VA: Kerry lines up local support in preparation for primary

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry has quietly secured the support of key figures in Virginia’s Democratic establishment as he and his remaining rivals gear up for the Old Dominion’s Feb. 10 primary. The choicest endorsement – that of Gov. Mark R. Warner – remains up for grabs. But the Kerry camp has assembled a state steering committee with longtime Democratic officeholders and a collection of veterans, firefighters and environmental activists. “We’re going after the core Democratic voters,” said Susan Swecker, a veteran state party organizer who has been directing Kerry’s state campaign.

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While not physically in Virginia, the candidates themselves are likely to join in the phone campaigns – making appeals to potential major donors and party elders like the governor and talking with potential voters at campaign events.

Such calls have been a staple of all the campaigns for months. Dean’s calls to Internet-arranged “meet-ups” of his young supporters helped propel him to the front of the Democratic pack last year, and Kerry regularly calls gatherings of firefighters, whose national union has endorsed him.

Wesley Jacobs, a longtime Norfolk Democratic activist, said a call he helped arrange in early January from Kerry to a gathering of Norfolk firefighters “energized them and let them know why they had gone for Kerry” at a time when his campaign seemed to be lagging.

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