SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 15 — With America on the brink of war, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the leading contender for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination according to some polls, is struggling to explain his decision to support President Bush by voting for the congressional use-of-force resolution on Iraq. In California this weekend to woo activists at the state Democratic Party’s annual convention in Sacramento, Kerry parried questions from party members and reporters about his Iraq vote, implying that it really wasn’t all that significant since Bush already had the authority to use military force without it.

“SOME PEOPLE have said, well, what about that vote in Congress, but the president had the authority,” Kerry said. He insisted he had no regrets about his vote last October, which gave Bush congressional approval to use force, but he added that, even despite that vote, Bush had still not earned “the legitimacy and consent of the American people.”

Most California Democrats attending this weekend’s convention seem outraged by what now appears to be an inevitable war and some are venting their frustration at Kerry. As he spoke to the convention Friday night, one heckler repeatedly bellowed, “No war, John, no war!”

Kerry finally resorted to black humor to defuse the tension, telling the crowd of 1,000 Democrats, “There is a far easier way to bring Saddam Hussein to his knees — just send the Bush economic team over there!”

Kerry spent much time with reporters and rank-and-file Democrats explaining why the vote had not led to the outcome he’d expected.

“This president and his administration have conducted some of the most bizarre, arrogant and ineffective diplomacy I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Kerry told reporters.

According to the Massachusetts Democrat, the crucial mistake Bush made was ordering a military build-up on the borders of Iraq in the past several months. “George Bush has created his own problem of building up the troops to the point where you face the old use-them-or- lose-them equation,” he said.

He added “I don’t hold France blameless,” but placed most of the onus on Bush who he accused of “having conducted a kind of policy that has invited people to resent our country.” While saying he would not allow France and other countries to endlessly delay U.S. military action, Kerry blamed Bush for not figuring out “how you might exhaust their sense of appropriate patience.”

EXPERIENCE AS A VET

Kerry is hoping his experience as Vietnam War veteran will give him greater credibility as he criticizes Bush’s policy in Iraq. He reminded a meeting of the Democratic veteran’s caucus that “I am the only the person running for president of the United States on either side who has actually fought in a war and served four years of active duty.”

But the war issue continued to pursue Kerry as he left that meeting. As his entourage moved down a crowded hall to its next appointment, Tim Steed, 22, chairman of the Orange County Young Democrats shouted at him, “No war!”

Steed told MSNBC.com, “It’s disappointing to me that he gave President Bush pre-emptive war power without really having it be an issue. I don’t think Kerry took the time to see what people thought and there is a serious backlash from that.”

Steed, who supports Kerry’s rival Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, adds “it would very hard for me” to back any candidate who voted for the use-of-force resolution. Among the Democratic contenders, Kerry, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri all voted for the resolution, while Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Sen. Bob Graham of Florida voted against it.

On Saturday, when Edwards told the convention he supported the use of military force if necessary to disarm Saddam Hussein, he was drowned out by a chorus of boos and heckling throughout the convention hall.

Dean was scheduled to address the California Democrats Saturday morning, while Kucinich will speak Sunday.

Iraq, said Steed, “is a very divisive issue for our party and that is a shame.”

VOTE IS A BURDEN

Kerry supporters acknowledge that his vote for the use-of-force resolution is a burden for him since most Democrats are so deeply opposed to a war. But they say he can overcome it and go on to win the party’s nomination next year.

Kerry and other Democrats who voted for the resolution “were fooled,” said Barbara Schraeger, a Sausalito Democrat who helped put together a fund-raiser Thursday night for Kerry in San Francisco that netted $900,000. “I think they’ve learned their lesson. Kerry didn’t expect this to go this way. He thought there’d be more diplomacy and that the diplomatic process would be exhausted.”

Asked about Dean, Kerry’s leading anti-war critic, Schraeger dismissively said “It’s easy for a governor from the state of Vermont to say this. He wasn’t in Congress. He didn’t have to vote on this.”

© 2003 MSNBC

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