New Manhattan Project" to make U.S. independent
from foreign oil within 10 years:
| • |
Would create "Energy Security Trust Fund" that would use oil royalties to invest in new technologies, such as fuel cells. |
| • |
Wants to require that 20 percent of electricity come from renewable resources by 2020. |
| • |
Proposes a Hydrogen Institute with a goal of putting 100,000 hydrogen-powered cars on the road by 2010 and 2.5 million by 2020. |
| • |
Would give automakers $1 billion in incentives to rebuild factories. |
| • |
Calls for expanding the nation's natural gas supply by
entering a "North American Compact" with Canada and Mexico to
transport the fuel. |
|
|
|
JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS
Says federal judges should not push an "extreme political
agenda."
|
Key Staffers
MARY BETH CAHILL
Campaign Manager
|
|
Kerry brought in Cahill, 49, to replace former campaign manager Jim Jordan, who left in a widely-publicized staff shake-up that also saw the departure of Kerry's press secretary and deputy finance director. Formerly chief of staff to Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, Cahill is known as a tough campaigner, having engineered difficult wins for Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. She's also worked for the women's fund-raising organization Emily's List and as White House public liaison under President Clinton.
|
MARCUS JADOTTE
Deputy Campaign Manager
|
|
Jadotte returned to
presidential politics after serving as chief of staff to Rep.
Peter Deutsch, D-Fla. A veteran of Florida politics, Jadotte was
the state director for the 2000 Gore campaign and served as the
Florida regional director for Clinton's re-election campaign.
Jadotte, 31, cites his former boss, the late Florida Gov. Lawton
Chiles, as his political hero. A Miami native, Jadotte received
an undergraduate degree from Florida State University.
|
LUIS NAVARRO
Political Director
|
|
Navarro left the Service
Employees International Union, where he served as national
political director, to join the Kerry campaign. Previously, he
was the Democratic National Committee's director for organizing,
Southeast coordinator for the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, and voter-file director for the North Carolina
Democratic Party. Navarro, 40, has also been a political
organizer for the National Association of Letter Carriers and
for the Maryland State Teachers' Association. He served as an
administrative assistant to Reps. Vic Fazio of California and Al
Wynn of Maryland. He is a graduate of the University of
Maryland.
|
DAVID WADE
National Traveling Press Secretary
|
|
Wade moved
to the campaign from Kerry's Senate office, where he served as
speechwriter and communications director. Previously, he was the
national president of the College Democrats of America. As a
seventh-grader, he participated in an 1988 debate as "Sen. Joe
Biden." The 27-year-old Wade, a native of Hamden, Conn.,
received his bachelor's degree from Brown University.
|
STEPHANIE CUTTER
Senior Advisor
|
|
Cutter replaces former press secretary Robert Gibbs, who quit in response to the forced resignation of former campaign manager Jim Jordan. Cutter comes to the campaign from the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where she served as communications director. Previously, she held the communications director post to Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, where she worked under new Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. Cutter also served as a deputy communications director in the Clinton White House.
|
PETER MARONEY
Finance Director
|
|
Maroney served as finance
director for Kerry's PAC before moving over to the campaign.
Maroney, Kerry's longest-serving fundraiser, left the office of
then-Rep. Joe Kennedy in 1997 to work with Kerry. In 2000,
Maroney, now 35, served as finance director of the Democratic
National Committee's Leadership 2000, which Kerry chaired.
Leadership 2000 was a group of wealthy donors who agreed to each
raise at least $350,000 in soft money.
|
JILL ALPER
Consultant
|
|
Alper served as political director
for the Democratic National Committee in the 1998 cycle and
directed the DNC's coordinated campaign during the 1996 cycle.
She served as Michigan state director for Bill Clinton's 1992
campaign. She describes that campaign as the best ever run.
Formerly a consultant with Squier Knapp Dunn, Alper, 38, joined
the Dewey Square Group in 2001. She earned her bachelor's degree
at Boston College.
|
JOHN NORRIS
Iowa State Director
|
|
In 2002, Norris was one of
the Democrats' most promising House candidates, but he lost to
Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Latham in Iowa's 4th District.
Norris has been chief of staff to Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and to
the state's only Democratic congressman, Rep. Leonard Boswell.
Norris has also served as state party chair. A native of Red
Oak, Iowa, Norris, 44, earned his undergraduate degree from
Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, and received a law degree
from the University of Iowa.
|
KEN ROBINSON
New Hampshire State Director
|
|
Robinson's first
job in politics was as a New Hampshire field staffer for the
1992 presidential campaign of former Sen. Bob Kerrey of
Nebraska. Robinson also worked on Jeanne Shaheen's successful
bid for governor of New Hampshire in 1996. Most recently,
Robinson, 34, has been the executive director of the New
Hampshire Democratic Party. A Massachusetts native, he is a 1991
graduate of Brown University.
|
Key Fund-Raisers
|
BOB FARMER
|
|
Farmer, who is Kerry's national treasurer, was
once the Democratic National Committee's top fundraiser. He was
the chief moneyman for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential bid and
was a top fundraiser for the presidential campaigns of Michael
Dukakis in 1988 and John Glenn in 1984. Farmer, an Ohio native
who later moved to Massachusetts, now lives in Florida. He has
helped Kerry tap into that state's rich donor base.
|
|
LOUIS B. SUSMAN
|
|
Susman, the Chicago-based vice chairman of
Salomon Smith Barney, is Kerry's national finance chairman. He
was finance chairman for Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential bid
and for Gephardt's 1988 presidential campaign.
|
|
ALAN SOLOMONT
|
|
Solomont, finance chairman for Kerry's home
state of Massachusetts, earned his money from nursing homes and
is CEO of the Newton, Mass.-based holding company Solomont
Bailis Ventures. He was finance chair of the Democratic National
Committee during President Clinton's re-election campaign, and
he went on to become national chairman of the Democratic
Business Council. Solomont, chairman of the Combined Jewish
Philanthropies of Greater Boston, played a key role in bringing
the 2004 Democratic National Convention to Boston.
|
Campaign Profile
|
Four-term Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., endured one of the more erratic presidential nominating campaigns in recent history. He began the race as the presumed front-runner, but failed to excite voters and the media, resulting in a very public and highly criticized shake-up of his staff in the summer of 2003. He then found himself lost in the wake of Howard Dean's campaign surge and eventually re-mortgaged his home for additional funds.
But Kerry's perserverance paid off with a stunning rebirth in Iowa, where his last-minute upset of Dean transformed the entire race. Kerry rode his momentum to a decisive win in New Hampshire and re-established himself as the man to beat for the nomination. One by one, his opponents fell by the wayside, leaving only Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., to challenge him. Kerry swept the 10 Super Tuesday states on March 2, drove Edwards from the race, and secured the needed delegates for the nomination after the Illinois primary two weeks later.
With the nomination his, Kerry faced an almost immediate advertising attack from President Bush. The Democrat's fund raising has remained strong, however, giving the Kerry campaign a degree of parity few expected. On July 6, Kerry delighted the Democratic faithful and chose the telegenic Edwards as his running mate, a move that marked the high point of the campaign thus far.
After a July boost in polls, Kerry emerged from his Boston convention with little-to-no-bounce, then found himself embroiled in a dialogue over the veracity of his Vietnam military record. Hard-hitting ads from the Swiftboat Veterans For Truth and more robust attacks from President Bush diminished Kerry's lead and left him trailing his opponent in all major polls by Labor Day.
|
Sources
The Almanac of American Politics; Sept. 27, 2003, National Journal special issue; NationalJournal.com staff research.
|
