ASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry plans to endorse Al Gore at an event in Massachusetts this weekend, becoming the third member of the state's all-Democratic delegation to publicly back the Gore 2000 campaign.
Kerry, who considered running for president earlier this year, will make the announcement in Lawrence, Mass., tomorrow morning, appearing with the vice president at the Sunnyside Diner, sources close to the senator said yesterday. Kerry will then travel with Gore to Manchester, N.H., where they will campaign door-to-door.
The endorsement comes as some Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are pushing to bolster Gore's efforts to win the New Hampshire primary, following polls that show Bill Bradley running evenly with Gore.
House minority leader Richard Gephardt and Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, are planning to campaign for Gore in New Hampshire tomorrow. And several other members of the Massachusetts delegation have said they are going to endorse the vice president soon.
Kerry was unavailable for comment.
''The senator is going to reserve the bulk of his comments for his official endorsement on Saturday,'' said spokesman David Wade.
A source close to Kerry said the senator ''has held off the endorsement until the time he believed would be of greatest benefit to Gore in New Hampshire.''
''Obviously, that time is now,'' the source said. ''This is an endorsement of the policy successes of the Clinton-Gore administration.''
Representatives J. Joseph Moakley of South Boston and Richard E. Neal of Springfield have also endorsed Gore.
