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Kerry strategist prefered prowar stance for kerry { May 28 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1211151.htmlhttp://www.startribune.com/587/story/1211151.html
Ex- aide: Kerry weighed politics before war vote
In a book, the presidential candidate's former strategist writes that upcoming '04 race colored Democrat's decision.
By Michael Kranish, Boston Globe
Last update: May 28, 2007 – 8:41 PM
WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry voted for the Iraq war resolution in 2002 after weighing the political ramifications and being told by his future campaign manager that he would never be elected president in 2004 unless he sided with President Bush on the issue, according to a forthcoming book by Kerry's former strategist.
The book by veteran Democratic Party strategist Robert Shrum, titled "No Excuses," paints a portrait of an often-dysfunctional Kerry presidential campaign in which senior strategists clashed with one another.
It also quotes e-mails from Kerry's former campaign manager that are highly critical of the behavior of Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Shrum, who was brought into the campaign to help provide Kerry with a strategic overview, gives a vivid description about the events leading to Kerry's decision to vote for the war.
He writes that Kerry telephoned him on the eve of the Oct. 11, 2002, vote. Shrum said that Kerry was skeptical of Bush's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that he "didn't trust Bush to give the diplomatic route a real chance." Nonetheless, Kerry asked Shrum whether he would "be a viable general election candidate if he was in the small minority of senators who voted no."
Shrum wrote that he told Kerry it was "impossible to predict the political fallout if we went to war." But he wrote that Jim Jordan, Kerry's former Senate press secretary and future campaign manager, "was insisting that he had to vote with Bush."
Shrum wrote that Jordan had "hammered" Kerry with a warning: "Go ahead and vote against it if you want, but you'll never be president of the United States." Kerry voted for the war resolution, and Jordan became Kerry's campaign manager three months later.
Kerry declined to comment on Shrum's book, which is scheduled for release early next month.
His spokesman, Vincent Morris, said, "Senator Kerry voted [for the war resolution] based on the promise of effective diplomacy and because he believed that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. He's said previously that this was the most difficult vote he's ever cast, and he's acknowledged his vote was a mistake. Since that day, he's been one of the Senate's most outspoken voices to end the war."
Asked about the conversation, Jordan said, "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to recount those conversations ... but it's ridiculous to contend that I had the influence to manipulate a man of his stature."
Sen. Edward Kennedy, Kerry's fellow Massachusetts Democrat, urged Kerry to vote against the war, according to Shrum. Kennedy talked with Kerry on the Senate floor before the vote, Shrum wrote, and "passionately contended that even if it looked like good politics now, siding with Bush was wrong on the merits -- and even politically."
© 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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