2/23/2004

Kerry's wife stops in NE Ohio

Madelin Esquivel
Daily Kent Stater

CLEVELAND — Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry, told about 100 local businesswomen Friday that in her “nine days a week” campaigning for her husband, she has mostly seen a desire for hope.

“What I see as I’ve campaigned is the same story everywhere,” she said. “The same anger, the same hope, the same wants to hope again. The level of cynicism and despair has not taken hold yet — people still want to hope.”

Heinz Kerry, who is the heiress to the Heinz ketchup fortune, spoke at the Chesterfield apartment building in downtown Cleveland. Heinz Kerry, 65, said she and her husband support women and their health concerns.

“There’s so much going on, and we get battered around,” Heinz Kerry said. “We women have got to do this not because of our own bodies but because this goes on to our children.”

Shana Johnson, director of development and communications for City Year Cleveland, an AmeriCorps program, said, “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity when you bring women together to speak with other women on women’s issues.”

Kerry’s campaign has seen huge success so far. His recent win in Wisconsin put him ahead of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards by 421 delegates. Kerry has won 613 of the 1,082 delegates selected to date.

Heinz Kerry said the Kerry campaign has made a commitment to children’s issues, as well.

“John and I are very committed to the children of this country,” she said. “What John is hoping to do is to make sure we devote ourselves to creating in 20 years the healthiest, best-off young people.”

She mentioned Kerry’s “Service for College” initiative, which is a commitment that gives students four years of state college tuition in exchange for two years of community service in an accredited program.

“By offering this, you begin to integrate responsible people into the community,” she said.

Johnson said she is excited about the initiative.

“Obviously, those of us in the service community couldn’t be any prouder,” she said. “He certainly is the candidate who has put more together in terms of an actual plan of action.”

The commitment to service also helps America with its faltering international relations, Heinz Kerry said.

“We have to make friends in the world again,” she said. “The best face I remember for America is the face of the young person in the Peace Corps making friends. That’s what AmeriCorps is. That will not take any trusting, but it will create a human link with America.”

Eve Sanberg, associate professor of politics at Oberlin College and Oberlin City Council member, said she also liked the service plan.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” she said. “I think her comments were based on intervening in key developmental phases. An administration that provides real solutions for education for change instead of lip service. This is just practical politics.”

E-mail: mesquive@kent.edu