Leading Democrats Come Together in Support of Kerry

WASHINGTON —  With two former presidents leading the way, Democrats came together Thursday night for a show of unity behind John F. Kerry at a gala celebration that raised $11 million.

Some of that money -- a record for a single fundraiser by the party -- will help support Kerry’s presidential campaign, Democratic officials said.

A crowd of 2,000 roared as former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter held their arms aloft, joining hands with Kerry and seven rivals vanquished by the Massachusetts senator in a lightning-fast round of primaries from mid-January through early this month.

The gala highlighted a day of fence-mending and coalition-building by Kerry. Before the event, he met with members of the Democratic National Committee, supporters of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and leaders of the American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees.

AFSCME, the nation’s largest union, once supported Dean but announced it would now back Kerry.

Accustomed to fighting on their way to choosing a standard-bearer, the Democrats seemed giddy that they held settled on Kerry so quickly.

With enough delegates already accumulated to claim his party’s nomination at its convention in late July, Kerry headlined the evening with what amounted to a nomination acceptance speech. He promised to fight for average Americans by restoring jobs and reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

He repeatedly disparaged President Bush for policies he said “have not worked, are not working and will not work.”

Much of Kerry’s 27-minute speech focused on the economy. “We need a new economic policy that puts an end to wasteful tax cuts for the wealthy and offers new incentives for manufacturing companies to create and keep good jobs here in the United States of America,” he said.

Kerry also pledged to end “reckless runaway deficits” and to complete plans first broached by President Truman in 1948 to create a comprehensive national healthcare plan.

Warming up the crowd for Kerry were the two former presidents and former Vice President Al Gore, who narrowly lost the White House in 2000 to Bush.

“John Kerry knows we are going in the wrong direction. He knows what to do to turn it around,” Clinton said.

In a reference to Kerry’s military service and political career, Clinton added: “So I ask you to do one simple thing: I ask you to look at John Kerry tonight and say one thing to him that he has been saying to us his entire adult life, ‘Send me.’ ”

Clinton said Bush had squandered the unity that the nation and much of the world felt after the 2001 terrorist attacks. “It was an astonishing opportunity that has not existed since the end of the Second World War,” Clinton said. “The party in power in this town abandoned their stated purpose as compassionate conservatives in favor of a ruthless attempt to concentrate power and wealth.”

The former president said the absurdity of Republican economic policy became clear to him when he and other wealthy citizens received tax breaks, while, he said, 300,000 children lost day-care programs and Social Security funds for working people were depleted.

Clinton and Carter praised the other Democrats who Kerry bested to stand on the brink of the nomination. In particular, they singled out former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

“I want to thank the courageous Howard Dean for drawing a sharp distinction [with Bush] when it really wasn’t the thing to do,” Carter said.

Carter also took a shot at the independent candidacy of consumer advocate Ralph Nader. “Ralph, go back to ... examining the rear ends of automobiles and don’t risk costing Democrats the White House this year, as you did four years ago.”

For a party used to internal strife, Democrats were gushing with words like “unprecedented” and “inspiring” about the moment when the two former presidents joined hands with seven Democrats who vied with Kerry for this year’s nomination: Dean, Sens. Bob Graham of Florida, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina, the Rev. Al Sharpton, retired Gen. Wesley Clark and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, another former candidate, had a speaking engagement in the San Francisco Bay Area and could not attend. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio remains in the race.

Among the other party luminaries in attendance were the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

The diminished stature of the other candidates became clear even before the start of the night’s program, when each of the seven also-rans mounted a small stage inside the cavernous National Building Museum to endorse Kerry.

Sharpton received a roar from the crowd when he pronounced: “I wore a tuxedo because I wanted George Bush to know I am getting ready already for [Kerry’s] inauguration.”

Clinton is likely to continue headlining major fundraisers and campaigning among core Democratic groups, particularly African Americans, who polls show continue to hold him in high regard.

One Democratic strategist said Clinton will be used primarily to raise money and to bring out key constituencies.

Clinton’s role will be larger than in the 2000 election but with a wary eye to not “turn off the independents you need to capture in a general election,” the official said.

Earlier in the day, Kerry and Dean appeared at a rally before nearly 1,000 students at George Washington University.

Noting that the biggest chapter of “Generation Dean” was based at the university, Dean said: “In the end, it is Generation Dean voting for John Kerry that is going to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas, where he belongs.”

The onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination asked the crowd, standing under bright skies, “Who do you trust more?” on issues ranging from job creation to the environment to healthcare. Each time Dean asked the question, the throng shouted back: “Kerry!”