t is John Forbes Kerry's curse.
Stumping in New Hampshire with Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday, the junior senator from Massachusetts prompts speculation among the wise guys back home: He must be campaigning for a Cabinet post in a Gore administration.
Or at the very least, they whisper, he seems to be laying some groundwork for his own presidential campaign in 2004, if Gore goes down in flames.
Even a story in this space last month about Kerry working diligently with Massachusetts mayors on local matters elicited a similar interpretation.
''He's running for governor in 2002,'' one very smart political observer surmised, with nothing to base that on.
And on it goes. Within the political subculture of the Bay State, when John Kerry speaks or acts there is a reflexive decryption to divine his ulterior motive. These days there's a low-grade buzz that Kerry's seat, one way or another, could be up for grabs in 2002.
No way, says Kerry, who has held the seat for 15 years.
''I'm running for reelection,'' he said yesterday between speeches in Greater Boston on wetlands restoration and solar energy. ''I've never had anything else in my sights except being a good senator. That's what I resolved to do, when I decided last year not to run [for president]. I have a great job, and I'm loving it; having a great time ... I have no other plans.''
Voters don't seem to share the insiders' skepticism. They've made Kerry unbeatable, proving that beyond any doubt in 1996 when he turned back then-governor William F. Weld's tough challenge. But in the claustrophobic world of Massachusetts politics, Kerry is forever marked with his own scarlet letter, an A for ambition. He may never shed it, no matter how unfair the brand from his earliest days in politics.
''It's been there so long,'' Kerry said. ''When I was young, I made some stupid mistakes, and added to it as a brash kid.''
Indeed, the image has dogged Kerry since the early 1970s when, as a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, he shopped for a congressional seat. In a brief period, he had addresses in three districts before settling on Lowell and the 5th district in 1972. He won a tough Democratic primary for an open seat but lost the election to Paul W. Cronin.
For each hypothesis, you can find someone in Kerry's orbit who has heard the senator entertain the possibility.
''There's not an option in the world that John Kerry hasn't looked at, at some time or another, bemusedly or in a serious way,'' said a Kerry friend. Maybe one of the rumors will come true, but that doesn't mean what he did yesterday or last week fits some grand scheme to that end, the friend said.
Campaigning for Gore seems to suit Kerry. He has been to Iowa and will return Monday for the caucuses. He spent Tuesday and Wednesday in New Hampshire, one of the army of Gore surrogates - Cabinet members, senators, and other VIPs, who are grinding down the insurgent challenge of Bill Bradley before the Feb. 1 primary. He may do a televised mini-debate next week with Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, who is backing Bradley.
Questions about his motives irk Kerry.
''I don't believe in half-hearted endorsements,'' he said. ''I do what the Gore campaign asks me to do.''
On Wednesday, that meant walking main streets in Salem, Hudson, and Concord, talking to New Hampshire voters. Early that evening, he joined Gore in Stratham, where the veep addressed workers at the Timberland Co. headquarters.
A year ago, this was not what Kerry envisioned. He considered entering the race himself against Gore but decided against it in February because his rationale was too thin. Kerry suspects Bradley's candidacy is flagging now for the same reason.
Gore seems quite grateful that Kerry became friend, not foe. At Timberland, he described Kerry in gushing terms, effusively praising his public service and knowledge on a number of issues.
Kerry says he's merely returning a favor to Gore, who campaigned for him against Weld in 1996. Beyond that, he can't control what people say; never could.
''When I was 26 years old, Morley Safer asked me on `60 Minutes' if I wanted to run for president,'' Kerry recalls, 30 years later. ''I'd never run for office ... When I entered the Senate in 1985, it was supposed to be a vehicle to run for president. In my Senate class, Paul Simon, Tom Harkin, Jay Rockefeller, Gore - they've all tried. I'm the only guy in my class who didn't run for president. I don't worry about what people think any more.''
