Democrats are united behind Kerry

WASHINGTON — Democrats embraced John Kerry as their new chief with a show of solidarity from Presidents Clinton and Carter, campaign rivals and former foes who are putting aside their differences in an effort to oust President Bush.

"We now have a standard bearer of the Democratic Party," Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Thursday, which the party titled "Unity Day" following a fractious primary race.

Carter, Clinton, 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore and all of Kerry's primary rivals except Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun were attending a celebration dinner Thursday night that was expected to raise more than $11 million for the national committee.

"I am determined that in this election, in this race, during the course of our campaign, we're going to reach out in an unprecedented fashion," Kerry told leaders of black community newspapers in an appearance with McAuliffe earlier Thursday. "We are asking you to engage in an unprecedented way. We need to build the greatest grass-roots movement in the history of this country."

Kerry picked up the endorsement of his harshest primary rival, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who put aside objections to the senator's position on tax cuts and the war in Iraq in the common cause of beating Bush.

"We had a tough campaign here," Dean said as he endorsed Kerry at a rally at George Washington University. "It is tough. We're both tough competitors. But there are things in the campaign we talked about focusing on the things that divide us. Now we are going to talk about the things that we have in common."

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which had backed Dean in the primary, also endorsed Kerry after a unanimous vote of the union's executive council. With 1.3 million members, AFSCME is the second-largest union in the AFL-CIO and boasts one of organized labor's largest and most savvy political operations.

Kucinich is the only candidate still campaigning in the Democratic primary, even though Kerry already has enough delegates to secure the nomination at the party's convention in July. The Ohio congressman said in a statement Thursday that he is committed to support the eventual nominee, but he will continue to campaign for peace, health care for all and fair trade.

Other candidates who ran against Kerry in the primary, including Dean, former Gen. Wesley Clark and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, have sent e-mail messages to Kerry's supporters, asking them to donate to his campaign.