It sounded like the opening bars of a new campaign song, not an elegy to a lost election. U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry last night delivered a rousing call to action to a room filled with hundreds of supporters at the Center of New Hampshire Radisson Hotel.
"Keep up the fight. Keep New Hampshire blue forever," Kerry shouted
In the Nov. 2 election, New Hampshire was the only state won by Kerry that had been carried by Bush four years ago. Kerry defeated Bush here by about 9,300 votes. Kathy Sullivan, state Democratic Party chair, has credited the groundswell for Kerry with netting the party the gubernatorial victory of John Lynch; an Executive Council seat, with the election of Debora B. Pignatelli of Nashua in District 5; two state Senate seats; and 30 new Democratic state representatives.
The Massachusetts senator, slightly more than a month after the election he had felt sure he would win, came out swinging, in a call to keep up the fight for the issues that characterized his campaign.
"I feel so passionate about these issues that I am going to use all the energy God gives me to pursue them," Kerry said.
Referring to GOP voter registration challenges in Ohio that may have cost him that state's vital electoral votes, Kerry said, "We're going to clearly bring (attention to) the rights of American people to vote without being harassed. It is a disgrace that we have partisanly run elections in states where people don't have faith in the outcome. We need to make sure all votes are properly recorded."
Referring to issues that are of continuing concern to him, Kerry said he senses "an energy" and "the same passion" across the country to continue those fights.
"We brought together millions of people on the Internet and we're going to continue to grow this," he said.
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To the cheers of those who volunteered and contributed to his campaign in New Hampshire, Kerry announced he will go to Iraq in January and he promised to "continue to fight for a foreign policy that lives up to the values of this country."
Manchester Union-Leader
Now I know many here will criticize Kerry for this. But I want to add a little Montana perspective. Much has been made of the Montana miracle - we are rightly proud here to have won back our senate and the governorship. And how did Brian Schweitzer win? He ran for Senate against Conrad Burns and lost narrowly in 2000 -- but never stopped campaigning - he almost immediately began running for Governor. He could have just retreated like so many failed candidates but instead he just kept fighting - and won.