Kerry Aims for Disparate Voters

The day began at dawn with the candidate in camouflage gear, aiming a 12-gauge shotgun at a flock of Canada geese that flapped over the fallow cornfields of Ohio’s Mahoning Valley.

Hours later, Sen. John F. Kerry, in blue suit and cherry-colored tie, stood with the widow of actor Christopher Reeve in a Columbus theater, vowing to expand federal funding for stem cell research.

Thursday’s disparate events underscored the different constituencies Kerry is attempting to win over in his bid to unseat President Bush.

For rural conservatives who fear he will take away their guns, there were images of Kerry ambling across a field with a shotgun. For independent voters concerned about federal limits on stem cell research, he spoke solemnly of his friendship with Reeve and accused the administration of having “an extreme ideological agenda” that blocks medical advances.

Although Kerry’s morning hunt drew jeers from Republican critics, including Vice President Dick Cheney, he received several standing ovations for his remarks on stem cell research to about 1,200 supporters at a former Masonic Temple in Columbus.

“You really get this feeling that if George Bush had been president during other periods in American history, he would have sided with the candle lobby against electricity, he would have been with the buggy-makers against the cars, and the typewriter companies against the computers,” he quipped, prompting laughter and cheers.

He offered a somber testament to the efforts of Reeve, a longtime friend, who died of heart failure Oct. 10. The two became close when they worked together on environmental issues in the 1990s.

Reeve’s widow, Dana, said that her husband’s spirit moved her to contact the campaign and volunteer to speak publicly on Kerry’s behalf.

“Eleven days ago, Chris died, and when he died, a light went out in my life,” she told the audience. “My inclination would be frankly to remain private for a good long while, but I came here today in support of John Kerry because this is so important.... I’m here today because John Kerry, like Christopher Reeve, believes in keeping our hope alive.”

Reeve, paralyzed in a horse-riding accident in 1995, had become an outspoken advocate for medical research. He made one of his last phone calls to Kerry the day he died, leaving a message that thanked him for spotlighting stem cell work during one of the debates.

Advisors say they believe the issue has broad appeal, touching people who have friends or family members suffering from a disease -- like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s -- that scientists say could benefit from expanded stem cell research.

In August 2001, Bush authorized federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, but limited it to preexisting stem cell lines, which many scientists say are tainted and inadequate. The research is controversial because it involves the use of human embryos. But polls show that Americans -- especially women -- overwhelmingly support more federal financing for such work.

The cells used in federally funded research come from frozen embryos that would have otherwise been discarded by fertility clinics.

The Bush campaign accused Kerry of distorting the president’s position, noting that he was the first to authorize federal funding of stem cell research.

“John Kerry showed today that as the election nears he is not interested in the facts and will say or do anything to gain him a political edge, regardless of the truth,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Kerry said that 100 million Americans suffer from a disease or injury that could be treated through stem cell research, and noted that a wide range of people, including former First Lady Nancy Reagan and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, support increased funding.

Later, at a raucous rally outside Minneapolis’ Metrodome that drew an estimated 20,000 people, Kerry promised: “I intend to be a president who believes in science.”

The message was very different earlier in the day, when Kerry donned a borrowed camouflage jacket to go goose hunting on a family farm in Poland, Ohio.

Shortly after sunrise, the candidate waded through a cornfield to a blind set up on the edge of a marsh, joined by a local congressman, a member of a waterfowl habitat conservation group, a state park manager and a yellow Labrador named Woody.

A small group of reporters who accompanied Kerry were not allowed to witness the actual hunting, but heard gunfire as a flock of about 60 geese flew overhead. Shortly afterward, Kerry emerged with his shotgun, accompanied by his companions, who lugged four dead geese.

“Everybody got one,” the candidate proclaimed. Aides said later that two of the birds would be cleaned and sent to Kerry for consumption.

Although advisors cast the goose hunt as an occasion to help show that Kerry is a “regular guy,” it was also part of the campaign’s ongoing effort to neutralize concerns about his support for gun control.

Kerry has spoken little of the issue on the campaign trail, telling audiences proudly, “I’m a hunter.”

He has toted a gun before the cameras several times this year, hunting pheasants in Iowa during the Democratic primaries, trap shooting in Wisconsin over the Fourth of July weekend and skeet shooting in Ohio in September.

But gun-rights advocates have ridiculed Kerry’s claim to be an avid sportsman. The National Rifle Assn., which backs Bush and has an extensive grass-roots network in the Midwest and West, has run cable TV advertisements attacking Kerry.

“John Kerry’s not a hunter,” a spokesman says in one ad. “He just plays one on TV.”

On Thursday, the organization took out a full-page advertisement in the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper declaring, “If John Kerry thinks the 2nd Amendment is about photo-ops, he’s daffy.”

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Times staff writer Nick Anderson contributed to this report.