Post by ErinB on Mar 25, 2004 13:39:28 GMT -5
Kerry, Dean Vow to Push Bush From Office
apnews1.iwon.com//article/20040325/D81HI0700.html?PG=home&SEC=news
Mar 25, 1:08 PM (ET)
By NEDRA PICKLER
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Kerry and Howard Dean put aside their disagreements over tax cuts and the war in Iraq on Thursday and promised their supporters they would combine forces to help the Massachusetts senator drive President Bush out of the White House.
"We had a tough campaign here," Dean said as he endorsed Kerry at a rally at George Washington University. "It is tough. We're both tough competitors. But there are things in the campaign we talked about focusing on the things that divide us. Now we are going to talk about the things that we have in common."
Kerry said he had "respect and, more importantly, admiration for the conversation with America that Howard Dean began and we will now continue."
"We indeed looked for the differences, but I tell you something, that we had to look hard for the differences," Kerry said.
The endorsement by Dean, who was a bitter critic of Kerry during the primary campaign, was another signal that Kerry has become the leader of the Democratic Party as its presumed presidential nominee.
Former Presidents Carter and Clinton, 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore, and all of Kerry's primary rivals, except Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun, were attending a party celebration dinner Thursday night. The show of unity was expected to raise more than $11 million for the national committee.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees endorsed Kerry after a unanimous vote of the union's executive council. With 1.3 million members, AFSCME is the second-largest union in the AFL-CIO and boasts one of organized labor's largest and most savvy political operations.
"With John Kerry, we can take back the White House from a president who works for the corporations and the very rich instead of working families," AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said in a statement.
Dean pledged to use his new grass-roots organization for Kerry's bid and said the country would be devastated by another four years of what he called a "right-wing ideological agenda" and weak leadership.
"Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America," Dean asked the crowd, "a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star from the battlefields of Vietnam?"
Kerry met privately with the former Vermont governor and his congressional supporters and donors before the rally. Dean asked his backers to support Kerry and not stray to the antiestablishment campaign of independent candidate Ralph Nader, who has been shown in polls to pull votes from Kerry and give an advantage to Bush.
Earlier Thursday, Kerry and Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said the party, with $25 million and no debt, was better prepared than ever before to challenge the GOP and its incumbent president.
"The tools are in place," McAuliffe told the National Newspaper Publishers Association, leaders of black newspapers around the country. "Now we need to make sure to use these tools to make sure that John Kerry is elected president."
McAuliffe promised the publishers that the DNC would buy advertising in the black press, and Kerry said he embraced the commitment to advertise in black newspapers.
"I am determined that in this election, in this race, during the course of our campaign, we're going to reach out in an unprecedented fashion," Kerry said. "We are asking you to engage in an unprecedented way. We need to build the greatest grass-roots movement in the history of this country."
In the coming days, Kerry plans a series of speeches to outline his key campaign issues and differences with Bush. He delivers the first speech on Friday in Detroit, which aides billed as a major policy address dealing with jobs, Kerry's plans to create them and his critique of Bush for presiding over the loss of more than 2.2 million jobs.
Aides said Kerry would give at least three speeches focusing on economic issues, the area where Kerry believes he can make inroads against Bush. Polls show a tight race between Bush and Kerry, with the senator doing best on domestic, economic matters and the Republican incumbent strongest on national security and fighting terrorism.
So WHEN exactly is this "party?" Will the press be there?
apnews1.iwon.com//article/20040325/D81HI0700.html?PG=home&SEC=news
Mar 25, 1:08 PM (ET)
By NEDRA PICKLER
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Kerry and Howard Dean put aside their disagreements over tax cuts and the war in Iraq on Thursday and promised their supporters they would combine forces to help the Massachusetts senator drive President Bush out of the White House.
"We had a tough campaign here," Dean said as he endorsed Kerry at a rally at George Washington University. "It is tough. We're both tough competitors. But there are things in the campaign we talked about focusing on the things that divide us. Now we are going to talk about the things that we have in common."
Kerry said he had "respect and, more importantly, admiration for the conversation with America that Howard Dean began and we will now continue."
"We indeed looked for the differences, but I tell you something, that we had to look hard for the differences," Kerry said.
The endorsement by Dean, who was a bitter critic of Kerry during the primary campaign, was another signal that Kerry has become the leader of the Democratic Party as its presumed presidential nominee.
Former Presidents Carter and Clinton, 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore, and all of Kerry's primary rivals, except Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun, were attending a party celebration dinner Thursday night. The show of unity was expected to raise more than $11 million for the national committee.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees endorsed Kerry after a unanimous vote of the union's executive council. With 1.3 million members, AFSCME is the second-largest union in the AFL-CIO and boasts one of organized labor's largest and most savvy political operations.
"With John Kerry, we can take back the White House from a president who works for the corporations and the very rich instead of working families," AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said in a statement.
Dean pledged to use his new grass-roots organization for Kerry's bid and said the country would be devastated by another four years of what he called a "right-wing ideological agenda" and weak leadership.
"Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America," Dean asked the crowd, "a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star from the battlefields of Vietnam?"
Kerry met privately with the former Vermont governor and his congressional supporters and donors before the rally. Dean asked his backers to support Kerry and not stray to the antiestablishment campaign of independent candidate Ralph Nader, who has been shown in polls to pull votes from Kerry and give an advantage to Bush.
Earlier Thursday, Kerry and Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said the party, with $25 million and no debt, was better prepared than ever before to challenge the GOP and its incumbent president.
"The tools are in place," McAuliffe told the National Newspaper Publishers Association, leaders of black newspapers around the country. "Now we need to make sure to use these tools to make sure that John Kerry is elected president."
McAuliffe promised the publishers that the DNC would buy advertising in the black press, and Kerry said he embraced the commitment to advertise in black newspapers.
"I am determined that in this election, in this race, during the course of our campaign, we're going to reach out in an unprecedented fashion," Kerry said. "We are asking you to engage in an unprecedented way. We need to build the greatest grass-roots movement in the history of this country."
In the coming days, Kerry plans a series of speeches to outline his key campaign issues and differences with Bush. He delivers the first speech on Friday in Detroit, which aides billed as a major policy address dealing with jobs, Kerry's plans to create them and his critique of Bush for presiding over the loss of more than 2.2 million jobs.
Aides said Kerry would give at least three speeches focusing on economic issues, the area where Kerry believes he can make inroads against Bush. Polls show a tight race between Bush and Kerry, with the senator doing best on domestic, economic matters and the Republican incumbent strongest on national security and fighting terrorism.
So WHEN exactly is this "party?" Will the press be there?