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February 16, 2004 VANESSA KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S DAUGHTER: Good morning. How are you? HEMMER: I'm doing just fine. I'm going to ask you a few questions you've never heard before. Tell us how America would be different if your father was in the White House. KERRY: Oh, I mean that's a huge question and I think it's sort of the crux of this presidential campaign right now and why my father is running for president. I mean I think essentially he's really running because he sort of wants -- he wants to return hope to the future of this country, of this world, the sense of, that, you know, our world is getting bigger, that we are growing again, that, you know, we have health security for all Americans, job security, education security. That we have national security. There's a lot that we need to be fighting for and I've been incredibly impressed with the degree to which I think all Americans are ready for this election. HEMMER: Let me try and zero it in a bit better for you, Vanessa. You're 27 years old. How would your father benefit people like you and other younger voters in America in their 20s? Specifically, what would he do to make your life better? KERRY: That's actually a great question and it sort of highlights one of the favorite things about my dad's policies. For example, he's proposed a national service plan where it's sort of a five point plan. But one of the key plans is that for basically two years of service to your community, you get four years of college tuition at a state funded level given back to you. I think that's an incredible step towards helping us afford higher education. Increasing the size of the Peace Corps, making us all ambassadors for this country. I think that also, you know, he's going to address the environment. That's been a huge issue with young voters. And he's going to return, I think he's going to bring integrity back to politics. In fact, I'm confident he will. I've seen a lot of young people come up to me as I've traveled around the country and they've just said, you know, your father, he gets me so excited. I feel, I, you know, a Kerry presidency would make me, you know, just really feel hopeful again. It would make me want to be really involved. Sixty percent of young people are already doing community service. We need to get them reinvested in the political process again so that we are all sort of investing in our own future. And I really believe that he is trying to look to the long-term future. He is looking at energy independence. He is looking at, you know, I think things that are investing this country so that as we are coming out of school, as we are coming out of graduate school, college, high school, getting jobs, starting our families, we have solid foundations with which to work. HEMMER: Let me try it from another angle. There's a Democratic pollster, Celinda Lake, who found that professional single women, like yourself -- I know you're a student, but, still, we'll put you in that category for the sake of this argument -- the greatest untapped pool of voters in America. If that's true, how will your father tap into that in America in 2004? KERRY: I mean I think my experience has been that, and I've been watching him do this, he's just talking about, I think, mainstream American values and issues that affect this country overall. I mean a lot of people are trying to say that there's women's issues versus non-women's issues. And the truth is we all have the same issues. We're all worried about education. We're all worried about our job security, being able to afford health care. We are worried about our families. We're worried about national security in the sense that we can walk down the street without having to sort of fear for our lives or, you know, whatever the issues are. And I think that by addressing the issues that are facing this country, he is going to be speaking to voters, including young women like myself or my friends. And it is true, young women are voting in less numbers, you know, or sort of the smallest voting bloc that there is. But I think that as young women realize, you know, we're doing a push, I think, overall. I think all the candidates are. I think the candidates' children have been heavily involved in trying to get people out. A lot of them are daughters, which I think helps get young women excited. And, you know, it's hard. You're asking me to describe what I think is almost everything my father is talking about. And, you know, before I joined this trail, I sat down and I looked over all my dad's policies, because I wanted to make sure before I sat here and talked about it I felt really good about not only that I could talk about it, but that I really believed in it. And the truth was I sat down and I was dumbstruck. I thought his ideas were fantastic. I thought they were smart ideas. I thought they invested in the future. I don't know a young woman or a young man or anybody in this country that wouldn't want to see that type of thing go forward. HEMMER: I take it he's going to get your vote? KERRY: That he is. HEMMER: Thanks, Vanessa. Vanessa Kerry live in Boston this morning. |
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