Kerry heading for New Hampshire in March

By Scot Lehigh, Globe Staff, February 10, 1999

US Senator John F. Kerry, who is mulling a presidential campaign, will venture back to New Hampshire, site of the nation's first primary, in March.

It has been a frustrating month and a half for Kerry, who has been pinned down in the US Senate by the impeachment proceedings when he would rather be traveling the country, exploring a presidential candidacy.

But with the impeachment trial now winding to a close, Kerry's office confirmed yesterday that he has accepted one speaking engagement in New Hampshire and soon hopes to confirm several others.

On March 8, the Massachusetts Democrat plans to address a citizens roundtable hosted by Citizens Bank and WMUR-TV (Channel 9), according to Lisa Mead, Kerry's state director. Kerry hopes to speak at New Hampshire College in Manchester the same day. He is also trying to work out a March date to speak to the Laconia Chamber of Commerce.

Mead said she did not know what topics Kerry would address.

But if Kerry stays on his current timetable, he will probably have decided whether to run by the time of the New Hampshire trip.

"His working goal is to have a decision by the end of the month," said spokesman Jim Jordan. "He wants to get impeachment behind him and spend 10 days or two weeks doing some clearheaded, rational thinking."

Several people who have spoken recently with Kerry describe him as conflicted, saying he realizes that Vice President Al Gore is far ahead in the early campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, but also worries that if he himself does not run in 2000, his presidential options might be foreclosed.

"I would say his heart is telling him run, while his head is telling him don't run, that it would be an enormous uphill battle," said one Democrat who spoke with Kerry recently. "I don't know which wins out."

If Kerry's plans have been put on hold, Gore has not been similarly sidelined. He was in New Hampshire last week on what was billed as an official government trip. Former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley is also running, and is said to be making headway in New Hampshire.

Last fall, one plan briefly bandied about by the Kerry camp was to forgo a 2000 campaign in favor of a concerted longer-term effort to position Kerry for 2004 should a Republican win the White House in the next election.

That scenario would be problematic, however. If a Democrat wins in 2000, Kerry could not realistically run in 2004; by 2008, when the senator would be 64, time and politics might well have passed him by.

Still, as the impeachment trial has dragged along, some associates say the idea of focusing on 2004 rather than 2000 is again under some discussion. "That option has been resurrected with the delayed start," is the way one adviser put it.