Philip James Hart
The Free Press

I’m sitting on the rather stiff mattress of the supplemental cot in our five-person room. It’s been a very long day. It started out the same as almost every day. My classmates and I woke up, showered, ate our continental breakfasts, and hopped incrementally onto shuttle buses to the metro station. But the difference this day was geographic. Our destination was the U.S. Capitol. We all knew where we were going, but none of us really had any idea what to expect.

…

Aside from a complete lack of up or down motion, it was pretty similar to a rollercoaster. At the end of the ride though, we experienced a thrill much different from your average amusement park novelty. As the congressional mine-cart ride came to a squeaky stop, we all gasped as John Kerry walked hastily toward whatever obligation.

The compromise supplemental will probably be presented to the Senate later today, but I wanted to drop a quick note to let all of you know my thoughts on it. I'm voting against it. I explain my feelings in a post I put up on the blog Daily Kos.

You can read it here.

Here are the first couple of paragraphs:

Let's be really clear about the Iraq vote coming down the pike in Congress this week.

I'm voting no on this bill. I'm tired of the false choices of Republicans and all the recycled spin of old battles and the political calculations that do nothing for our troops who bear the real costs of this war. Bottom line: we support the troops by getting the policy right, and this bill doesn't do that. I've said it again and again and I'm not about to stop: we need a deadline to force Iraqis to stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, not watered down benchmarks and blank check waivers for this President. We support the troops by funding the right mission, not with a White House that opposes a pay raise for our brave men and women in uniform. Do we need to bring out the hand puppets and make the case again?

Thanks for all of your help so far in this fight. I'm disappointed in the compromise bill, but I'm more convinced than ever that we'll win this fight.

Politics on the menu: Local leaders break bread with Kerry
By Chris Cassidy, Staff writer
Salem News

SALEM - Diners at Red's Sandwich Shop got something extra with their scrambled eggs and home fries yesterday morning - John Kerry.

The man who lost the presidency three years ago by a paper-thin margin ate breakfast with local leaders, then posed for photos and shook hands with surprised customers on the way out.

"I voted for you in the last election," Salem resident Deborah Alexander told the commonwealth's junior senator after tapping him on the shoulder.¹ "I can't stand Bush."

"Isn't it awful?" Kerry said.

"I can't stand the look on his face. My stomach turns," she said. "I didn't believe any of the Swift Boat stuff - all the lies they tell."

"They were big lies," Kerry said. "You're a smart lady. You see through it."

This time, Kerry wasn't asking for votes. He was meeting with Salem officials - Congressman John Tierney, state Rep. John Keenan and Mayor Kim Driscoll - to discuss topics ranging from the city's waterfront redevelopment plans to the war in Iraq to lacrosse.²

The hourlong breakfast meeting was a chance for Kerry to touch base with North Shore leaders on problems facing the region, the senator said.

At Red's, Kerry sipped grapefruit juice and ordered an English muffin and a bowl of oatmeal with heavy cream. (Tierney and Keenan, too, had oatmeal, while Driscoll opted for ham and eggs.)³

Local officials are hoping Kerry can help secure federal funding for the city's waterfront redevelopment project, designed to attract cruise ships and charter vessels and support the city's commercial fishing fleets.

"It's a beautiful city with a lot of assets," Kerry said in an interview. "The tourism abilities of this city, particularly if we can keep the waterfront developing and get cruise ships and other things, would be huge. I think there are major opportunities here."

The city is also at the bargaining table with Dominion, the owner of the city's coal-fired power plant, about the company's tax agreement with the city. Driscoll and others worry that the state's decision to adopt stricter environmental guidelines will give Dominion reason to argue it should pay a smaller tax bill.⁴

Kerry said he and Tierney will contact Dominion themselves to assist the city in the negotiating process, though Kerry declined to talk specifics.

"Sometimes just having his support on your side is really helpful when you're talking about those high-level negotiations," Driscoll said.

Kerry's last few visits to the North Shore have come under more dire circumstances - he toured Danversport after the chemical plant explosion in November and downtown Peabody after the Mother's Day flood last year.

"The senator is very busy," Keenan said. "He's all over the country, so it's good to have him in the district to talk about specifics."

His last trip to Red's came about six years ago while running for re-election to the Senate, according to owner John Drivas. His diner has also drawn Sen. Ted Kennedy, former first lady Barbara Bush and former Gov. Mitt Romney over the years.⁵

"It's nice to see Kerry can still come down to the local level," said Janice Conrad, a Salem dentist sharing a morning meal with her husband a few tables away from the senator. "They have so much going on in Washington."

Not everyone was impressed. Vince Asaro and his family came in from Michigan and had just been seated when Kerry stopped to shake hands.

"I'm not a big Democrat," Asaro said afterward. "He's a good man, but it's not a big deal."⁶

Kerry originally intended to spend the entire morning in Salem. He was expected to speak at a renaming ceremony for the Salem ferry and tour the Salem State College Enterprise Center. He cut those plans short, however, to attend the funeral of 1st Lt. Andrew Bacevich, who was killed last week in Iraq.⁷

Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, spoke at the renaming ceremony instead, praising the ferry project and pledging that her husband will lead the fight for federal dollars from Capitol Hill.

"He's going to make sure that more is done at the federal level to support local projects like this," Heinz Kerry told a crowd gathered at the ferry's Blaney Street dock.

The ferry will now officially be known as the Nathaniel Bowditch. To drive that point home, event organizers invited schoolchildren from Nathaniel Bowditch School and at least one descendant of the Salem-born mathematician who wrote "The New American Practical Navigator."

Moments later, Driscoll christened the ferry by smashing a bottle of champagne against its hull, and ferry operators offered the hundred or so in attendance a free cruise around Salem Sound.⁸