|
By most accounts
John Kerry is a competitive man who is used to winning -- in sports,
in academics, in battle and in politics. His first run for public
office, however, ended in a stinging defeat.
 In
1972, after what political analyst Michael Barone called "some
widely observed district shopping," Kerry ran for a Massachusetts
congressional seat and lost. The defeat reportedly left him disillusioned
but determined to regroup.
After the
campaign he entered law school at Boston College. After graduating
in 1976, he went to work as an assistant district attorney for
Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Kerry first
won statewide political office in 1982, when he ran for lieutenant
governor on the same ticket as Michael Dukakis. In 1984 Kerry
won his current U.S. Senate seat, defeating Republican Raymond
Shamie 55 percent to 45 percent. Kerry was reelected in 1990,
defeating GOP challenger Jim Rappaport 57 percent to 43 percent.
In the Senate,
Kerry has built a reputation as a reliably liberal legislator.
Klein reported that Kerry votes with senior Massachusetts Sen.
Ted Kennedy, a well-known liberal Democrat, "about 96 percent
of the time."
"But
it's important to look at the other 4 percent," David McKean,
Kerry's chief of staff told Klein.
Barone writes
that there are differences of "nuance and interest"
between Kennedy and Kerry, citing the junior senator's support
for free trade agreements and his inclination to support "an
expansive U.S. foreign and military policy."
Kerry has also been critical of the bureaucracy of public education
and teacher tenure, a stance that places him in opposition to
teacher's unions, which traditionally support Democratic candidates.
In the Senate,
Kerry has also become an influential member of a bipartisan fraternity
-- Vietnam veterans. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a
fellow veteran, is one of his closest friends in the body. Kerry
led a Senate committee that concluded no U.S. soldiers were still
being held as prisoners in Vietnam, and Kerry and McCain worked
with the Clinton administration to normalize relations with Vietnam
in 1995.
In 1996 popular
Massachusetts GOP Gov. William Weld challenged Kerry for his Senate
seat. The campaign "was the rarest of events in latter-day
American politics: a civil, closely contested, intelligent and
wildly entertaining brawl," wrote Klein. Kerry narrowly defeated
Weld 52 percent to 45 percent.
In
2002 Kerry cruised to reelection, defeating Libertarian candidate
Michael Cloud 80 percent to 18 percent.
--
By Jason Manning, Online NewsHour
|
