Admirers See Sen. Kerrey as Democrats’ Sir Lancelot : Politics: He is brave, bold and has charisma. But unpredictability may be a handicap in presidential bid.

To hear the admirers of Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey tell it, the 1992 Democratic presidential campaign resembles a tale borrowed from the annals of the Knights of the Round Table.

With the party languishing in distress for lack of a suitable champion, they see their hero galloping to the rescue like some latter-day Lancelot.

J. Robert Kerrey is brave--his Medal of Honor proves that. He is bold--time and again he has challenged conventional political wisdom. And friend and foe alike agree that the 48-year-old one-term senator and former governor is endowed with charisma--that magical and mysterious political potion that no Democratic nominee has possessed in any significant measure since John F. Kennedy.

“He’ll be the odds-on favorite for the nomination,” Nebraska’s senior Democratic senator, J. James Exon, predicted, anticipating Kerrey’s official announcement of his candidacy on Monday.

Such sentiments extend well beyond Kerrey’s home state to national party strategists. “I think he would be our most viable challenger to Bush,” said Michael Ford, a veteran of the Walter F. Mondale and earlier Democratic campaigns.

“He looks like he would be the hardest one for Bush to get a playbook on,” said Chris Scott, head of the North Carolina AFL-CIO. “He doesn’t fit into the Mondale or (Michael S.) Dukakis mold.”

But, although nearly everyone is impressed by Kerrey’s potential, even his backers admit he faces difficulties in adjusting his political style to presidential campaigning.

As an outsider who turned to politics only after a successful career in business, Kerrey still prides himself on his independence. Despite some political risk, he dated a movie star while governor. Then he decided not to run again for the governor’s mansion when his reelection chances looked good.

His supporters sometimes find it difficult to fathom his actions. His critics accuse him of outright flakiness.

“I think that, if one wanted to criticize Bob Kerrey, you could say he is somewhat unpredictable,” said Exon, who contends that this quality helps Kerrey devise fresh ideas. But party pros worry that Kerrey’s tendency to “fly by the seat of his pants,” as one put it, could cause him grief in the cut-and-thrust competition for the nomination.

A more tangible handicap is that Kerrey lacks an identifiable base of support, unlike his two chief rivals, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who can count on backing from his native South, and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who is expected to get plenty of help from party liberals, particularly organized labor.

Kerrey’s efforts to overcome these obstacles will rely heavily on the charismatic appeal that has served him so well among Nebraska voters. This complex quality derives in part from rugged good looks, a forceful speaking style reminiscent of John F. and Robert F. Kennedy, and skill in projecting himself on television.

Even more important, perhaps, is Kerrey’s personal story of heroism and sacrifice in Vietnam, where a grenade mangled part of his right leg in a raid on a Viet Cong stronghold. Many Democrats believe that Kerrey’s status as a wounded hero not only shields him from campaign criticism over his vote against the use of force in the Persian Gulf, it gives him an unusual degree of freedom to challenge the President on national security issues. “I think he has authority to criticize Bush the way no one else has,” said Ford, the Democratic strategist.

“No one knows war like those who’ve been there,” says the narrator in a 1988 Kerrey Senate campaign commercial that shows U.S. troops plodding through the jungles of Vietnam.

Then Kerrey comes on the screen to warn: “I remember a time when politicians were more concerned about themselves than they were about the people who were fighting the war. And I simply say, it will never happen on my watch.”

Kerrey’s military background gives him added credibility as an advocate of traditional Democratic efforts to aid the disadvantaged at home.

“For someone to stand up and be compassionate about human needs after having gone through a war like he did is very compelling,” said Walter Capps, a UC Santa Barbara professor who teaches a course on the impact of Vietnam on American society for which Kerrey has been a guest lecturer. “People can see he’s not a wimp. He’s a real guy.”

Observed Harrison Hickman, who polled for Kerrey’s gubernatorial and Senate campaigns: “Most of his life story and the way he has talked about politics have been a source of inspiration for people who either feel like they were left out, or haven’t been getting their money’s worth, or feel the political system isn’t dealing in a serious way with problems.”

Kerrey uses his own physical disability to illustrate his proposal for national health insurance, which is expected to be the centerpiece of his domestic agenda. At a recent meeting of health care professionals here, Kerrey, in matter-of-fact tones, referred to the $8,000 cost of his prosthesis. He said the certainty that the cost would be paid by the Veterans Administration enabled him “to operate with a considerable amount of comfort--and to live a much better life than I would otherwise be able to do.”

He then described the consequences of inadequate health insurance. “Increasingly, I see Americans who say, ‘I cannot afford prenatal care, I’m not sure I can even afford well-baby care, I’m not sure I can afford regular checkups.’ ” As a result, he said, “not only do they make bad economic decisions, but their lives are not as enriched and not as healthy as they ought to be.”

In broader terms, Kerrey’s recollections of his Vietnam trauma enable him to establish a bond with the public by sharing the intimate details of his pain and his healing. In a televised biography shown during his 1988 campaign, Kerrey recalled awaking from surgery in which part of his leg was amputated and calling his mother to his bedside.

“I said to her, ‘How much is left?’ ” Kerrey said.

“And she looked down at me and she said, ‘There’s a lot left.’

“And she wasn’t talking about body parts, she was talking about here,” Kerrey said, tapping his chest.

Kerrey’s inner resources have stood him in good stead, first through a long and painful recovery and then in bolstering the independence and determination that have shaped his success in later endeavors.

He started from scratch in business, built a chain of restaurants and health centers and became a millionaire. On entering politics in 1982, he ignored advice to work his way up from the bottom, instead challenging the incumbent Republican governor and winning the top office in his state. Once in office, he had his hands full dealing with the impact of the farm recession in his state.

By then divorced, he also risked offending the sensibilities of respectable Nebraskans by carrying on a romance with actress Debra Winger, who was a frequent guest at the governor’s mansion. At the time, Kerrey quipped that a poll showed that voters were more willing to have her in residence there than him. Actually, as even Republicans concede, he probably could have been reelected had he chosen to run again in 1986.

As it turned out, Kerrey decided that he had had enough of the governor’s office, a decision that has sparked criticism that he has a short attention span.

“He felt that he wouldn’t be able to be as good a governor the next four years as he had been been the past four years,” said his then chief of staff, Don Nelson.

His vacation from politics lasted only a little more than a year. The death of Nebraska Democratic Sen. Edward Zorinksy created a vacancy in the Senate and an opportunity for Kerrey. He challenged and easily defeated the Republican appointed to take Zorinsky’s place.

Kerrey brought to Washington the same star quality he had displayed in Nebraska. Former Rep. John J. Cavanaugh, a close adviser, recalls a 1989 Senate fund-raising dinner at which the big contributors lined up to meet Kerrey.

Other luminaries on hand, Cavanaugh said, included Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Virginia Sen. Charles S. Robb and New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley. “But the only line in the ballroom was at Kerrey’s table.”

Kerrey’s aides say he will pursue the presidential nomination as he has campaigned in the past, offering a vision that cuts across ideological and geographic boundaries, rather than targeting specific constituencies.

“What he is planning on doing is putting out a message about what we need to do today to build up a future that means something,” said William Shore, a campaign aide who, like several others signing on with the Kerrey campaign, had a key role in Gary Hart’s two presidential bids. “He is content to let other people diagram out and figure out what axis things go on.”

“When you sit and look at his support, you can see that most of it comes from people who are not content with things the way they are,” said Hickman, who polled for Kerrey in both his 1982 campaign for the governorship and his 1988 Senate campaign. “And, as a result, he has drawn a fair amount of support from young people, who often tend to be supporters of change.”

In an address last June in Omaha, Kerrey ticked off a four-point agenda for change that aides say reflects the general emphasis of his presidential campaign. Highlights of his proposals include:

- Enacting a national health insurance plan that would provide universal coverage, would be financed by a 5% payroll tax and is designed to control runaway costs.

- Replacing the U.S. Department of Education with a new, less bureaucratic agency that would deal directly with local private and public efforts to strengthen schools.

- Shifting the emphasis of the federal tax system from taxes on incomes to what he called a “steeply progressive” consumption tax, in order to encourage investment and long-term growth. He has not spelled out details yet.

- Bolstering the nation’s infrastructure with a broad package of improvements covering transportation, communication, technology, housing and agriculture.

Although the possibility of a presidential bid has long been a subject of speculation, Kerrey had seemed to show little interest. His abrupt disclosure late last month that he was seriously considering making the race took his staff members by surprise and sent them scrambling to prepare for his announcement.

“It’s been madness around here,” said Shore, the campaign aide. Because of the time squeeze, Shore said, Kerrey could not give an interview to The Times or any other publication in advance of his announcement.

Kerrey will be the fourth nationally prominent Democrat to declare for the presidency. The others, besides Iowa’s Harkin, are Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. Gov. Clinton will announce his candidacy Thursday, and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. is expected to enter the race within the next few weeks.

Profile: J. Robert Kerrey Born: Aug. 27, 1943 Hometown: Lincoln, Neb. Education: University of Nebraska, degree in pharmacy, 1966. Career highlights: Enlisted in U.S. Navy SEAL special forces unit in 1966; awarded Medal of Honor for heroism in 1969 raid against enemy in Vietnam--wounds suffered required amputation of right leg below knee; from 1972 to 1982, in partnership with brother-in-law; established successful chain of restaurants and health centers in Nebraska; served as governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1986; U.S. senator from 1989 to present; member of Senate Agriculture and Appropriations committees; sponsor of Health USAplan for national health insurance. Interests: Jogging, he runs five miles a day; listening to jazz. Personal: Divorced from Beverly Higby in 1978; two children, son Benjamin, 16, and daughter Lindsey, 14. Religion: Congregationalist.