Kerry, Dean Vow to Push Bush From Office

WASHINGTON – 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 may have started this campaign by discussing our differences, but we will win it by reminding America that what unites this country is so much more powerful that what has ever divided us in the past,” Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery during a noon rally at George Washington University.

Pledging to use his new grass-roots organization for Kerry’s bid, Dean 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?”

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 expected to join 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 was endorsing Kerry after a meeting 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.

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.”

Kerry met privately with Dean’s congressional supporters and donors before accepting his endorsement. Before the rally, Dean sent supporters an e-mail asking them to contribute money for Kerry’s bid.

“Our campaigns had a spirited debate during the primary, but the time for focusing on our differences has passed. This is not just John Kerry’s campaign – it is all of ours, and we all must take responsibility for its success. We cannot tolerate four more years of George W. Bush’s right-wing ideological agenda at home and weak leadership abroad,” Dean wrote.

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.

Kerry had been largely out of public view for the better part of a week as he and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, vacationed at their home in Ketchum, Idaho. He returned to Washington late Wednesday and told reporters traveling with him that he felt rejuvenated.

“No more long answers,” Kerry said. “It doesn’t take me long to recharge my batteries.”