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By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political EditorThe candidate-apparent tailors his campaign to attract moderate voters in this critical state.
ORLANDO - In his first campaign stop as the certain Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry came to America's biggest battleground state Wednesday promising to compete hard for Southern states and moderate, swing voters.
The Massachusetts senator, sounding like a candidate aiming mainly for moderate voters, talked up his record fighting crime as a prosecutor and senator and promised to step up homeland security and instill fiscal discipline to cut the federal deficit.
"There are a lot of reasonable Republicans out there who know there's nothing conservative or mainstream Republican about what George Bush is doing to the deficit in this country," Kerry told nearly 300 Democrats gathered in Orlando the morning after he won nine of 10 primary contests and locked up the Democratic nomination. The same, he said, applies to the president's policies on the environment and civil liberties.
But Republicans have already begun an aggressive effort to define the four-term senator as liberal tax-raiser who is weak on national defense. Even some supporters who gathered at a theater in Orlando acknowledged Kerry will face questions among moderate Floridians about his opposition to the death penalty and votes to cut defense spending over 19 years in the Senate.
"He's going to have some liberal votes he's going to have to defend," said Dick Batchelor, a Democratic fundraiser and former legislator from Orlando.
With North Carolina Sen. John Edwards dropping out of the Democratic presidential race Wednesday, Kerry quickly turned his attention to another matter: choosing a running mate.
The Kerry campaign named prominent Washington Democrat and former Walter Mondale aide Jim Johnson to head a vice presidential search, leaving open the possibility of selecting a running mate well before the national convention in July.
"Obviously, people have talked about that, but he's going to take his time in making a decision," said Marcus Jadotte, Kerry's deputy campaign manager.
The running mate selection effort was announced as Kerry stood in Orlando with Florida Sens. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, both of whom are frequently mentioned as vice presidential prospects.
Graham, the retiring three-term senator who ran unsuccessfully for president, was surrounded by reporters Wednesday asking him about the vice presidency. Would he be a good vice president? one reporter asked.
"That's a little like asking A-Rod if he's going to be a good third baseman," Graham responded, referring to Alex Rodriguez, the superstar just signed by the New York Yankees.
Some Florida Democrats see stronger running mate prospects outside the state. "There's no question in my mind that a Kerry-Edwards ticket is absolutely the best. It would completely energize everybody across the country," Tampa lawyer Steve Yerrid said from North Carolina, where he joined Edwards as he withdrew from the race. Yerrid canceled a Tampa fundraiser for Edwards planned for today.
In Orlando, Kerry stood with firefighters and police officers to talk up his plans to beef up homeland security and criticized the Bush administration for doing too little to help local emergency workers. "We should not be opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them in the United States," Kerry said.
He predicted Florida would again be a "critical battleground," and indeed, the battle is now engaged. TV viewers across Florida and in other battleground states today will start seeing campaign ads touting Bush's record, including references to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Independent Democratic groups are also planning new ads attacking Bush's record. One group, MoveOn.org, will join several other consumer organizations in staging a rally in Lykes Gaslight Square park in downtown Tampa today, attacking the Medicare prescription plan Bush pushed.
Meanwhile, Kerry is tentatively expected back in Florida Monday for events in Tampa and South Florida. Florida's presidential primary is Tuesday and is likely to give him the delegates needed to formally lock up the nomination.
Republicans are ready for him. Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami held a conference call to attack Kerry's record. On Wednesday, his brother and fellow congressman from Miami, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Rep. Mark Foley of West Palm Beach bashed Kerry as out of touch with mainstream Floridians.
One audience member asked Kerry about an "October surprise" with Osama bin Laden captured shortly before the election.
"I hope we capture Osama bin Laden," Kerry said. "It's better to capture him tomorrow. It's better to capture him a week from now. But if they capture him and present him in October that's good for America and terrific. But that's not the war on terrorism all by itself."