March to Boston Starts in Colorado

Playing heavily on themes of service and family, Sen. John F. Kerry was joined by his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, along with their wives and children, on a visit to Kerry’s birthplace Friday. It was the opening of a six-day tour of battleground states that will take them to the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

“There is something in America for everyone to do to help build community,” Kerry told thousands of supporters jammed in a Denver concert hall. “There is so much work to be done.”

Edwards echoed his call, saying: “The government can’t do everything. In order for America to be what it needs to be, the American people have to show their patriotism and their love of community, love for country -- by participating, by serving.”

The Democratic ticket announced a new proposal to create a $10-million “citizen patriots fund,” which would provide grants of $100,000 to 100 people a year who wish to start new service initiatives.

The program would be open to military veterans, Peace Corps volunteers and others who have participated in national service programs. It would require applicants to secure matching funds from the private sector. Aides said the program would be paid for by savings obtained from a reform of the country’s student loan program.

Friday’s rally in Denver was the beginning of an imagery-laden series of events that will lead up to Kerry’s official nomination Thursday. The tour, which the campaign dubbed “Blazing America’s Freedom Trail,” will take the Massachusetts senator through locales that both symbolize pivotal moments in the country’s history and represent key geographic regions in this year’s election.

Today, Kerry is expected to visit Sioux City, Iowa, a stop on the Lewis and Clark trail. From there, he plans to travel to Columbus, Ohio; Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Norfolk, Va.; and Philadelphia. Edwards will go to Wisconsin and his home state, North Carolina.

After the convention, the newly nominated ticket mates will cross the country in a two-week campaign swing that will take them to 21 states on a combination of trains, boats and buses.

On Friday, the theme was beginnings, as Kerry visited the Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colo., where he was born in 1943 while his father, an Army Air Corps pilot, was stationed there to recover from tuberculosis.

Kerry spent a few months in Colorado as an infant, but he spoke of his connection to the state.

“Even though I spent just a little time here in the course of a lifetime, I am always proud that I can claim that I have at least some roots in the West,” he said.

Republicans scoffed at Kerry’s claim, saying he was trying “an extreme makeover” of his past and record.

“John Kerry may have been born in Colorado, but he learned his priorities in Massachusetts,” Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard said in a statement.

Kerry, who rarely speaks about his late parents, invoked both of them as role models, noting his father’s service and his mother’s work as a Girl Scout troop leader.

“Through the power of their mutual example, which is what parents are supposed to bring, they taught me that the most fundamental value in life -- perhaps the most fundamental -- is service to others,” he said.

Although he did not speak of his biography, other speakers, including Edwards, cited Kerry’s service in Vietnam and work as a senator as evidence of his commitment to public service.

“While some might have served our country, like Sen. Kerry, on the rivers of Vietnam, others made a different choice to be safe here in the National Guard,” Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado said at the rally, in an apparent reference to President Bush’s assignment during the Vietnam War.

In addition to frequent references to service in his 31-minute speech, Kerry reprised many of the other themes he had used throughout the campaign.

The banners in the concert hall reflected the variety of messages. Two vertical banners on either side of the stage read, “Family” and “Service,” while another one on the side said, “Kerry Edwards -- A Stronger America.”

Another sign hanging from the wall above the audience declared the event part of “America’s Freedom Trail.”