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John Kerry: McCain's 'people ... approached me' in 2004

by Ryan Sager
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 at 12:55 PM
updated Tue, 3 Apr 2007 at 12:58 PM

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In an interview with Jonathan Singer of the liberal blog MyDD.com, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts says that Senator McCain of Arizona, or at least his staff, approached him about becoming his running mate in 2004.

This would be (seemingly) the reverse of the story that's been out for a long time that Mr. Kerry reached out to Mr. McCain. (This Washington Post story from 2004 gives the conventional account.)

Here is Mr. Singer's full transcript of the segment of the interview in question. He has audio at the link:

Jonathan Singer: There's a story in The Hill, I think on Tuesday, by Bob Cusack on the front page of the paper talking about how John McCain's people -- John Weaver -- had approached Tom Daschle and a New York Congressman, I don't remember his name, about switching parties. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what your discussions were with him in 2004, how far it went, who approached whom... if there was any "there" there.

John Kerry: I don't know all the details of it. I know that Tom, from a conversation with him, was in conversation with a number of Republicans back then. It doesn't surprise me completely because his people similarly approached me to engage in a discussion about his potentially being on the ticket as Vice President. So his people were active -- let's put it that way.

Singer: Okay. And just to confirm, you said it, but this is something they approached you rather than...

Kerry: Absolutely correct. John Weaver of his shop... [JK aswers phone]

This is quite a shocking claim. As late as May of 2005, a New Yorker profile gave an account of the Kerry-asks-McCain version of this story (link here):

The McCain alchemy derives, in large measure, from a widespread popular perception that he says what he believes. "Ten times today, I've had people come up, saying, 'I don't agree with you sometimes, but I really support you because I think you stand up for what you believe,' " McCain often remarks. "I cherish that reputation." In 2004, however, the reputation came into question when McCain, after rejecting John Kerry's offer of an expanded Vice-Presidency, transformed himself almost overnight from the President's most severe Republican critic to his most valuable defender.

Kerry's offer to McCain was a reflection, among other things, of how much McCain was thought to despise Bush for what had been done to him in South Carolina. Kerry was betting that even if McCain did not accept his offer he would not campaign aggressively for Bush. "It was a high-risk strategy," Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator, said. "I think it ended up hurting Kerry--because the Republicans were able to say, Here's the person you wanted as your Vice-President, and he is embracing the President." But he didn't fault Kerry for trying, he added, because the upside was so great. "I don't think there's any way the President could have beaten them." (A CBS News poll released last June found that a Kerry-McCain ticket had a fourteen-percentage-point lead over Bush-Cheney, whereas most head-to-head polls showed Kerry leading only slightly.)

Kerry had apparently been thinking of McCain as a possible running mate for some time; in August, 2003, he met with him to propose the idea and to suggest that they announce their pact before the Iowa caucus, according to a McCain aide. Then, in the spring of 2004, in a series of phone conversations with McCain, Kerry offered to augment the power of the Vice-Presidency with the defense portfolio--in effect, a combined Vice-President and Secretary of Defense, according to John Weaver and Mark Salter. "Kerry was saying, 'You can still call yourself a Republican,' and John was saying, 'No! I can't just call myself a Republican,' " Salter recalled. " 'We don't have the same philosophy. I'm a hawk, I'm for nation-building, I'm pro-life, I'm a free trader, I believe in small government. If you're hit by a lightning bolt and I become President, the people who voted for you will feel betrayed.' "

Kerry asked Warren Beatty, who is a good friend of McCain's, to call him. Beatty is a diehard Democrat who disagrees with McCain on a number of issues but likes him, and he admires his efforts to reduce the influence of money in politics. "I thought he might do it," Beatty told me. "Of course, I'm a fantasist by trade." Even as Vice-President, he went on, "With John's personality, he would be able to say what he wanted to say, and to do quite a bit." He paused. "Whether that would be good for John Kerry was less clear."

This is clearly the version of events that the McCain camps wants out there. And it's been out there for a while. So, why is Mr. Kerry disputing it only now?

All of these stories seem to agree on the fact that these conversations about Mr. McCain switching parties (in 2001 and in 2003-04) happened. What's devolved into a he-said-he-said is who started these conversations.

As they say, developing...

UPDATE (2:18): McCain aides Mark Salter and John Weaver have quickly made it to the conservative blogoshpere to say, in effect, that Mr. Kerry is lying. They're trying to paint this as a suspiciously timed attack on Mr. McCain, but it is worth remembering that Tom Daschle, the former Democratic minority leader, wrote about the 2001 party-switching discussions in a book back in 2003 (just do a search for "McCain").

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