Kerry likes N.H. chances

WASHINGTON — With a month to go before the New Hampshire primary, John Kerry says voters must choose between Democratic front-runner Howard Dean or a more centrist candidate like himself.

The Massachusetts senator said he would fare better than Dean against President Bush in November.

"Two roads have diverged in the New Hampshire woods," Kerry said in a speech prepared for delivery Saturday in Manchester. "One of them takes us toward retreat from our responsibility in the world, our responsibility to working families, our responsibility to talk straight to the American people — and our obligation to win their confidence and their votes next November."

Kerry was critical of Dean for what Kerry called "a soft and vacillating isolationism" and Dean's desire to roll back all of the Bush tax cuts.

Republicans and President Bush intend to run on national security, and "we have to be able to meet them there," Kerry said.

"This is a perilous moment in history," Kerry said, "and we cannot master that moment with a stubborn unilateralism or a soft and vacillating isolationism."

The Vietnam War veteran said the Democratic Party "must choose the road of both strength and principle. Only then can we win."

Kerry, the early Democratic front-runner, now trails Dean by double digits in polls in New Hampshire — the state the Massachusetts senator has designated a must-win for his candidacy.

"New Hampshire has a choice ahead," Kerry said, "between a candidate who will stand up for the middle class people who built America and who have suffered enough under George Bush and a candidate who thinks the way to balance our budget is at the expense of families who are struggling to balance theirs."

Aides to Kerry note that Dean fares poorly against Bush in head-to-head matchups.

Kerry said "we can't beat George Bush by being Bush-lite," referring to Dean's criticism of more centrist Democratic candidates.

"But we also won't beat George Bush by being light on national security, light on fairness for middle-class Americans or light on the values that make us Democrats."

Kerry told New Hampshire voters "the nation looks to you to determine the character and direction of our party."