By Jeff Powalisz

For Vanessa Kerry, the daughter of Massachusetts Senator and 2004 Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry, joining her father’s campaign was an opportunity to aid in an election that she feels will have important implications for the country.

Kerry, 26, is in the midst of a busy schedule as her father continues to travel around the country spreading word of his beliefs and goals. She visited Northeastern last Wednesday for a meeting with the Students for Kerry group.

“There is a lot at stake in this election,” Kerry said to the group. “George W. Bush has not done enough for our country. The health care, environment and education in this country are being effected, and our country’s security is at stake.”

Kerry, who works in the health care field, answered numerous questions on her father’s behalf, and stated a clear case for her father and the future of the country.

“My father has a vision, and a degree of optimism and idealism for this country that is missing,” she said. “He has a national service plan that would have people of all ages involved and, to him, all of us are involved in the fate of the country.”

John Kerry, having served for 20 years in the U.S. Senate, is a noted Vietnam War veteran whose stances in American politics, according to his daughter, are very clear.

One of his first speeches was in favor of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and it has been clear in the past that he has supported relations with small businesses and is against drilling in Alaska. In terms of the current situation in Iraq, Kerry provided a clear explanation of her father’s position.

“My father knows war,” she said, hoping to dispel any notions the senator has a muddled stance of the ongoing Operation Iraqi Freedom. “He knows what war means, and predicted the current quagmire in Iraq. He tried to meet with Bush, and wanted to ask if we’re using enough diplomacy. My father made huge efforts to make sure we didn’t go to war.”

John Kerry voted in favor of authorizing the use of military force against Iraq with the hopes of putting pressure on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and drawing international support. Kerry said the issue is not merely black and white, but rather, complex.

“He saw a president who went to Congress and said we either go to war, or executive power will be used and we’ll go to war anyway. It’s a difficult resolution to vote for war and my father is the only candidate in this group of Democrats who understands both fields.”

Much of Kerry’s speech also included in-depth explanations of her father’s vision and described how his positive, easy-going personality would be fit for the White House.

“My father does not need to reinvent himself,” Kerry said, in response to the national media’s belief of a lack of personality from the candidate. “I’ve known this man for 26 years and I’ve seen endless antics and jokes. He’s a fighter for what he believes in and has a great personality.”

Senator Kerry has his eye on the middle class, has criticized Bush’s work in that area, is looking to balance the budget, and solve what Kerry noted is a “health care disaster.”

He also hopes to improve programs around the country that effect U.S. citizens, making them more affordable and helping the middle class which, Kerry said, is “not getting any breaks.”

As for the current polls that show former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in the lead of a class that includes Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Dick Gephardt, the Senator’s daughter sees nothing conclusive about it.

“People are excited by who is perceived as the front-runner,” she said. “Of all the candidates, my father has the best domestic record in terms of what he has done for the country, and has a great relationship abroad as well.”

Kerry supported her father’s decision to change campaign managers and sees him as moving along the campaign properly.

“The shifting of campaign managers speaks well to my father,” she said. “My father knew he was doing well, but he wants to be doing even better. It was time to make a change. The candidate needs to be the best candidate. It was time to make sure the campaign was the best campaign.”

As for the continuation of the campaign, Kerry said her father has the proper skills, ideals and methods to keep going and gaining success.

“The support for my father runs deep for his vision and what he has done for over 20 years. He is running with complete integrity, and has not changed his positions or modified them in any way just because he is running for president. The country needs someone to hold up Democratic ideals and beliefs.”