Veterans playing key role for Kerry in Boston

By Dana Hull
Knight Ridder Newspapers

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An estimated 1,500 veterans — many of them elderly and disabled — poured into the Sheraton Hotel's largest ballroom yesterday for the first veterans caucus held at a national political convention.

Veteran support is widely seen as the secret weapon that turned Kerry's floundering campaign around in Iowa in January, and campaign strategists hope to repeat that tactic in swing states in the next 100 days.

Men who served with Kerry on Swift boats during Vietnam, his "band of brothers," stood on stage at the veterans caucus with retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, an Army veteran who lost both legs and part of an arm in Vietnam.

Clark battled Kerry for veteran support during the Democratic primaries and folded his tent when it became clear that Kerry had a virtual lock on the nomination. Since then, the former NATO commander has been a tireless campaigner for the man he once derided for being a mere lieutenant.

"That flag behind the band of brothers on that stage — that flag is our flag," said Clark, repeating a popular line from his former stump speeches to thunderous applause. "We served under that flag, we fought under that flag and we've seen men buried under that flag. And no John Ashcroft, Tom DeLay or Dick Cheney is going to take that flag away from us."

Not all veterans back Kerry. Some still are bitter about his testimony against the Vietnam War as a young veteran. Some who served with him have started a small group called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" to campaign against him.

But veterans at the Democratic convention said they could be a powerful force in the Kerry campaign.

"We started the pendulum swinging in Iowa," said Del Sandusky, a Clearwater, Fla., resident who was the captain of one of Kerry's boats during Vietnam. "We started pushing hard in Iowa, and we blindsided Howard Dean and the other candidates. They didn't have a clue that we were coming."

Sandusky said that there are 1.8 million veterans in Florida, but only 600,000 of them are thought to be Democrats. Most are independents or Republicans. Sandusky's group hopes to sway independents and even some Republicans.

"The formula worked in Iowa, and it's going to work again," Sandusky said. "And now we're going to start appearing more with (vice-presidential candidate John) Edwards."
 
There are 25 million veterans in the United States, and they are a key constituency in Southern and Southwestern states such as Arizona, North and South Carolina and Florida.

"So many veterans are saying 'I voted for Bush in 2000 and I'll never do it again,' " said John Hurley, the national director of Veterans for Kerry. "We're replicating Iowa already."

Some of Kerry's former crewmates plan to visit the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and other veterans service organizations this week.

Tomorrow, Cleland will teach veterans how to organize in their home states. Cleland also will introduce Kerry on Thursday night.

The focus on veterans is designed in part to show that the Democrats are strong on national security. But it's also meant to prove to voters that Kerry, who is often described as aloof, is one of the guys.

"It's clear that the Kerry campaign is running Lt. Kerry for President and not Sen. Kerry," said Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University and a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. "They are doing everything possible to highlight the four months that Kerry served in Vietnam and downplay the 19 years that he served in the Senate."

Most polls show that Bush still enjoys a strong lead among veterans and military families. But Feaver said there is some evidence that Kerry has begun to bite into that lead.

Still, even some veterans who oppose the Iraq war are not certain they will vote for Kerry.

Kelly McCluskey, 77, who fought in World War II and participated in a Veterans for Peace rally on the Boston Commons on Sunday afternoon, said he feels Kerry has not spoken out forcefully against the Iraq war and that he had preferred anti-war Democratic primary candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.