The Hindu : Kerry set to challenge Bush for presidency

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 04, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

Kerry set to challenge Bush for presidency

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, MARCH 3. John Kerry, the Senator from Massachussetts, virtually sealed the Democratic Party nomination for the November presidential elections in the United States bagging nine of the 10 States holding primaries on Tuesday.

The four-term Senator knocked out his main rival, John Edwards, the Senator from North Carolina, in the major states including California, New York and Ohio. Mr. Edwards even narrowly lost Georgia, one of the main States in the South that he had banked on. He is expected to opt out of the race soon.

Vermont, however, went to Howard Dean who had bowed out of the race, which he had started as the favourite. His name was still left on the ballot and many Vermonters believed that their man got a very raw deal from party elders and from the media.

The U.S. President, George W. Bush, called Mr. Kerry to say he was looking forward to a "spirited fight." "You had an important victory tonight," Mr. Bush is reported to have told Mr. Kerry.

Mr. Kerry has now won 27 out of the 30 contests in the primaries and caucuses so far and has shown that he can hold his own in every geographic region.

"I am a fighter and for more than 30 years I have been on the battle lines, on the front lines for fairness and mainstream American values," Mr. Kerry told a crowd of supporters here last night. One of his major planks, especially in the mid-west, has been on the jobs front where he has vowed to come to terms with such issues as outsourcing by closing all tax loopholes and giving incentives for companies to keep jobs at home.

Mr. Kerry has also said that he is ready to take on the Bush administration over foreign policy. "If George Bush wants to make national security the central issue of 2004, I have three words that I know he understands: Bring It On," Mr. Kerry said. That Mr. Kerry is looking beyond the Democratic Party Convention in Boston this summer is evident from the instructions he has supposedly issued to his top campaign staff to start looking for a running mate.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section

Lashkar attack on Jammu jail, 7 killed

Court seeks details of money spent on `India Shining'

Kerry set to challenge Bush for presidency

Government to pay Rs. 5,000 cr. advance for defence deals

Reply sought