Kerry hoping to sweep 'Super Tuesday' states
US Senator John Kerry vowed that he would wage a bare-knuckled campaign against President George W Bush as he sought a “Super Tuesday” sweep in 10 states to lay claim to the Democratic Party’s nomination.
Mr Kerry highlighted the short political career of main rival John Edwards in an interview with a television station in Georgia, where advisers to both candidates say the freshman North Carolina senator poses the biggest challenge today.
“I have a stronger, longer, broader, deeper record than John Edwards,” Mr Kerry, a 19-year Senate veteran, said.
“John Edwards I respect – he’s been in the Senate since 1999. But there is no showing that he has a stronger record than I do with respect to putting people back to work and what we need to do to show the leadership of the future.”
On the eve of their 10-state showdown, Mr Edwards faced signs of political distress as Mr Kerry’s last major Democratic rival – meagre polling, paltry crowds and a growing realisation inside his own ranks that the end may be near.
“At some point, I’ve got to start getting more delegates or I’m not going to be the nominee,” he said in Ohio.
Regardless of today’s results, President Bush plans to begin a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign on Thursday to reverse his downward trend. Mr Kerry’s campaign is considering a modest response designed to put the White House on the defensive, said two senior advisers. Democratic allies may move sooner.
Mr Edwards drew 300 people to a University of Toledo rally, three times fewer than a crowd that recently welcomed Mr Kerry to the same venue. Drawing even smaller crowds in Dayton, Ohio, and Cleveland later yesterday, Mr Edwards seemed listless and indifferent, stumbling over signature lines in his stump speech.
He pledged to stay in the race “until I’m nominated”, but declined to predict victory in Ohio, virtually a must-win state for him, as he acknowledged Mr Kerry’s dominance.
“There’s no question that national momentum has an impact on these races,” he said.
He held out hope for an election surprise, noting that he defied polls by finishing just 6 percentage points behind Mr Kerry in New Hampshire and Wisconsin. But he also had more time to court those voters than he did for today’s races.
Mr Edwards’s only victory came in his birth state of South Carolina, four weeks and 11 defeats ago.
He ended his day with a rock-concert rally in Macon, Georgia, telling his audience: “This is such an important night. Tomorrow is an important day. And we’re going to change America together, you and I.”
Mr Kerry has won 18 of 20 primaries or caucuses, and led in pre-election polls in every competitive Super Tuesday venue. Ten states with nearly 50 million registered voters award 1,151 delegates on the biggest day of the nomination fight.
A sweep today could give Mr Kerry more than 1,500 delegates – a virtually insurmountable lead, though still short of the 2,162 needed to claim the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July.
Mr Edwards, with just 205 delegates as of yesterday, will come under pressure to quit the race unless he wins two or more contests today, said strategists in both campaigns as well as several party leaders.
“I think it’s wrapped up already,” said Democratic strategist James Carville, who helped Bill Clinton become president.
