Kerry Pushes for Stem-Cell Research in Florida Stop

CAPE CANAVERAL — Praised by two former space fliers who have served with him in the Senate, John Kerry said Monday that America needs a president who ”believes in science” and supports stem-cell medical research.

The Bush administration has limited federal funding of research on stem cells that results in the destruction of a living human embryo. But Kerry said he’d promote stem-cell science that could aid people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and diabetes. ”We need to push the curve of discovery,” he told 400 Floridians at the Kennedy Space Center’s visitor center near the space shuttle launch pads.

Kerry’s town hall meeting here focused on two issues important in Florida — health care and high-paying jobs in science and technology. He was returning to the campaign trail from a Sunday night detour to a baseball game in Boston, the Democratic convention city.

”I am here on the first day of the Democratic convention because there is no better place to launch something than right here at Cape Canaveral,” Kerry said, looking tired after a 3 a.m. arrival from Boston and three hours of sleep.

Warming up the crowd were Florida’s Democratic U.S. senators, Bill Nelson and Bob Graham, and John Glenn, a former Ohio senator and astronaut. Nelson and Glenn both launched from Cape Canaveral — in Glenn’s case twice, in 1962 and 1998. Nelson spent six days on a NASA shuttle as a congressman in 1986.

Kerry and the others were escorted by NASA officials into the cockpit of the shuttle Discovery, which is undergoing a major overhaul. The shuttle is the one Glenn was aboard on his return to space in 1998.

Nelson reminded listeners that ”another Democrat from Massachusetts with the initials J.F.K.” — President Kennedy — started the lunar exploration program that sparked Florida’s tech sector.

Though the event was billed as science-oriented, five of the eight questions from the audience related to health care. A lone foreign policy question came from a woman who said she recently saw a sign in Australia that said, ”Improve world order — kill an American today.” Kerry said the nation needs new ”statesmanship and leadership.”

Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., a surrogate for the Bush campaign, issued a statement attacking Kerry for alleged skepticism toward Bush’s proposals to return to the moon and land on Mars. Those views ”ignore the high-paying Florida jobs that would be created by the president’s bold initiatives,” Feeney said.

Kerry is working his way back to Boston on a route he calls ”America’s Freedom Trail.” It started Friday at his birthplace, an Army hospital in Aurora, Colo. Today he’s in Norfolk, Va. He plans to arrive in Boston on Wednesday and will deliver his nomination acceptance speech Thursday.

An easy, one-city-a-day pace is saving Kerry’s voice and giving him several hours daily to polish his big speech.

Coming out of the convention Friday, Kerry will embark with running mate John Edwards on a two-week, coast-to-coast tour by bus, train and ferry through 21 states. The 3,500-mile ground journey is called the ”Believe in America” tour.