Kerry and Edwards head West in "Believe in America Tour"

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

STEVEN SENNE / AP Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, right, with running mate John Edwards at his side, points to someone in the crowd at FleetCenter last night. The two embark today on a two-week, cross-country tour of battleground states that will have a special focus on the West.

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The two-week trip will finish in Washington and Oregon, where the Kerry campaign wants to secure more comfortable victories than former Vice President Al Gore managed four years ago.

This year, Democrats hope they have a candidate better suited to the terrain of the West and a message that speaks to the region's economic difficulties in a way that can pull swing voters away from President Bush.

But there's another key difference between Kerry and Gore that Democrats say may help, particularly in rural areas: The Massachusetts Democrat, a hunter, is more supportive of gun ownership than Gore.

"Guns are going to be important," said Paige Richardson, the Kerry campaign's Oregon director.

Kerry campaign officials said Gore's support for gun control hurt him among blue-collar Democrats in the West.

"I think what's different in this election from the year 2000: John Kerry supports the Second Amendment," said Sam Rodriguez, the campaign's Washington director.

Split on gun issue

The "Believe in America Tour" comes as the Kerry-Edwards campaign suspends its television advertising for a month to save money for the final two months of the campaign.

Kerry and Edwards will travel by bus today to Pennsylvania. The two will travel together and separately during different parts of the tour but plan to end in the Northwest together.

Final details of the trip have not been made public. But there will be more than one stop in Washington state, said Kerry spokeswoman Laura Capps.
 
Managers of Kerry's Western campaign said yesterday that they are targeting union members and their families who either voted for Bush in 2000 or not at all.

Union leaders in the Washington and Oregon delegations split on how they see the gun issue playing out. "It'll help with a lot of our people," said Mary Botkin, Oregon Democratic national committeewoman.

"It helps with our conservative men who really don't care about the other issues as long as they have their gun."

She said Gore was not as anti-gun as some had portrayed him.

In Washington, union workers are much more likely to be motivated by concerns about the economy, unemployment, wages and health care, said delegate Linda Lanham, political director of the Machinists union representing Boeing workers.

She said guns were a big issue in the 1994 midterm election that saw huge Republican gains in the state. But since then, she said, "I just don't know how big an issue that is."

Spokane a likely stop

The Kerry/Edwards tour is likely to make a stop in Eastern Washington. Rodriguez said there will be a special effort made in the Spokane area. In 2000, he said, Gore lost the five counties considered part of the Spokane TV market by 17 percentage points. In 1996, President Clinton won the area by 1 percentage point and was even with President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

It's a conservative area that doesn't elect many Democrats. Rodriguez said Kerry could be helped there by visits from Democrats such as retired Gen. Wesley Clark and former Ohio senator and astronaut John Glenn.

The nationwide tour will be part of an August publicity effort during a time the campaign will be suspending TV advertising to save money. So far in July, the campaign estimates it has spent $23 million.

Under federal election law, each campaign is allocated $75 million to spend between the time its ticket is nominated and the Nov. 2 election.

Since Democrats held their convention a month before Republicans, they have to make their $75 million last longer.

Michael Meehan, a senior adviser to the Kerry-Edwards campaign, said the presidential contest will rely on the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties, which are not constrained by the federal spending limits.

And while the law forbids coordination, the Democrats will also continue to get a boost from independent political groups such as Moveon.org and America Coming Together, which have raised $200 million to defeat Bush.

David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com